Sophie effortlessly changing music forever with her debut album proper Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides in 2018. I was slow to pick up on it despite Faceshopping being a banger. I'm slow to pick up on a lot of things: I haven't started watching series three of The Traitors yet.
Her brother leads the charge on this posthumous album. You'd kind of think that her legacy wasn't worth meddling with, although (a) a lot of the album was already finished, and (b) Sophie's reputation has bloomed in recent years, with Google dedicating a Doodle to her and Charli XCX dedicating an album to her.
Sophie surprisingly engrossing. Sparkle pop provides the sweetness, like mainlining a sherbet dib-dab. But there are frenetic beats in the classic vein of IDM / EDM. There's farty electro, dirty techno, smothered rave and liquid r'n'b. Even a speckling of spoken word starring Nina Kraviz.
Critics will point to the preponderance of guest stars as evidence that there isn't much Sophie on Sophie. And 18 guest spots on 16 tracks does indeed make for a very crowded buffet table at the party. But it's fun. Big Sister does spoilt clowning on Do You Wanna Be Alive. Juliana Huxtable is a sassy tannoy announcer on Plunging Asymptote. And Sophie's partner Evita Manji does a, er, sassy German tannoy announcer on Berlin Nightmare.
I'm glad this made my top twenty, despite it breaching my vague rule of not including anything too poppy. Please send My Forever to the top of the charts immediately.
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