I’ve always been interested in artists who are able to give us exactly what we need even when we cannot articulate our own desires. The French musician and actor Soko has made a career out of this kind of anticipation. Starring in French film and television as a teenager, she went on to star in films like Augustine, La Danseuse, and Her. For her role in La Danseuse, she was nominated for best actress from both the Lumières Award and César Award. Her song “I’ll Kill Her,” became a hit in Europe in 2007, and since then she went on to record two albums, I Thought I Was an Alien and My Dreams Dictate My Reality. Her third and most recent studio album Feel Feelings, was released in July 2020, and praised by Paper Magazine for having “anticipated our current mood.”
In her music video for “Looking for Love,” from the latest album, we see her dreamily sing about longing while dressed as an ancient Roman soldier. It’s that off-kilter tension—between modern and ancient, intimacy and distance, expectation and nonconformity—that makes Soko’s ability to anticipate and surprise such a rewarding experience.
I asked Soko about her recent album, her upcoming role in the film Mayday, and what it means to defy expectations.
First of all, how are you doing? How have you been taking care of yourself lately?
Hi, I’m doing great. Loving this period of time slowing down to enjoy being with my family.
We just came back from northern California and had a wonderful trip to the Red Woods, goofing around in nature every day! So, I feel renewed!
T-shirt, Skirt and Hat Gucci Pre-fall 2020; Gloves: Stylist’s own
What’s kept you company during lockdown?
My baby and my girlfriend! Facetime my family and friends. Lots of vegan ice cream and baking tons of vegan cakes!
I really wanted to start this conversation by asking about your third studio album Feel Feelings, which came out last month. It’s incredible. What did you want to say in this album that you hadn’t in your previous two?
Thank you so much. I think I felt a lot more inner peace and I made a conscious effort into being more present and avoid distractions at all cost. Which made it even deeper and more raw. Also, some of the songs touch on heavy subjects such as domestic violence. But I wanted to surround the hardship with warm, mellow, soft, happy instrumentals to contrast with its bluntness but also feel like it’s in the past, and now it’s just a memory. It’s not sore anymore.
The song “Replaceable Heads” lends itself to the album’s confessional tone that others have written about. How did you balance being so vulnerable yet relatable in your lyrics?
That’s one of my favorite tracks on the album. I wrote as a stream of consciousness. I wanted it to almost sound like a conversation with myself in the mirror, about exactly where my mind was then. I didn’t feel like I deserved to be loved, therefore I had collected a few toxic relationships one after the other and just felt like I was done with it all. I always write from a place that is way too honest. Because I want to remember those times perfectly when I listen back years from now, to remind myself of who I was then.
Last month, in The Cut, you mentioned the album was like “a gift to myself.” I find the best art usually comes from a place where it’s meant solely for oneself without thinking about outside influence or expectations. Do you find this to be true for you?
100%. I make music because it is my favorite thing in the world! I really find it imperative that it has to be a pure reflection of myself and that I have to feel the whole process. But that said, I did have incredible collaborators on this album, and that was really fun and felt like a profound experience to fully be able to share my vision and expend it with the help of others.
Do you think you create more from a sense of intuition or a sense of craft?
Intuition. I never really fully know which chords I’m playing, or which chords go with what and the scales and stuff. BUT I feel like because I’ve been doing this for so long, I now know exactly my way around making my visions come to life because I’ve spent years working on my craft!
It’s interesting that the album asks us to basically enter into your very specific world—your feelings—but when we’re there, it’s like, oh yeah, I recognize this place. Is that intimacy?
Ha-ha… yeah, that’s exactly the ride I like to take on as a listener, so I’m glad you feel that way about my record. I definitely want it to feel as intimate as possible, and honest and vulnerable and inviting and dazed and intoxicating.
Do you think there’s a particular queer aesthetic that you’re in conversation with?
Not necessarily other than fully embarrassing my own queerness and making a point in not shying away from it to increase visibility, and open conversations.
You began acting as a teenager and went on to star in award-winning French films like Augustine and La Danseuse. Now that you’re older, how do you think you’ve grown as an actor during that time?
Acting was my first love. It’s something that I’ve intensely devoted a lot of hours doing. I love escaping with movies as a viewer, and I love embarking on journeys outside of myself as an actor.
Now that I live in LA, I’ve done a few American movies and that’s new. It’s a whole new challenge to have to act in English. Which I love. More of that please!
What’s the thing that really compels you in the moment as an actor, in a particular scene, let’s say?
The more natural the better. I really love really good dialogues. I also really love when dialogues aren’t a priority, to have the freedom to improvise. I love complex characters; I love anything that makes me feel like I have to expend my own life to have more compassion for someone else’s struggles and journey.
You will be starring in the upcoming film Mayday. Is there anything you can tell us about the film or your character?
Mayday is a very poetic film about women empowerment and becoming more confident and take no shit! It’s a group of girls in another world and in another era that fight against oppression. My character is in charge of all the girls’ guns on board of their submarine.
I love that you’ll be starring in this women-led action movie (something we need more of). I was briefly tempted to think this role is such a departure for you.
Ha! yeah, that was my first time having to hold a gun, I HATE GUNS SO MUCH…. I’m really anti violence. I had to play a soldier in the Cannes selected French film Stop Over, and that was hard. But these complex roles remind me of why I am so attached to finding peace in my own life.
Going back to the idea of expectations, how important is it to you to maintain a level of creative freedom?
I love having total freedom in my music, this is my one outlet that I cherish and that is only mine. AND, then I love the balance of having another creative outlet, acting, in which I have to fully trust someone else’s vision and trust the process. I love teamwork and I really need both this and my own project to balance my life.
What’s next for you?
Another couple of American movies that I’m shooting soon.
And hopefully I can tour Feel Feelings and make more music asap.
And mostly…. Enjoying my family daily!
