What is the most honest sound you can think of?

SOPHIE ponders my question over lunch at her favorite diner in Los Angeles. Nestled in a corner booth, the equally revered and reviled electronic music artist pulls a leather jacket painted with cartoon ponies and the word “TECHNO” over her willowy frame. "An honest sound…?” she murmurs, brows furrowing behind gold wire-framed glasses. It is a sweltering hot October afternoon. Outside, a distant Hollywood sign winks in the sun.

Los Angeles is a paradise for pop queens — and those who make their beats. Born in Scotland, SOPHIE moved here two years ago after stints in Berlin and London; her knack for twisting candy rave music to its most ecstatic extremes has since cinched her coproducing credits for Madonna and Charli XCX, as well as studio time with Rihanna.

Tackling my question, she hesitantly suggests that a hip-hop producer’s signature drop, like the classic “Mike WiLL Made It,” could be considered an “honest” sound. Then she shakes coils of crimson hair from her face with a frown. “Boring answer,” she sighs. “I’ll get back to you.”

“Boring” is the last word you’d associate with SOPHIE, one of the most revolutionary artists in recent electronic music history. Her breakout tracks “Bipp/Elle” (2013) and “Lemonade/Hard” (2014) sounded like little else before it: Barbie voices singing sweet seduction over black waves of bass, yearning strings, and alien pops and squeaks so vivid you could almost taste them.

Depending on your willingness to walk the tightrope between pleasure and pain, immersing yourself in this world of synthetic thrills can be as divine as a lick of ice-cream at Berghain — or the most grating three minutes of your life. By the time she released her 2015 debut album, Product, “What do you think of SOPHIE?” had become a litmus test for where you stand on questions of “good” and “bad” taste, while inevitably stirring up fiery debates on what defines pop music itself.