Ampify Sounds: Avant-Pop — Celebrating SOPHIE
SOPHIE’s impact on the music industry cannot be understated. Her legacy will be felt across numerous genres, from radio to raves, because of how she broke apart convention for those that refused to fit in. From creating new sonic worlds, to famously turning the sound of drinking through a straw into a spectacular pop track, she forged her own path and invented new ways to make music.
In her honour, Ampify will be releasing a soundpack called Avant-Pop. This soundpack celebrates SOPHIE’s unique musical voice, as well as the community brought together through her music. Consisting of sounds built around bubblegum hyper-pop melodies and catchy synth leads, contrasted by brutal, harsh beats, experimental textured layers and heavily sound-designed effects, we hope that this soundpack inspires our users to celebrate their identity and be fearless in expressing it through their music.
The undiluted intensity of SOPHIE’s music will be cherished by queer communities and music lovers for countless years to come. SOPHIE’s music tells you to dance, to accept yourself, to be confident, vulnerable and fearless in who you are. All these things are so highly valued by queer communities. SOPHIE’s music is their medicine. Being able to hear your feelings and emotions echoed back to you isn’t a common experience for queer and trans people, and to have it expressed as gracefully, and as clearly as SOPHIE does is an undeniably healing experience. To see someone in your own image, or who you can relate to through shared experiences, achieving the things that she did and being loved and adored by so many, has inspired hope and creativity in countless people in the queer community. SOPHIE’s impact is truly immeasurable.
To further support LGBT+ communities, the proceeds* from this soundpack are being donated to Spectra, an LGBT+ health and mental wellbeing service, with specific services for trans people. Founded in 1996, Spectra now offers sexual health services across the LGBT+ spectrum, and counselling, social groups, workshops and one-to-one mentoring for trans people. In a time where support networks are of the utmost importance, Spectra is providing an essential service to the trans community. Spectra provides vital support networks and meeting spaces to aid trans people who are often precariously housed and rely on chosen family for support. Their mental health services are saving trans lives at a time when healthcare is incredibly hard to access. The loss of SOPHIE has of course left the community in mourning, at a time when many are struggling already. Supporting trans communities is essential now more than ever, and Sprectra's services can help trans people feel more hopeful and less alone; Spectra is offering a life line at an incredibly trying time for trans people.
Beyond the visible representation she offered for queer and trans people, SOPHIE’s creativity was uniquely inspiring. Crafting unfamiliar and enticing soundscapes, propped up by aggressive and grating beats laced with synth-adorned sensitivity, SOPHIE’s originality is admired throughout the creative world. The work that she produced has inspired many and grown beyond her into an entire culture of post-real hyperart.
Her musical influence and impact on the art world is undeniable. Producing for artists like Madonna, Charli XCX and Vince Staples, she moved between genres with fluidity, and created a sound that is unmistakably her own, influencing the direction of the wider music industry as a result. SOPHIE introduced delightfully alien and discordant sounds into a mainstream system, the effects of which will not go unnoticed. Her skill in utilising her experimental dance music roots to create chart-topping pop songs is nothing short of genius.
SOPHIE created her own spectacular sonic world, and her voice will echo throughout the culture of our times.
Find out more about Spectra: Podcast, Website, Twitter
* all of Ampify's proceeds apart from 15% Apple fee will go towards Spectra