The multifaceted artist shares details of her new album and her upcoming performance in Mexico City.
From the privacy of a bedroom, Kaya Wilkinsbetter known as Okay Kayareceives us by video call, appearing so relaxed that the conversation flows organically. This naturalness is reflected in her most recent productionOh My God – That's So Mean album with tracks inspired by literature and the complexity of the human being from a fictional perspective.
“I wrote all the songs between 2023 and 2024. And I recorded them on the island I moved to in Norway, near Oslo. And the writing process started with a song called 'The Art of Poetry'which was the initial title of the album, as the provisional title for the record. It is about the first poet in the world looking at the moon and saying 'Oh, My God, That's So Me'. Which is a bit like the language of the internet, you know, of how we want to be seen in terms of relating to inanimate objects or things. I thought that was an interesting starting point. And then the songs just kept coming.”
Fictional stories were the driving force for Wilkins express his ideas and explore human nature, from the darkest to the dreamlike.
“I think I played a lot with fiction. I read a lot of fiction literature and wrote songs based on a fictional character in Tolvian Sonshe GrokeIt seems like a long time ago since I made this record.
There is a song called 'My Baronise'“which is about a man who ends up stealing his beloved’s teeth from the cemetery after she dies. So there are all these strange characters, and I tried to find some humanity in them, I think those were my starting points on the record.”
The Norwegian singer, who lived in New York for a long period, mentions that the production of the album took place at a time when she was limited to going out due to the extreme climate of the country in which she lives. Recorded and produced almost entirely by her, it had the collaboration of Clement Brown in string arrangements, Francisca Eigner (Frankie)and Ollie Burslin on bass and guitar. Finally, the album was mixed and mastered in Oslo Fuzz.
I recorded all the songs in the basement of the house I was renting at the time. Most of them were recorded in January and February, when there was a lot of snow and it was minus 25 degrees. Celsius“so there wasn’t much else to do.”
Wilkinsknown for her surreal visual style, follows that same line in her new album, reimagining abstract beings that personify her protagonists, and sometimes herself. In addition, she plays with the concept of graduation as a common thread that unites all the stories.
“I think from the beginning, when I conceived the album, I was toying with the idea of ​​a song about someone graduating, so the first visual idea I had was of this person wearing a graduation cap, and underneath that, something funny, wearing those tassels. But, because the directors are so different in style, I thought it might be interesting to have that be the thing that tied it all together, like a little nod to the viewer.”
“The title of the album ended up being Oh My God, That's So Me. I guess it's kind of a play on the idea of ​​ego as something fluid, or questioning what the 'I' really is. A lot of the songs are about fictional characters, so there's a kind of blurriness to what this 'I' is. After making a lot of records, I've put my face on them, but on the last one I completely abstracted myself from the visual, using 3D animation with a kind of rubbery doll. I've always played with multiple identities, like on my first record, where there was a twin of Kaya. So yeah, it's an extension of that. I don't think there's anything fixed.”
To pigeonhole Wilkins To only be a singer would limit her versatility. In addition to her role as a composer, she has collaborated as a model for prominent designers, such as Raf Simonsamong others. In 2017, Vogue the nameor “the girl of the season” and that same year she made her acting debut in the Norwegian film Thelmawhich was very well received by critics.
“I grew up with my mother, who is a painter and a visual artist, so it was pretty normal for me to see someone practicing art. But I don’t think I ever thought about doing anything as a career. I was always making stuff, not really thinking about it. When I moved to New York in 2009, I didn’t have much to do, and I had just finished high school. I studied dance in high school. I didn’t have a lot of jobs, but I bought a guitar and started recording. After a few months I realized that I really enjoyed the process of recording and also making songs. It was more of a self-soothing process, almost like something out of boredom, but it’s been so organic over the last 10 years that it just happened. I don’t know how to explain why or how, but I’m so grateful that it’s happening.”
This diversity has earned her the admiration of other artists, or at least, the attention to her steps through social networks, like the singer Chappell Roan or the Mexican dancer Isaac Hernandezto name a few. Wilkinsflattered, comments that she admires so many artists that it is difficult for her to highlight just a few.
“Well, I was just seeing my friend Ariel Eastwho I met many years ago in New York. We've worked together on music and sung together for a long time. I think she's a big inspiration. She just put out an album in April or maybe it was March, called Talking to Myselfit's incredibly beautiful. Every time I see her perform, it makes me cry. I like it very much. And tomorrow I'm going to perform with a string quartet, the Nebulous Quartet“I’ve performed with them once before, and they’re amazing. So these are two people or groups that inspire me endlessly, and they’re the first ones I think of.”
Okay Kaya will be presented for the first time in Mexico on September 19 in the Hall (B) of the Indie Rocks! Forumwhere he will delight us with his most recent album and his most iconic songs, on a night that will surely be intimate and ethereal.
“I have been to Mexico City once before. It was only a few days, but it was a lot of fun, very beautiful. I went to the Natural History Museum, which was amazing. We don’t have many plans, but we will try to see exhibitions, eat good food and meet people.”
“I’m really excited, because I’ve never played in Mexico before. I don’t have a lot of expectations. I just hope that people who come to hear certain songs can hear them and that we can have an intimate moment together.”
