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‘My first impression was this person’s a genius’: the life and legacy of producer pioneer Sophie

The musician, who died in 2021, shaped much of the sound of modern pop, from Madonna to Charli xcx. As her posthumous second album is released, her family and collaborators share memories of a producer who saw the future

When she died unexpectedly, slipping while trying to gain a better view of a full moon, tributes poured in across the musical spectrum, from Rihanna and Vince Staples to Arca and Flying Lotus – a breadth of adulation that could only have been earned by someone who had touched the mainstream and the underground. The resulting album features longtime Sophie collaborators such as Cecile Believe, Hannah Diamond, Juliana Huxtable and Doss, and showcases the late musician’s interest in supremely challenging electronic music and euphoric pop. “It’s easy to get caught up on a line or a verse, and if there was any moment where we felt a bit stuck, it was like: ‘This isn’t working right now, let’s focus on something else and come back to it.’” Love Me Off Earth, like Immaterial, is one of Sophie’s most transcendent pop tracks: loud, invigorating and skyward-soaring, in the way much of her best music is.

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