In an unexpectedly moving feature at the top of Google’s search platform, the company’s Doodle today honours the late artist Sophie Xeon, known as SOPHIE.
Designed in collaboration with Sophie’s family, the Google Doodle marks the birthday of the visionary Scottish musician and producer celebrated for her experimental electronic hyperpop. Sophie died in a sudden accident in 2021 at the age of 34 in Athens, Greece.
The Google Doodle also comes a week before a final, posthumous, self-titled album, SOPHIE, is to be released through labels Transgressive and Future Classic. According to Pitchfork, Sophie had almost finished the album before she died. Produced by Sophie and her brother Benny Long, with contributions from friends and collaborators like Kim Petras, BC Kingdom, Evita Manji, and Popstar, the album is out Sept. 27.
Clicking on today’s Doodle will prompt an animated music video set to the 2018 song “Immaterial” from her Grammy-nominated debut album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, the only album she released — though her 2015 collection of singles PRODUCT is all-time.
Google posted a statement from Sophie’s family and friends on its Doodle blog. The detailed reflection speaks to Sophie’s love of electronic music and festivals from an early age, her influences like Orbital, Moby, and The Prodigy, her emergence as a truly unique, intuitive, and futurist artist, DJ, and producer in the 2010s, and the making of her posthumous album.
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“SOPHIE, the self-titled follow-up album, though always intended as a more accessible, more ‘pop’ sounding record, undoubtedly maintains Sophie’s uncompromising and infinitely ambitious outlook,” the statement reads. “Made with her brother and many of her closest friends and collaborators, the album sits somewhere between a SOPHIE live show in the clouds, a massive party in her recording studio and the sweatiest club you’ve ever been to hosted by SOPHIE and friends.”
“The future has always been a big part of Sophie, and we hope Sophie continues to be a big part of the future,” the statement concludes. “As always with Sophie, exactly what comes next and what shape it takes remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, there is a lot more still to come.”
“The future has always been a big part of Sophie, and we hope Sophie continues to be a big part of the future.”
Many are reacting to the Google Doodle in the comments of the Short, with fans finding it a beautiful surprise on a tech platform.
“Never expected a Google Doodle to bring tears to my eyes, but here we are. Love and miss you forever, Sophie,” wrote @hoby7439.
“i miss her everyday, rest in peace our hyperpop queen,” wrote @VULNICURRA.
“what a beautiful treat to see this on my google homepage! Sophie is missed! i listen to her music every day,” wrote @laurenisalltherage.