''Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides'' (stylised in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is the debut studio album by British recording artist and producer

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

and the only one to be released during her lifetime. It was released on 15 June 2018, through

Transgressive Transgressive may mean: *Transgressive art, a name given to art forms that violate perceived boundaries *Transgressive fiction, a modern style in literature *Transgressive Records, a United Kingdom-based independent record label *Transgressive (l ...

Future Classic Future Classic is an Australian independent record label, artist management team, touring agency, and music publisher. Background Future Classic was founded in 2004 by Nathan McLay. McLay was appointed to the board of Music Australia, which ...

and Sophie's own label, MSMSMSM. The title may be a

mondegreen A mondegreen () is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. "A misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing, esp. of the lyrics to a song". Mondegreens are most often create ...

of the phrase "I love every person's insides". The album was Sophie's second full-length release after the singles collection '' Product'' (2015). The album was met with widespread acclaim by critics and received a nomination for the

Best Dance/Electronic Album The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards — a ceremony that was established in 1958 — honor quality dance music, dance and electronica albums in any given year. The award was first presented ...

at the

61st Annual Grammy Awards The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and fo ...

. Three promotional singles were released off the album: " It's Okay to Cry", " Ponyboy", and " Faceshopping". A

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson ('' Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 200 ...

, '' Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides Non-Stop Remix Album'', was released in July 2019.

Background

In an interview with ''

Jezebel Jezebel ()"Jezebel"
(US) and

'', Sophie stated that she "didn't really see a lot of value in the album as a musical statement. But the industry seems to find it very important. If I want to get my music heard, which I do, it’s kind of crystallized as an album." She also revealed her plans to release an accompanying "double remix" album, originally intended to include remixes made by her friends. The album's working title was ''Whole New World''.

Composition

''Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides'' incorporates an eclectic array of genres and styles including

avant-pop Avant-pop is popular music that is experimental, new, and distinct from previous styles while retaining an immediate accessibility for the listener. The term implies a combination of avant-garde sensibilities with existing elements from popular ...

, industrial music,

glitch music Glitch is a genre of experimental electronic music that emerged in the 1990s, which is distinguished by the deliberate use of glitches in audio media and other sonic artifacts. The sounds featured in glitch tracks usually come from audio recordi ...

, electro,

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

, EDM,

ambient house Ambient house is a downtempo subgenre of house music that first emerged in the late 1980s, combining elements of acid house and ambient music. The genre developed in chill-out rooms and specialist clubs as part of the UK's dance music scene. It ...

industrial techno Industrial techno is a subgenre of techno and industrial dance music that originated in the 1990s. Characteristically, it incorporates influences from the bleak, noisy sound and aesthetics of early industrial music acts, particularly Cabaret Vol ...

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

, trap,

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...

, and

musique concrete Musique is the French word for music. Musique may also refer to: Music *Musique (disco band), a 1970s studio band produced by Patrick Adams *Musique, a British dance act consisting of Moussa Clarke and Nick Hanson best known for their 2001 song ...

. Singer Cecile Believe can be heard on all vocal tracks on the album except "Not Okay", which contains sampled vocals from Kota Banks.

Songs

The opening track " It's Okay to Cry" is a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

that begins with Sophie softly and intimately singing with 1980s-style synthesizer arrangements, before the song intensifies and Sophie's vocals

crescendo In music, the dynamics of a piece are the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings require interpretation by the performer depending ...

to a wail. It was Sophie's first song as a singer-songwriter, and its lyrics and music video were taken as Sophie publicly coming out as

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

. " Ponyboy" and " Faceshopping" are playfully aggressive and hyperactive tracks that make use of

pitch shift Pitch shifting is a sound recording technique in which the original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered. Effects units that raise or lower pitch by a pre-designated musical interval ( transposition) are known as pitch shifters. Pitch and ...

ing. "Ponyboy" contains references to

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often Eroticism, erotic practices or Sexual roleplay, roleplaying involving Bondage (BDSM), bondage, Discipline (BDSM), discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given ...

