SOPHIE is an absolute legend. She passed away way too soon. She inspired so many artists, and you can see this with most left-field pop music today. Charli XCX, Arca, Jane Remover, 100 gecs, Dorian Electra, etc you gotta hear Kick iii by Arca if you want the closest sorta vibe to this. Pop 2 by Charli XCX is also super good
It took me embarrassingly long to realize that this is not just a collection of songs but a concept album, one that details a journey of transitioning. 1.) Realizing you are different than others and being accepted for the first time 2.) Exploring different aspects of sexuality 3.) Realizing the beauty in changing one’s appearance, while fantasizing about one that mimics the inside of her. 4.) Contemplating beginning transitioning and being terrified. (To me this song feels like standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, while a stampede approached you. Perfectly encapsulates the anxiety in transitioning! a fave) 5.) Exploring what it means to truly be herself. She searches inside herself to find who she is and gets lost in her own thoughts. A fave, and for me i feel the ending leading into the next song is very intentional. 6.) Shes met resistance, and is being forced to suppress herself. This song was described as a club song thats haunted and constantly being pulled back beneath a curtain, and i feel thats perfect. 7.) Shes a prisoner within herself, watching the world go by behind her eyes. Everything is a haze because shes been locked inside herself, forbidden to leave. Just “Pretending” to be something shes not, until 8.) Someone comes along and puts her on their bicycle. They help her escape in the night to a club. She lets everything go, and becomes and immaterial girl. Nobodys anything and also everything. Its pure queer euphoria I still havent quite found what the meaning of the last track is, but to me it implies shes run away from her Pretend World into a Whole New World, built with the person shes gone to the club with. I feel im missing some nuance though, so take this and everything else with a grain of salt. A truly beautiful personal story from start to finish, and so heartbreaking that its the last story she’ll ever tell. I miss her so much, thank you for reacting to her genius!
honestly the way i interpret faceshopping is the whole "social media affects your perception/presentation of yourself" take. the whole chorus "my face is the front of shop/my face is the real shop front/my shop is the face i front/i'm real when i shop my face" is just referring to her changing her appearance both digitally and maybe even physically to better present herself as the brand she wishes to become. especially the last line "i'm real when i shop my face," aka PHOTOshopping her face, makes her feel more "real." the song title itself, "faceshopping," probably refers to her "shopping" for different faces to feel most like herself. all of the verses just refer to types of changes to the person (chemical release, plastic surgery, scalpel lipstick gel, etc.) not to mention the bridge (to me, at least) giving her some semblance of freedom from judgment and/or expectations, lines like "come on, touch me/set my spirit free" are honestly just about her feeling able to express herself authentically. eventually the instrumental collapses back into an even more anxious and harsh beat, with the added lines "and you know what i want/so give me what i want"
@@Kolmarynsophie wasnt much present on social media specifically when that album came out so i doubt Faceshopping has anything to do with it, but that’s a good interpretation regardless
@@Kolmaryn I don't know about social media necessarily but I think part of the song could be taken as being about the relationship between the artist's work and the image of themselves they present publicly. I still think that this song is more accurately about medical transition though - "artificial bloom" in the first verse makes me think of HRT, which induces a second puberty, or "blooming", and the line from the chorus "I'm real when I shop my face" is a direct rebuttal to themes we see in genres like cyberpunk where having surgeries makes you less yourself. When you're trans, pursuing gender-affirming medical care such as HRT, facial feminization, etc. makes you more real to yourself, not less.
@@tolstoyed SOPHIE created all those sounds from drastically changing elementary waveforms into her desired sound using elektron monomachine. Hence she created it all by scratch. EVEN THE SYNTHS. the vocals though ofc u can't create them by scratch. She totally eschewed sampling everything but the vocals.
