Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides

Whoever added this is a hero. Losing SOPHIE might be one of the worst things to happen to modern music.

I hope you can still see the moon, Sophie.

I was immediately sort of turned off by this. I wanted the bass to be higher and I wanted the beat to "make sense". But the deeper I got into it, the more incredible the whole thing is. I have *never* heard anything even remotely like this. I somewhat recently stumbled upon the term "hyperpop" and I find it to be incredibly challenging. I don't know that I... like it. But hey it's something new! You gotta hand it to these kids, at least they are doing new/exciting/challenging.

Thanks to whoever submitted this offering as I would never have listened to it otherwise. I'm not a big fan of this brand of hyper-pop but I must respect their originality, especially in some of the more experimental tracks.

How this juggernaut aged was the question in mind as I revisited it. We've been in hyperpop's tail, more or less, since 2018, and each of Oil's singles still rings absolutely true. The structure of the record is nearly flawless, two halves separated deliberately. First, shattered - shattering - glass, next fully-formed club pieces. The conclusion is in skull-exploding noisy long-form. It's a dizzying shame we never heard the next step.

I listened to this album right around when it came out because it got a positive review by Anthony Fantano. I wrote it off as being not really my thing, but coming back to it after so long I'm amazed to hear how influential this is. Perhaps some of the older crowd on this site don't have connections to hyperpop and glitchcore, but if Dimery can cram a bunch of DnB on this list, then SOPHIE sure as hell deserves a nod, along with the likes of 100 gecs and Charli XCX. This was a great listen. 8/10

I predicted this would be exactly what it was just looking at the album cover. Super-serious gay indie pop. Nailed it. Overall, pretty abrasive. Too disjointed to dance OR sit and listen to. I don't know where or when you'd crack this out; it felt like performance art more than music half the time. tbh the drone track was cool, I'd have listened to a full album of that. But it's a 2/5.

<<Enter shrug emoji here>>

When the name of the song/artist is in capital letters, you know you are going to listen to some mainstream more-product-than-music thing. After listening to it, I can confirm it's very much generic and brings nothing new to the table. In another era, artists liked to push boundaries, now I guess it's not fashionable.

She died at a young age in sad circumstances, so out of respect I will not say what I think about her creativity. But damn, she makes Björk look like Aqua

Hmmmm 5? Transsexual FKA twigs 4 So interesting! The boring ones were all the same kind of boring though..

A lot of talent here (cut depressingly short from following the Wiki links), but the music really lost me as it went on, a sort of glam-industrial Electronica that just isn't for me.

First song was just okay, like a Gaga-esque pop-song. But the subsequent songs went full on avante-hyperpop. Kind of into those. Sucks she died, would have been nice to see what else they would have produced. I can see the appeal though, I think I'd be into a lot more pop music if this was the predominant style.

Was put off by poppiness of the first song, but it got progressively more intense and experimental as it went along until I was finally on board.

Definitely interesting and glad I listened, but not a big fan of the more abrasive stuff. I hadn't heard of her before, sad that she died much too young. 3 stars.

This was a really interesting listen! Never heard of this artist before, and judging from the wikipedia page, the reason why this remains SOPHIE's only album is pretty tragic: Sophie had been taken to the hospital after accidentally falling three storeys (approximately 42 feet or 13 metres) from the rooftop of a building while attempting to take a picture of the full moon. Very creative and maybe even too much ideas crammed into a single album. Some songs had a Aphex Twin vibe, which is not a bad thing at all!

This is such a striking work, one of the more interesting things I've heard from the past 20 years. Lovely and melodic one moment, aggressively unsettling the next. I find some of the vocal manipulation to be grating, but this album has a level of creativity you don't get to hear much nowadays. Thank you for sharing. Fave Songs: Is It Cold in the Water?, Faceshopping, Ponyboy, Infatuation

Oh boy, this is a choice...for sure. I am far and away NOT the target audience of this one. This is so not my genre of choice that it's almost not fair for me to rate it. I really want to hate it, but it seems to be well produced, at least. There are so many worse albums in the book than this one, too, so it's far from a 1/5 to me. Respect if this is your jam; it's just not mine. Sad to hear about the artist's death and I do remember hearing about it when it happened.

