Pop producer and singer Sophie’s final album will be released posthumously on 27 September, it has been announced.
The self-titled work will mark the first and last new music to be released under the pioneering producer and artist’s name since their sudden death in 2021, aged 34.
Sophie died after an accidental fall at home in Greece in 2021; their debut album, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, was released in 2018.
The album was one of that year’s most critically adored releases and received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance / Electronic album. Sophie went on to collaborate with an eclectic group of artists including British pop star Charli XCX, rapper Vince Staples, indie band Let’s Eat Grandma, and Madonna.
In a joint statement on Monday (24 June), Sophie’s record labels Future Classic and Transgressive Records disclosed that Sophie was almost completed when the artist died.
“A couple of years ago Sophie’s family approached us regarding an album release honouring her legacy, drawing from the material that she was so close to completing,” it said.
“Since then this self-titled and final Sophie album was lovingly brought into being by Sophie’s family. As label partners, we’re humbled and overjoyed to share this music in celebration of Sophie’s life and her extraordinary impact on culture. The official statement of the family will be the only statement made at this time.”
“Sophie didn’t often speak publicly of her private life, preferring to put everything she wanted to articulate in her music,” Sophie’s family’s statement said.
“It feels only right to share with the world the music she hoped to release, in the belief that we can all connect with her in this, the form she loved most.”
Long told Billboard in 2021 that Sophie had made “literally hundreds” of unreleased tracks before she died.
“The idea Sophie and I discussed many times was to do one abstract experimental album and then a pop record – this was going to be the pop one – and to keep going on that cycle for years,” he said.
“I don’t want to be like, ‘We’re going to put everything out,’ because sometimes Sophie didn’t want it to or it wasn’t finished. But it was quite clear with a lot of songs, just from the fact that we had been working on them and mixing the album, that I know the direction a lot of things were supposed to be going.”
Sophie will include the artist’s favourite collaborators, including Kim Petras and BC Kingdom, who feature on lead single “Reason Why”, which was released this week.
News of the album comes after Charli XCX paid tribute to her late friend on new record Brat.
On the song “So I”, she sings: “Always on my mind (Every day, every night) / Your star burns so bright (Why did I push you away?) / I was scared sometimes / You had a power like a lightning strike.”
