Hunter Holder
SOPHIE and Big Freedia are a formidable match.
Even though they’re from disparate scenes, both the late PC Music pioneer and the NOLA Bounce legend make music that vibrates with both heart and kinetic danceability. Plus, as Big Freedia tells The FADER in a June video call, they "represent the same community.” “We [were on] the same team. We just didn’t know each other [yet],” says Freedia of the times before she met the “Immaterial”-singer and producer.
The two LGBT musical trailblazers got to combine forces for one magical, all too fleeting session at SOPHIE’s Los Angeles home studio in 2016. “We were just pouring out magic,” recalls Freedia. In that one packed session, they made three tracks, which have been sitting dormant since then and since SOPHIE’s tragic, untimely passing in 2021.
SOPHIE played the tracks at shows, and the files had floated around internet music circles for years, but it took until 2026 to put out the release in “the proper way.” Now, Big Freedia, in conjunction with SOPHIE’s family and estate, will be officially releasing an eagerly anticipated EP, aptly titled Released At Last on June 19. “On God's time,” says Freedia of the forthcoming EP's awaited release.
Fans have already gotten to hear the fearsome dance cut “Blaze That Ass” and the laser-lit hit heater, “Go Down.” And Freedia’s gotten to perform them too on her current tour: “It gets the party moving,” she says, proudly.
Big Freedia chatted with The FADER about her magical session with SOPHIE and tapping MUNA for a feature on the EP. Plus, she teases some more collaborations to come, expanding on the musical world she's built with SOPHIE.
Hunter Holder
The FADER: Take me back to when you met SOPHIE. I know you recorded all this music in one afternoon. Can you tell me about your time together?
Big Freedia: I wanted to work with SOPHIE, so my publishing company reached out to her team and connected us together. I went to her house in the hills and she was so sweet, loving, and welcoming. We started diving into the day. She started playing different tracks and then we identified three different tracks. I just started riffing different little lyrics and freestyling some stuff. She was like, "Yes, come on and lay that down." I started to lay stuff down and throughout the day we were just connecting and vibing. She was just so excited and I was excited because she was making me excited. Magic started happening.
Now we're here 10 years later and the fans get to appreciate the fruits of her labor. It's such a surreal moment for me because [I’m] wishing that she was here to see the impact that the music has, leaving something so special behind. [It’s] just another little piece of her being able to come out at this time. It’s perfect timing. I'm just grateful to be able to have the opportunity to have worked with her.
You said that you had reached out because you were a fan of her music. Do you remember the first song you heard or what captured your attention about her work?
Just being in the circle that I was, she was just buzzing. A couple of friends of mine would put me on to different artists. I started checking her out and I'm like, She's dope. She kind of represents the same thing that I represent and the same community of people. So I reached out to my manager and my manager reached out to the publishing company. We just started putting the pieces together and lo and behold, she was like, "Oh, yes, I love Big Freedia, let's do it." And that's how the magic really started happening: just being a fan of her through friends. I don't remember exactly what song they first let me hear, but they just played a few things on the laptop one day. We were at the house kicking it and that's how I fell in love with her.
Every producer has their own ways of working. What was SOPHIE’s way of working?
We were all over the place. Going through different tracks and then if it caught my attention, I would be like, "Yes, I like this beat." She would put that beat to the side and then we'll play it for a while. Then I will come up with some lyrics and then we'll run through some more tracks and then if I like something else, we'll stop on that track and put it on repeat. [I’d say,], “Let me come up with some more lyrics.” We both were happy. She was like, "Oh my god, you gave me so many vocals to be able to play with." Then she did her thing on them, and started creating the magic once I was gone.
It's been over 5 years since her passing. Her legacy just continues to grow. What do you think she represents?
Non-conforming … kind of what I represent, the same community. We’re out loud and bold and proud of the things that we love and the people that we love. Her music shows you how happy and excited she was to be a vibrant artist, to be able to put the love and work into it.
I know we have MUNA on the tracks now. I assume that came more recently. Can you tell me about that and any other future collaborations to come with this project?
That came out recently. They were able to flip one of the tracks and and do something special. We're not done yet. There's going to be some other surprises that come out as well to make the music last even longer and to to let the legacy continue to grow. I have some ideas and the family's okay with them, so we are gonna do some more flipping.
