SoKo – remember that name because when My Dreams Dictate Reality drops she will be riding a new, and much-deserved, wave of stardom. The French songstress is a bold performer and true “it girl” but that doesn’t exclude her from having real insecurities. SoKo tells us about channeling her fears and childhood on her sophomore LP, why she wears the pants in relationships and the obvious reason women rule the world.
Were you a rebellious child? What was one of your crazier antics growing up?
I don’t think I was. I was very lonely, very good at school and in my head a lot- writing and playing with my cat. I didn’t have any friends, it was rough. I hated being a child. The craziest thing I’ve done, I guess, is leave my house at 16, stop school, move to Paris on my own and start working. I wanted to be a grown-up so bad. Now I’m just trying to catch up on all the fun I’ve missed and regret having wasted those precious years, so I’m claiming my childhood back!
Tell me more about your new album and how your childhood influenced this record.
I think I was sort of avoiding the thought of childhood before, almost ignoring that I was ever a child because most of my memories included death, mourning, loneliness and being an antisocial weirdo. Then, with this record, I wanted to face all my fears and demons and dig in to what made me the hyper-sensitive person I grew up to be – with the need to write everything down constantly and turn all my dark thoughts into art somehow. So making this new record and surrounding myself with new sound made it feel safe to do that inquiry, dig deep and act like a kid forever. Also, I was born in the 80s and use to reject any music from the 80s…since, that’s all I want to surround myself with…it’s almost a comfort blanket of nostalgia!
So I can’t stop listening to “Who Wears The Pants??”. In a relationship, do you wear the pants?
Ha, really? Cool, thanks! Is it THAT obvious? I’m a total control freak but I think that every control freak is just looking for someone to control them in their personal lives. So I’m just waiting for whoever wants to do that! But ultimately, it’s so much in me to go ahead and plan everything, that most of the time I end up being in charge. Yup, not to my liking, just because that’s what I do. I’ll trade pants for a skirt anytime though!
What kind of power do women hold in society?
They rule the world. Without our vaginas, the world wouldn’t exist, duh. Women are the gods of love, sex and all that is beauty.
You exude an unprecedented amount of confidence and seem pretty fearless. What are you actually scared of?
Uh, thanks. That’s one side of the story, I guess. The other dark side of me is I’m a sad clown. I’m petrified of mortality, I have fear of abandonment too and I’m scared of time. I’m always scared of not being able to realize all of my dreams in this lifetime.
Name some of your ultimate fashion icons. Joan Jett? Anyone else?
Robert Smith. Blondie. Siouxsie. David Byrne.
Photo by Brad Elterman