, while "Faceshopping" alludes to themes of transgender identity and

transhumanism Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the human enhancement, enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available new and future technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cogni ...

Promotion

The first single, "It's Okay to Cry", was released alongside a self-directed music video of Sophie, naked, singing directly to the camera in a studio setting behind digital skies and rainbow. The video marked Sophie's "first proper public appearance". The second single, "Ponyboy", was released in December 2017. For its music video, Sophie worked with performance collective FlucT to choreograph "a dramatized ''

ménage à trois A () is a domestic arrangement or committed relationship consisting of three people in polyamorous romantic or sexual relations with each other, and often dwelling together. The phrase is a loan from French meaning "household of three". ...

''". The third and final single, "Faceshopping", deals with gender, beauty, and the body and features vocals by Cecile Believe. Its accompanying music video distorts 3D renderings of Sophie's face, intercut with strobing images.

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, ''Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides'' received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 86, based on 22 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Writing for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', Sasha Geffen praised the album as "sprawling and beautiful, while still keeping the disorienting,

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

-pop feel of her fascinating

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

technique" and said that while Sophie's "early singles exhibited a keen feel for economy and a killer sense of humor, ''OIL'' makes a bid for transcendent beauty." Peter Boulos of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' said, "For all the praise that could be heaped on the bulk of Sophie's output, the best that comes to mind is that it sounds like no one else could have made ''Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides''. This is the kind of music that, in 20 years, we may look back on as a pivotal point in changing the trajectory of the pop music sound." Reviewing the album for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Heather Phares compared it favorably to Sophie's preceding release '' Product'', claiming "Sophie is never indecisive as she takes her sounds and concepts to extremes. Where ''Product'' felt like a collection of alien pop hits, ''Oil of Every Pearls Un-Insides'' abounds with interludes, passages, and major statements that allow her to dig deeper on the album's second half." Joe Rivers of '' Clash'' wrote, "Sophie manages to incorporate the personal without detracting from what set her apart in the first place, and it makes for a record that's as affecting as it is thrilling."

Accolades

Track listing

Banks was initially uncredited on the album. This has since been changed on most streaming platforms, due to the song containing prominent samples of her vocals from an unreleased collaboration with Sophie.

Personnel

Music *

– lead vocals (1–3, 6 and 9), background vocals, processed vocals (7), production and mixing * Cecile Believe – lead vocals (2–5, 8 and 9), background vocals (1), processed vocals (7) *

Noonie Bao Jonnali Mikaela Parmenius (born 9 August 1987), better known by the stage name Noonie Bao, is a Swedish singer, songwriter and record producer. She has written songs for artists such as Don Diablo, Ava Max, Katy Perry, Zara Larsson, Charli XCX, ...

– background vocals (track 9) * Banoffee – background vocals (8) * Nick Harwood – vocals * Benjamin Long – mixing, vocal engineering, studio engineering *

Kota Banks Jessica Mimi Porfiri (born 13 October 1994), who performs as Kota Banks, is an Australian pop singer-songwriter and musician. She signed to Nina Las Vegas's label, NLV Records, in May 2017, which released Banks' ten-track extended play, ''Priz ...

– sampled vocals (6) Nick Harwood listed without specifying whether he performed background or lead vocals or which songs he appeared on. Artwork * Eric Wrenn – art direction * Charlotte Wales – photography * Julia Wagner – set design * Coco Campbell – dress design * Emily Schubert – design (dress design) * B34 – design (textiles) * Nick Harwood – creative direction * Sophie – creative direction

Charts

Release history

References

Notes

References

External links

Official Sophie website
{{Authority control 2018 debut albums Sophie (musician) albums Transgressive Records albums Albums produced by Sophie (musician) Ambient albums by Scottish artists Glitch (music) albums Electronic dance music albums by Scottish artists Bubblegum pop albums Experimental pop albums Transgender-related music LGBTQ-related albums Hyperpop albums