Fans both disheartened and moved by Sophie’s posthumous album 

Last week, three years after her death, the world received the final album from the legendary producer Sophie, and it’s bringing up strong feelings among fans.

Sophie first gained prominence in the early to mid-2010s with her experimental, futuristic sound, and is considered one of the pioneers of the hyperpop genre. Her identity was shrouded in mystery until she released the video for her song “It’s Okay to Cry,” in 2017, publicly showing her face for the first time.

Sophie was a close collaborator of Charli XCX—producing her famous song “Vroom Vroom”—and also worked with artists like Vince Staples, Kim Petras, and Madonna. Many consider Sophie a visionary producer, and her influence can be felt across pop music today. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine “Brat Summer” existing without Sophie.

Her self-titled, second studio album was supposedly almost finished before her accidental death in 2021, and it was completed by her brother Benny Long. 

Following its release, fans took to social media to share their thoughts, and not all of them were positive. Some fans expressed their disappointment about the album, noting that it paled in comparison to her previous work and felt unfinished. Listeners leveled criticisms about the album’s mixing and mastering, implicitly laying the blame at Long’s feet.

The gist of many of these critiques is that the album doesn’t sound like a “real” Sophie album would, and that she wouldn’t have wanted it released in this state were she still alive. “I don’t think she’d have signed off on all of this,” one fan wrote on X. Even though her family undertook the album’s completion and release, some felt the music is disrespectful to her memory, or that it was simply a cash grab. 

“y’all should’ve left this poor woman rest in piece,” wrote one user on X.

Not everyone online agreed with this assessment. Some of Sophie’s fans called out the assumption that these users know Sophie and thus can conclusively say what she would or would not have wanted. “i’m sick of Sophie fans acting like they knew what she wanted more then her fucking family?” wrote on X user. On the other hand, some argued that those with a real understanding of Sophie’s music can see that it completely fits her vision and where she was headed.

Others commented on the fact that these responses have more to do with people’s imagined relationship with Sophie than the music itself. “the idea of her as a martyr overrides thinking ab it as art, it’s either ‘what she would have wanted’ or ‘not what she wanted,’” wrote on X user. “SOPHIE album discourse largely reads as grief and coping,” wrote another.

Still, other fans were able to dive into the music itself and enjoy it on their own terms. “This album sent me into a cosmic journey to the depths of my soul,” wrote one listener on Reddit. The album “SOUNDS LIKE HER WORK SINKING IN THE OCEAN AND SETTLING ON THE SEA FLOOR OF THE MARIANA TRENCH,” wrote another. One fan wrote that it “feels like closure,” while others expressed gratitude for Sophie’s artistry.

One listener read this divisive reaction as an illustration of Sophie’s future-oriented brilliance. “that’s just what happens when you continually push the envelope with your sound and is the sign of a true visionary,” they wrote on X. 

Why it matters

Fans attach profound meaning to their favorite pieces of pop culture, and Sophie was—and is—meaningful to many people. From a musical standpoint, Sophie’s influence has been well-documented. Sophie being trans and queer also means a lot to people, and it helps to contextualize her significance in the club and dance music scene.

The aforementioned X users were right to call out the parasocial aspects of this fan dynamic, characterized by a sense of ownership over Sophie’s music and vision and a sense that they truly knew the person behind the sound. This premise is particularly troubling as Sophie was an intensely private person who endeavored to separate her personal life from her public persona.

Of course, there is no such thing as an objective reaction to media—audience response is always colored by one’s individual experience. A posthumous album like this inherently carries additional meaning, and in this case, the work is struggling to withstand the expectations placed on it by listeners. 

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