PC Music Are for Real: A. G. Cook and Sophie Talk Twisted Pop
Cook: I think it’s great that you worked on a track with a lot of attitude.
Sophie: I think all pop music should be about who can make the loudest, brightest thing. That, to me, is an interesting challenge, musically and artistically. And I think it’s a very valid challenge – just as valid as who can be the most raw emotionally. I don’t know why that is prioritized by a lot of people as something that’s more valuable. The challenge I’m interested in being part of is who can use current technology, current images and people, to make the brightest, most intense, engaging thing.
Cook: Pop always has to be so concise, but it also has to be so big at the same time.
What’s your creative dynamic like when the two of you work together?
Sophie: I remember when we first sat down and tried to do music together. It was the first time in my life I’d ever had the sensation of being able to sit on the sofa in the back and feel confident that the music was moving in a direction that I liked without me being in control at the computer.
Cook: I was the first person you let touch your laptop.
Sophie: Yeah. That was an important moment for me.
Cook: We’re both obsessive about music, but the stuff that we do to practice our obsession is quite different. Sophie will spend a lot of time doing sound design, trying to recreate real-world sounds through synthesizers and stuff like that. And the way I’ll obsessively spend time is doing loads and loads of chords in the most basic, boring MIDI sounds. And then we both spend a lot of time thinking about hooks and how those connect.
Sophie: It’s about using a whole palette of feelings and emotions, the way the best composers do, like Mozart or Beethoven or whatever. Not to compare ourselves, but they’re capable of writing the most cheerful melodies and at the same time the most haunting things – and it’s actually the same skill. A lot of the best producers that I look up to have that ability.
It’s been argued that both of you are appropriating, misusing or objectifying femininity in your music. What’s your response?
Cook: I really think it changes from artist to artist. GFOTY’s take on femininity is one thing. She’ll say she hates other girls and wants to steal their boyfriends – and now she has a whole fan base of girls who look up to her, because she’s a really strong personality. And then Hannah Diamond is a much more formal kind of pop star. What I’ve felt is that because I knew them as people, I wanted that to speak really loudly through the music. I wouldn’t have written “Pink and Blue” without Hannah involved. She had to be there for that idea to exist. Similar to all the GFOTY stuff: It’s her energy in there, and we build it around that. I think that there is a zeitgeist at the moment about gender identity. You can’t really ignore it if you’re doing pop music. It’s about taking it head-on – doing music that sometimes will feel more feminine, sometimes feel more masculine, and raising questions about what either of those even mean.
Sophie: I’ve always been on the side of raising those questions and being critical, rather than just falling into saying, “I’m a man, and I’m making man music, and that’s my place. I don’t have any right to be anywhere else.” I’d rather collaborate with my friends who are whatever gender they please, or have very fluid ideas about gender. I don’t think that falling into those pre-defined roles helps anything. What do people want exactly, making these accusations? What do they think is a constructive way to play this situation? I view the people that I work with, girls and boys and people who identify as whatever gender they please, as strong individuals. For instance, working with someone like Madonna – Madonna’s calling the final shots. The pop star calls the shots. There’s no industry head-honcho who’s bossing everyone around. It was the same when I met with Miley Cyrus’ A&R people. They’re scared of her! And it’s the same with the people we work with. I can’t boss people around.
Sorry, did you just say you met with Miley Cyrus’ A&R?
Sophie: Yeah. You know these trips around New York, meeting all of these A&R people. Most of them don’t even know who you are.
QT seems to be the breakout star from your world at the moment. Why do you think that is?
Sophie: It’s palpable at the events how much the audience love QT as an energy and a personality. And that’s nothing to do with our involvement. That’s the way that she is, distilled into this music thing. I can’t imagine anyone else being able to sustain one song over a year and a half period and have people love her. People dress up like her, and they tell her at concerts, “You mean so much to me. You helped me get through some difficult times.” That’s something she’s been exclusively capable of because of the way that she is.
Her energy drink just went on sale. What does it taste like?
Cook: It tastes quite nice. I drank it before my set.
So it’s not just Red Bull in the can?
Cook: No, no! QT has been speaking to drink manufacturers and taste labs and all those kinds of things for over a year now. No assistance from the corporation on that side. It’s an independent drink at the moment.
Why did you choose to work with a corporate sponsor for Pop Cube? Was it just so that you could get the resources to do something cool?
Sophie: Well, no. We wanted it to fall outside the feeling of a normal music event – something in between a fashion show, an art museum, and a TV network. To facilitate that sort of thing, we had to have an extra sponsor.
Cook: Even beyond facilitating, it legitimized it in a symbolic way. Red Bull does Formula One as well as these music events. That makes it feel more real, and less of a fantasy. This is the kind of thing that brands do.
Sophie: More and more, you’re going to see everything funded by sponsors. Why not utilize those opportunities and bring them to the fore and be honest about the interaction? I don’t think that’s anything to hide.
As long as we’re being honest, there are rumors that Red Bull actually owns PC Music. Care to clear the air?
[Both burst out laughing.]
Sophie: That would be amazing!
Cook: That’s hilarious. I think that would be a little too far. I’m just enjoying that PC Music is becoming its own brand, like the next Red Bull.
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted before Sophie discussed her transness and pronouns. It has since been updated and corrected.