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Sophisti-pop is a pop music subgenre that developed during the mid-1980s out of the British new wave era. It originated with acts who blended elements of jazz, soul, and pop with lavish production. The term "sophisti-pop" was coined only after the genre's peak in the mid-late 1980s.
Sophisti-pop was a smooth, jazzy style of mainstream pop/rock that appeared during the mid-'80s. In addition to jazz, many sophisti-pop artists incorporated sweet pop-soul into their sound, but the synthesizers that usually polished the arrangements marked sophisti-pop as a product of the '80s.
Oct 18, 2023 · In the mid-1980s, UK bands began playing a concoction of soul, jazz, and synth, now categorized under a winsome portmanteau: “sophisti-pop.” Like yacht rock, music taxonomists retroactively…
- Craig Lachance
Top 100 Greatest Sophisti-Pop Songs. A new music service with official albums, singles, videos, remixes, live performances and more for Android, iOS and desktop.
- Smooth Operator by Sade. Could anything else have been number one? Sade represented the pinnacle of sophistication in music, from sound to image, with the jet-setting lyrics and velvety jazz arrangements being just as important as the stunning album covers.
- It’s My Life by Talk Talk. Talk Talk are one of the best and most well-known sophisti-pop groups, although it’s remarkable how short their tenure as purveyors of the genre was.
- The Look of Love, Part I by ABC. Cinematic, lush, danceable, funny and insanely catchy, what doesn’t this song have going for it? The Look of Love is just a perfect song through and through, with a magnificent string section, funky slap bass mixed with a squelching synth counterpart, disco guitars, and most importantly for the purposes of our list, a very sophisticated horn line.
- Headlights on the Parade by The Blue Nile. The Blue Nile aren’t one of the best-known sophisti-pop acts, but they certainly embodied the genre well. While their music is indescribable in many ways and hardly slots into a comfortable genre, I’ve listened to their second album Hats so many times that it has stopped becoming music at this point.
Jul 30, 2021 · Check out Sweetwater’s official sophisti-pop playlist on Spotify to hear some of our favorite sophisti-pop songs of the 1980s as well as modern tracks inspired by the elegant subgenre!
Aug 25, 2021 · Top 15 Sophisti-Pop Albums. By Classic Pop | August 25, 2021. By mixing elements of jazz, R&B and soul, a new wave of artist emerged during the mid-80s, bringing with them a certain cultured elegance to the charts. Here is our pick of the best sophisti-pop albums. By Oliver Hurley.
