Scottish DJ and songwriter Sophie Xeon is the latest name being celebrated by Google Doodles on the search engine's main page. The late hyperpop producer would have turned 38 today (September 17).
Google has paid tribute to the late trans artist SOPHIE, whose real name was Sophie Xeon, through a Google Doodle icon. The trailblazing hyperpop artist is featured on Google’s home page, replacing the search engine’s logo to mark what would have been her 38th birthday.
SOPHIE, real name Sophie Xeon, died in January 2021 following an accidental fall from a three-storey building in Athens, Greece. She was 34.
The singer-songwriter died on 30 January 2021 after falling from the roof of a three-storey building in Greece whilst trying to take a picture of the night sky.
Upon her death, artists and figureheads paid tribute to the musical pioneer and the “icon of liberation”, honouring her for her “distilled speed, noise, melody and clarity.”
Her legacy in popularising the chaotically maximalist genre “hyperpop” alongside artists like Charli XCX while working in the PC Music label cemented her as a pop music behemoth.
Songs such as “Faceshopping” became renowned for the captivating mix of percussive clangs mixed with Xeon’s soulful, elegant voice, whilst simultaneously addressing the commercialisation of beauty.
In the video’s description, Google wrote that the video celebrates SOPHIE’s “acclaimed experimental pop and electronic music.”
Comments replying to the video shared their own personal connection with Xeon’s music, with one saying they “never expected a Google Doodle to bring tears to my eyes.”
“The ability for humans to empathize with people they haven’t even met is kind of beautiful to me,” another said.
Next week (September 27), a posthumous album SOPHIE is due to be released on Transgressive and Future Classic. Work was almost completed on the record prior to her death, and has been finished by close collaborators including Benny Long, who has mastering, mixing and producing credits to his name on previous SOPHIE releases. There have been four singles released from the record so far, most recently “Exhilarate” featuring Bibi Bourelly and “Reason Why” starring Kim Petras BC Kingdom.
A posthumous album by Sophie Xeon was announced earlier this year and is set to be released on 27 September, her label Transgressive Records revealed in June. A teaser hit from the upcoming album, Reason Why – which features Kim Betras and BC Kingdom – was released on Spotify following the announcement. Since then, several other tracks from the album, including Berlin Nightmare, One More Time, and exxhilarate have been released.
Speaking about the upcoming album, a spokesperson for SOPHIE’s family wrote that they had worked to bring the project “to fruition” and contacted several of her “dear friends” to help.
“Sophie didn’t often speak publicly of her private life, preferring to put everything she wanted to articulate in her music. 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,” the statement continued. “Sophie gave all of herself to her music. It’s here that she can always be found.”
Upon her death, tributes were paid from all over the music world, including Rihanna, Vince Staples, Sam Smith and more. Earlier this year, Charli xcx’s Brat features the song “So I”, written in response to the grief felt by Charli following her death. The pair worked closely on some of Charli’s earlier material including Vroom Vroom EP and 2017 mixtapes Pop 1 and Pop 2. Elsewhere, SOPHIE had production credits with Madonna, Shygirl and MØ during her career.