Not my thing

This album was a 50/50 for me. The 'heavier' songs I did not like. But the more dreamy ones were okay. But I had a little struggle to get to the end of this album

4/10. The first two tracks sounded wildly different, and I didn't really like either of them. There is a lot going on in this album, and I admire the variety and experimentation, but it definitely isn't approachable. I could see this growing on me if I listened to more stuff like it, but I don't really see that in my future. I liked Immaterial alright, it felt a lot more digestible than the rest of the album. Glad I listened to it, didn't like it.

I read that this was a producer and album was named best disco/electronic album of the year. This may be the case, but for me it was too much electro and too weird I'm afraid.

More performance art than good music. 1.7

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: It’s okay to cry, Ponyboy, Faceshopping, Immaterial, Whole new world

Much more interesting as it went on. Glad to have heard it.

Unfamiliar, but well-received.

I was mystified and fascinated by this one. Do I like this? I don't know. I don't understand. It was certainly never unpleasant. Is it amazing? Is this the 21st century equivalent of prog rock? The feeling I had listening to this was like when my middle school students show me their favorite YouTube Shorts (famous example being Skibidi Toilet). As they seem like a completely random series of images and sounds to me, I have no idea why they like it or what it means, and I feel super old. Or in the words of Grandpa Simpson: "I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me." Today I really felt that for the first time in this project. It's not anything I reject or hate, but I just don't get it. It's something really Gen Alpha. And it's time for us to move forward in music! Bravo! Oh whole new world!

It's just a tragedy that such a talent didn't get the opportunity to fulful so much potential. Mind you - if you're going to produce just one album, this one on its own is a worthy legacy.

From England, Sophie, album from 2018. Genre: Electronic, Avant-pop, experimental, Hyperpop So many different sounds and styles on one album! What a journey. It starts off slow and mellow with It's Okay to Cry, then BAM! It hits you in the face with the heavy electronic Hyperpop sounds of Ponyboy! That's when I fell in love with the album. Standouts: Ponyboy, Faceshopping, Whole New World/Pretend World, Immaterial Others: It's Okay to Cry Rating: 4/5

I’m not familiar enough with hyper pop to be able to discuss this in any detail, but I really enjoyed this album. It was challenging and engaging to the point where I had to listen to it again immediately.

Modern industrial chic. Very zoolander.

Wow… this certainly lived up to the uniqueness the cover might imply. The opening song It’s Okay To Cry was a red herring, as it transitioned into the next clangy two numbers, Ponyboy and Faceshopping. There’s a lot more noise, some near-pop music (Immaterial), then even a track that sounds like it’s out of an Alien film (Pretending). It’s a little all over the place after my first listen, but maybe with more listens (after the initial surprises wore off) this would cohere more. Definitely an interesting album that I’m happy to have been brought to my attention.

RIP queen

Super unique album. Interesting artist history and story. Will check out their other works.

Some songs I like a lot, and some some nice Kate Bush-ish vibes from time to time, but many of the songs did nothing for me.

I'll give it more spins, especially since this was surprisingly fun.

This dominated the indie scene back when it dropped around 2018, and I somehow missed giving it a listen. There’s an immense amount of world building going on here, with some creative production and massive instrumentals creating a real sense of organic space. I do wish the connective tissue were a bit stronger (it feels a bit disjointed and amorphous in parts), but as an experience it was well worth the trip.

A disaster. The critics have been sucked into an a case of emperor’s new clothes. Perhaps two songs and the rest is experimental techno drivel like someone has just acquired their first sampler. Awful.

This was a challenge. It will be some people's favourite album, which I respect, but I personally couldn't get anything out of it and am not sure that most of it is even music. Rating: 1 Playlist track: It's Okay to Cry Date listened: 20/07/24

Avant-pop, bubblegum pop, hyperpop, experimental pop. ¿Pero qué broma es esta? Un 1.

Too soon to be in any Greatest Albums list and even though I always appreciate listening to new music, I couldn’t figure it out much of this one

Annoying. The best thing about it was falling quite short of the hour plus listen that I assumed that this would be.