St. Vincent has spoken about how a track on her upcoming album ‘All Born Screaming’ was inspired by the tragic death of SOPHIE.
In January 2021, the highly influential DJ and producer SOPHIE died at the age of 34 in a fall from a hotel rooftop in Athens.
St. Vincent’s Annie Clark has now paid tribute to the artist with the song ‘Sweetest Fruit’, and in an interview with The Guardian, she has revealed how the circumstances inspired the track.
“The internet twists things, and I don’t want it to be seen like I’m trying to capitalise on somebody’s death,” she said. “I was an admirer from afar, we never met, but I read about the way that she fell because she was trying to get a better look at the moon, which was just the most beautiful, poetic thing I’ve ever heard.”
She went on to explain that the song in question is about “people trying for transcendence, and at least they were taking a big swing or trying for something beautiful”.
This week, St. Vincent made her return with the “gnarly” comeback single ‘Broken Man’ and confirmed that her new album ‘All Born Screaming’ will be out on April 26.
Speaking to NME about the mood of the album, Clark described it as the “sound of the inside of my head”, adding: ““For me, the record is black, white and all the colours in the fire, because it’s about life and death. Life and death is pretty binary – you’re alive or you’re dead. The record’s about what is to be alive and to embrace that agony and ecstasy.”
St. Vincent’s tribute follows a recent confirmation from Charli XCX that she has also penned a song on her new album that was inspired by her friendship with SOPHIE.
Charli and SOPHIE worked together on many projects, beginning in 2015 with the former’s ‘Vroom Vroom’ EP. They went on to collaborate on the singles ‘After the Afterparty’, ‘No Angel’, and ‘Girls Night Out’, as well as the ‘Number 1 Angel’ tracks ‘Roll With Me’ and ‘Lipgloss’, and ‘Pop 2’ track ‘Out of My Head’.
And the singer has said that a track on her forthcoming sixth album ‘Brat’ will explore her grief following the producer’s death.
“There was a lot of distance between us because I was in awe of her and wanted to impress her,” she said.
“She believed in me in ways that I didn’t believe [in] myself. But I felt like I would never be interesting enough to operate in her world outside of the studio, which was the safe space where we could connect and bond over music.”