Pop pioneer and trans icon Sophie is dead – 34 years old – VG

His British record company, Transgressive, confirms that he died Saturday morning in a fall accident in Athens, where he lived.

– Our beautiful Sophie has tragically passed away this morning after a terrible accident, they write in a statement in Twitter.

The critically acclaimed artist, also known as Sophie Xeon, is said to have died when she was about to see the full moon.

– True to his spirituality, he had climbed to look at the full moon and slipped and fell by accident, they write more.

– A launch icon

The record company first sent a statement to various international media. Here they write, according to The Guardian, that she was a “pioneer of a new sound, one of the most influential artists of the last decade.”

– Not only for its ingenious production and creativity, but also for the message and visibility it achieved. An icon of liberation, it said in the statement.

Xeon was born in Glasgow, where he also grew up. He debuted with the single “Nothing More to Say” in 2013, and reached a new and wider audience that same year when he released the single “Blipp,” the newspaper writes.

Check out the music video for the song “Ponyboy” that Sophie released in 2017:

The music website Pitchfork, which also mentions death, writes that she “transformed electronic music into a refreshingly original avant-garde pop.”

In 2018, he released his debut album “OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES”, which the website awarded 8.6 out of 10 possible points and the “Best New Music” label.

Rolling Stone called the album an “avant-pop gem” and gave it four out of five stars.

The album’s crowning came later that year, when it emerged that Sophie was nominated for a Grammy for best album in the dance / electronic category.

– a bright light

French pop artist Héloïse Letissier, known as Christine and the Queens, mentions Xeon in big words in Twitter after his passing was known. The two worked together.

– Sophie was a star producer, a visionary, a reference. She rebelled against the narrow and normative society being an absolute triumph, both as an artist and as a woman. I cannot understand that he is gone, writes Letissier.

Several artists have said goodbye to her on Twitter. Pop star Sam Smith writes including: «Heartbreaking news. The world has lost an angel. “

Producer and artist Nicolas Jaar, also known as Against All Logic, writes:

– We have lost a bright light. Empty of words, thank you SOPHIE.

Paved the way for transgender people

Xeon was a transgender person. In an interview with Paper magazine in 2018, she talked about how she experienced being trans. Here he said, among other things, that he believed in god and that “god is trans.”

When asked, “How does accepting being a trans woman affect your life?” Xeon said.

– Adopting the essential idea of ​​transgender changes everything, because it means that there is no longer an expectation based on the body you were born into, or how life will unfold and how it will end. Traditional family models and control structures disappear.