Welcome to the New York Times Popcast, your archive of the ephemeral of music news and

criticism.

I'm your host John Caramannica.

We're here today. We're going to talk about Sophie. As you probably know, Sophie died right at the

end of January. Sophie was 34 and died in an accident in Athens where Sophie'd been living.

Look, it's early, we're in February in 2021. I feel like on Popcast, we've already done a lot

of mourning, right? We did a lot of mourning last year. We've already done a bunch this year on

Popcast, and I was a little hesitant or a little stressed about doing more mourning. There are so many

things to feel anxiety and angst and sadness about. But I will say every time I listen to Sophie,

both before this tragic accident and since I feel ecstatic, I feel exuberant, I feel joyful,

I feel optimistic and hopeful and pure. And when we're talking about Sophie today, I think that's

really what's going to emerge from the conversation is the potential to feel free. And I think the more we

listen, the freer we're going to feel, the more joyful we're going to feel, the more hopeful we're

going to feel. So, a couple folks calling in today, Sasha Geffen is calling in. Sasha wrote a book

came out last year, it's called Glitter Up The Dark, how pop music broke the binary,

Sasha right to her pitchfork, the nation, art forum, and interviewed Sophie back in 2017

for Vulture. One of the important profiles of Sophie also shouts to JP, who's not here today,

but JP written extensively about Sophie, including a great profile. Also, Phil Sherburn is calling in.

I should say both Sasha and Phil first time on pop cast, my bad, but I'm happy to have both of them.

Phil is a longtime chronicler of electronic music. He's a contributing editor at pitchfork and

has written extensively about Sophie and associated scenes. So, we're going to talk about Sophie and

exuberance and identity and productions that are Sophie songs and productions for other people

...