Sophie Xeon, better known as SOPHIE, passed away on Jan. 30, 2021, three years after the release of her sole studio album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. 

SOPHIE carved her place into the world of music with stylized pop sounds, ranging from intense noise to ethereal vocals, and sweetened synthesizers. Her solo works are synonymous with a frontier of music not yet explored. This pioneering in the music industry extended to her production work with other artists like Madonna, Vince Staples and Charli XCX. Along with her work in music, SOPHIE was known for her advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights. SOPHIE herself being a transgender woman made her an icon and inspiration to many LGBTQ+ people across the world. 

Her untimely death rocked music fans and members of the LGBTQ+ community across the world, and many rushed to memorialize her. Chief among these memorials, fans began a petition to have planet TOI-1338 b renamed in her honor. The planet was chosen due to its similarity to the cover of SOPHIE’s album, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. The following June, WGSBN published a bulletin revealing that asteroid 1980 RE1 was instead renamed to give the late artist a place among the stars.

This year, fans were inspired by Sophie Ellis-Baxter’s success with her song “Murder on Dancefloor” after it was featured in the film “Saltburn.” The song rocketed to #58 on Billboard’s Hot 100 almost 23 years after its release. SOPHIE fans are trying to replicate this effect in an effort they have named “Immaterial Week.” The week of Jan. 19-26 has been devoted to promoting “Immaterial,” one of the more popular tracks off SOPHIE’s sole album.

Fans are sharing guides to this effort online, instructing people to buy the specific song on iTunes and other music platforms along with streaming and sharing it as much as possible.