@@justinelatorre6458 you mean the sounds pre existed but she changed them? and i’m not trying to diminish her work, love her production and she went further than most producers, but unless you write sounds in code, those all pre exist in one form or another
@@tolstoyed She still created the sounds on the instrumentals from scratch using the elementary waves as a medium so idk what point u tryna make. u should listen to few of the basic waves to actually know how challenging it'll be to turn them into a 35 minutes and 55 seconds long album
@@justinelatorre6458oh i see what you mean. of course, every decent producer doesn’t just simply use presets, they all tweak pre existing sounds though, and some go further than others. there are other people who have been using similar process as sophie though, and using similar ideas, she was associated with pc music and most of those people are experts in sound design
Its Ok To Cry makes alot more sense in the context as a single since it was her first song featuring her own voice, and face in the video and her way of coming out as trans, and as a supportive message to others in the closet or out. :)
You should check out her track BIPP, then the Autechre remix. Autechre were one of her heroes, and she insisted that nobody would have the permission to remix her tracks, except Autechre. The remix got to her just a few days before she died.
@@nicknickson3650fym their music is literally amazing and even beautiful its definitely worth listening to women who make groundbreaking music in the hyperpop/experimental scene
this album changed my brain chemistry! glad you enjoyed it! since you liked this and the caroline polachek album, i think you should react to some of the artists affiliated with them (charli xcx, rina sawayama, 100 gecs, etc) also i would love to see your reaction to mercurial world by magdalena bay!!
she was inspired by autechre which is pretty apparent in some of her tracks. I love how cinematic her music can be. I wish she would have had the opportunity to score some sort of sci fi movie, songs like pretending and the alternate series of infatuation tracks on the remix album put very vivid imagery in my head
here to recommend “hi this is flume” again, sophie and flume have a couple tracks together and flume himself has taken huge inspiration from her. a remix of “is it cold in the water?” is also on that mixtape. such an insane project if you want more of this sound
I love the fact the you're reacting to ICONIC albums of pretty much every genre out there. But I can't help but wonder what you been listening your entire life.
been waiting for this review for so long omggg!! so happy you were a fan, i think you would like the remix album. its like 25 tracks and brings a whole new perspective to this already amazing album! RIP SOPHIE
ST. VINCENT PLEASE!!! She released an album on Friday called "All Born Screaming" and it's been one of the most acclaimed albums of the year. I would recommend it but i'd rather for you to react to a couple of her previous albums beforehand, most specifically "Actor", "Strange Mercy" or "MASSEDUCTION"!
RIP SOPHIE, she died due to an accident back in 2021. She was incredibly influential to hyperpop and branches outside of it inspiring artists like EDEN, Charli XCX, and Brakence (who you should definitely react to btw)
Her biggest influence is Autechre. I know Tri Repetae wasn't exactly your favourite, I personally think you should have started with LP5 instead... Soooo I'm going to recommend LP5 by Autechre :D again ! Edit: Please 🙏
LOVE YOUR VIDEOS MY GUY let me cross one off of my list a few recommendations: Process - Sampha (experimental r&b, great production) Nurture - Porter Robinson (light summer electric with fun production) Koi No Yokan - Deftones (very heavy, sexier and heavier radiohead imo) Hypochondriac - Brakence (very experimental emo rap, glitch pop) Reading Writing And Arithmetic - The Sundays (the smiths ish, with beautiful female vocals)
At the risk of sounding pretentious or gatekeep-y: there's something in this album so personal and unique yet familiar and shared among us trans/nb folks. It's not just the high quality production or the interesting sounds. It's an experience that will forever escape the cisgendered individuals that encounter her music. She took us through the journey, gave us a glimpse into what the future could sound and be like, but left us to discover it ourselves. Rest In Power, Sophie. We will never forget you.
Definitely react to charli xcx as well her self titled and how I'm feelibg now are my favs People love Pop 2 because this was when she sort of started to actualise her sound but I think she still hadn't perfected it but it was still a bold statement
The lyrics definitely connect on a different level to trans people. I appreciated the production when I first heard this, but years later, after going on my own gender journey, this whole album hit me in such a profound way.
