Big Freedia EP, SOPHIE-Produced, Out Eight Years After Recording

May 7. Big Freedia announced a three-track EP produced by SOPHIE, recorded in 2016 and held for eight years. The release lands next month via Asylum, finally surfacing the fan-circulated 'Blaze That Ass' alongside two other tracks from the same sessions.

The timing matters. 2016 was SOPHIE's peak hyperpop moment, the year 'It's Okay to Cry' arrived and reconfigured what a pop vocal could sound like over her own production. Freedia was already a decade into bounce, the New Orleans street sound built on call-and-response and Triggerman samples. The pairing made sense then in a way it wouldn't now. SOPHIE's late work shifted ambient, quieter, more patient. This EP catches the before.

'Blaze That Ass' has circulated in poor rips since at least 2017, played at club nights and passed through Soundcloud chains. The official release upgrades the fidelity but doesn't revise the track. It's a document, not a remaster for contemporary ears. The other two remain unheard outside the studio until next month.

Freedia's recent output has leaned toward major-label gloss, features with Kesha and Lizzo, a safer center lane. This EP predates that pivot by a year. It's the last moment both artists were working at the edge of their respective genres before either moved inward.

The press note credits both artists but offers no context for the delay. Eight years is long enough to suggest label limbo, clearance tangles, or simple shelving. Whatever the reason, the material arrives now as a historical marker rather than a new collaboration. It documents a specific crossover moment that closed shortly after these sessions wrapped.