- "Bipp" felt outrageously twee when it dropped last year. But with the rise of acts like A.G. Cook, Hannah Diamond and their PC Music crew, SOPHIE's music has a context: childlike, hyperactive pop that some are labelling "cute" and others are aligning with the Japanese idea of kawaii (see Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, who SOPHIE is now working with).
"LEMONADE" is a dizzy love song cut from the same cotton-candy cloth as "Bipp," only now it's been deep fried and covered in icing sugar. This twisted little banger is bound to turn many listeners off—among its parts are high-pitched vocals barking out phrases like "ca-ca-candy boys" and synths that fizz like pop rocks. "HARD," meanwhile, is a Fisher-Price grime tune built with stuttering drums and toy string instruments that pluck out its central melody. The basslines almost seem too big for such a tiny framework, and coupled with the Hannah Diamond-style vocal ("platform shoes, kick so hard / ponytail, yank so hard"), it sounds like a parody of machismo UK dance music.
Both tracks are short but have brief surges in energy: a jittery synth run on "HARD," and trance-inspired orchestral hits on "LEMONADE." You could make a whole tune out of just that last passage, but for SOPHIE it's a mere tangent. It's almost frustrating how quickly it disappears—but then pop music is about instant gratification.
Tracklist01. Lemonade
02. Hard