Reflecting on SOPHIE's Posthumous Album...
... and spotlighting the concepts underpinning it.
Music-wise, 2024 has been a landmark year for me, marked by major releases from three of my favorite artists in pop: Charli XCX’s zeitgeist-defining BRAT (Remix album out this Friday 💚), A. G. Cook’s encyclopedic and eclectic Britpop, and, finally, SOPHIE’s self-titled posthumous album.
It’s difficult to come to terms with the fact that new music from these three titans of pop will be far off in the future & that this constellation of artists won’t fully reunite—SOPHIE is no longer with us, and this posthumous release remains the only one confirmed. With that in mind, this moment feels like the right time to reflect on the album as testament to her body of work that has transformed modern pop music.
A Brief Critical Appraisal
I should say right off the bat—the reception to the album has been mixed. Pitchfork rated it 6.8/10 (always a fan of their precise decimal points), theneedledrop gave it a harsh 3/10, while The Guardian was more generous with a 4 out of 5 stars.
Ok, before diving into the album’s concepts, here’s a brief critical appraisal:
What I liked
• The album successfully juxtaposes pop songs with more experimental, ambient tracks, reflecting the broad scope of SOPHIE’s creative output.
• it’s a concept album, with distinct subsections of themed tracks (more on that below).
• There’s a wealth of new material, some of which may not have surfaced in the past leaks.
• It’s a feature-heavy album, underscoring SOPHIE’s collaborative spirit and the wide network of artists she worked with.
What I didn’t like
• The mixing felt a bit risk-averse—compare the claps and bass stabs on “Reason Why” with the leaked version, which hit just a bit harder.
• Some of the pop tracks feel too long and could have been trimmed. The musical ideas sometimes didn’t justify the extended length, particularly on tracks like “Always and Forever” and “My Forever,” which run over 4 minutes.
• I was hoping to see polished, official versions of previously leaked tracks like “Europe for the Summer,” “Transnation,” and “Sunscreen,” but they’re not part of this release. Perhaps there’s hope for a future release (?)
Even if it has a somewhat unfinished feel to it, this is a solid album, and I’m glad it’s out there. The blending of SOPHIE’s experimental edge with her pop sensibilities, results in a dynamic and varied listening experience.
The Concept(s) Behind SOPHIE (2024)
In reporting on this release, you’ll find claims that the is divided into four sections of four tracks each. I’m proposing a slightly different thematic structure: a 4 + 3 + 5 + 4 thematic division.
The four key themes running through the album are “Ambient & Cosmic (4 tracks),” “Pop Music (3 tracks),” “Berlin Club Nights (5 tracks),” and “Collaboration (4 tracks).”
I. Ambient & Cosmic
Intro (The Full Horror)
RAWWWWWW (feat. Jozzy)
Plunging Asymptote (feat. Juliana Huxtable)
The Dome’s Protection (feat. Nina Kraviz)
The start of the album is somewhat challenging. It begins with the incredibly slowly moving ambient track “Intro (The Full Horror)” and closes with the similarly glacial “The Dome’s Protection,” featuring highly abstract and symbolic lyrics by Nina Kraviz. To me these two tracks evoke sci-fi cinema—they call to mind the vast, extraterrestrial landscapes of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Solaris. It feels like SOPHIE was exploring cosmic themes, creating soundscapes that move through outer space, though she stops short of fully committing to this idea.
The middle two tracks—“RAWWWW” (featuring Jozzy) and “Plunging Asymptote” (featuring Juliana Huxtable)—veer into more experimental territory, blending elements of trap and spoken word. They’re bold artistic statements, though perhaps feel a little disruptive within the ambient framing of this section. Still, it sets up the expectation of sudden shifts of gear that run throughout the album.
II. Pop Music
Even before any of us had truly interacted with ‘pop music’, she had faith in all the special qualities that it could have – that it could be innately joyous, soothing and an ultimately generous experience.
– A. G. Cook, Eulogy for Sophie (2021)
Reason Why (feat. Kim Petras and BC Kingdom)
Live in My Truth (feat. BC Kingdom and LIZ)
Why Lies (feat. BC Kingdom and LIZ)
This section of the album reflects SOPHIE’s pop sensibilities, with the standout track being “Reason Why,” featuring Kim Petras on vocals. All three songs work within a traditional Verse–Chorus structure, though there isn’t much variation in terms of the chords used, which make the songs feel a bit repetitive at times. Would SOPHIE have added further sections of contrasting musical material, to work within a more dense and varied song form? It’s hard to tell to what extent these tracks were finished.
III. Berlin Club Nights
Do You Wanna Be Alive (feat. BIG SISTER)
Elegance (feat. Popstar)
Berlin Nightmare (feat. Evita Manji)
Gallop (feat. Evita Manji)
One More Time (feat. Popstar)
These five tracks transport us into Berlin’s mythical nightlife, capturing SOPHIE’s experiences of living in the city, circa 2009. A. G. Cook recounts an anecdote in his eulogy about visiting Berghain together with her back in 2013:
Berlin also gave me a glimpse into Sophie’s world there, a city that had clearly been transformative. Her use of the German language was broken but somehow effective. In fact, on the first night we arrived, Sophie and an old friend of hers took me and my girlfriend at the time to Berghain, getting the four of us in with an ease that was lost on me at the time.
The tracks—“Do You Wanna Be Alive” (featuring BIG SISTER), “Elegance” (featuring Popstar), and “Berlin Nightmare” (featuring Evita Manji), among others—capture the disorienting, hypnotic energy of a night out, filled with tempo shifts and disembodied voices. Think of this section as visiting different dance floors in a Berlin night club—be it Berghain or another club of your choosing. The sounds are not pure techno, but rather techno filtered through SOPHIE’s own, unique sonic lens. My favourite track? “Elegance” with its dramatic drop in tempo from the 3-minute mark.
IV. Collaboration
Exhilarate (feat. Bibi Bourelly)
Always and Forever (feat. Hannah Diamond)
My Forever (feat. Cecile Believe)
Love Me Off Earth (feat. Doss)
And the way she found collaborators was cool – she worked with her friends, whether or not they really had the experience. She looked for taste and the chemistry you had with her, and once she chose you, she would let you have all the freedom you’d want. I think that’s what she found so many interesting collaborators.
Renata Raksha, Interview, Crack Magazine, Sept. 27, 2024
Collaboration was central to SOPHIE’s creative process, and it is no coincidence that every track on this album has a feature. The final section of the album emphasizes this by featuring vocalists and friends like Bibi Bourelly, Hannah Diamond, Cecile Believe, and Doss. The best moments in this string of songs are definitely the key changes that happen on the final track on the album, “Love Me Off Earth,” and especially the superimposition of two different keys at 2:25.
In Sum
What I appreciate most about this album is how it brings together the two sides of SOPHIE’s artistic identity. On one hand, the more experimental, boundary-pushing elements are evident in Sections I and III. On the other hand, the pop-leaning, joyous side shines through in Sections II and IV. This duality, but also the integration of these two extremes, has always been central to SOPHIE’s work, and this posthumous release is a testimony for her ability to move between these worlds with ease.
What do you think of this four-part division into smaller themes? And what are your thoughts on SOPHIE? Did the album live up to your expectations? Feel free to drop a comment below.