Why don't you come here to see me talk to me: SoKo

(First Kiss has gone viral on Youtube since its release, on which SoKo's track ”We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow” was selected as the soundtrack and even SoKo herself participated in it.)

Been listening to Soko for some times, it worked very well for me. I could find a song by Soko on any playlist I had on my ipod.

To me, Soko is a courageous, talented beautiful artist. Her music is deceptively sophisticated, though sometimes navie. Lust, longing, jealousy, betrayal—it’s all there in her soulful, childlike vocals. Being completely independent, she even direct, cut and act her own music video due to low budget.

I hope you can like Soko as much as I do

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‘As an artist I am shy. Always. But I like to narrate my emotions.’

Soko, Stéphanie Sokolinski

Sokolinski was born in Bordeaux, France. She has used the nickname Soko as long as she can remember. She left home at 16, quit school and moved to Paris to start acting class where she studied for one year; she then resumed her education at several different schools, but quickly became tired of it and dropped out. She later appeared in several French films and began to write songs.

“I’m not that well known as an actress, I’m not like a superstar becoming a pop star. I’m a no-one becoming a someone. When I was 16, I went into acting school with all these singing class, dancing and a lot of weird stuffs. But I was the worst at singing class so I thought it's very unlikely that I was ever gonna do music.But then I started acting from 16 to 20, and I am really bored of that. I didn't want a life that is incomplete. You can be creating things on your own. and I wanna to be self-productive. So I started writing songs and learning instruments when I was 20.”

"When I was a kid, I was very shy and I've got no friend I found hard to communicate with others even I have 5 brothers and sister. "

"Basically, I have lost my dad when I was 5 …and I have been confronted to numerous tragedies through the years..
so i grew up with the knowledge that life is so fragile, and that there might be no Future, only a NOW.. so we need to make the most of it..
which has conducted me to live a very passionate, full on, adventurous life.. with intense relationships.. and live every day as if it was my last, to it's fullest.. trying to achieve to make it the richest and happiest and most loving.. to make sure that i can look back and be satisfied with all I've seen, felt, lived."

In 2007, SoKo (then still as a duo with guitar player Thomas “Toma” Semence) released the EP “Not Sokute”. It contains five songs, including the infamous “I’ll Kill Her”, which received unexpected success.

SoKo put up “I’ll Kill Her” at her MySpace for some friends in November 2006. This version, which she recorded in her bedroom, isn’t really that much to her liking.

"Say you want to do a huge painting, and you make a little black and white sketch on a napkin and you’re like, ‘I want to do that with a lot of colour and really big’. Then people are like, ‘Oh no, this one on the little napkin is really good, we should put in in a museum’. But that’s not what you want to do."

Soko - I'll kill her 我會殺了她 (中文翻譯) 一首女孩的失戀歌

But Soko suddenly pulled off her music career, due to the pressure of the music industry, as she announced she's dead on Myspace on january 2009. Despite having recorded a double album in Seattle, she is not willing to release it.

“I’ve read that people are wondering if i quit music .. i DID. Basically, it’s well known that I don’t wanna be a part of the music industry … I've never planned on doing music, so everything that has been happening has been so amazing and i’m really grateful but it’s really scary for me .. and I’m just at that period of my life where I wonder if it’s really what I want : telling my stories to a lot of people that i don’t know .. seems really egoticentric to me … and that’s not what i’m about.”

“I did a record in a studio, that had cost a lot of money .. and I didn't like it cuz it sounded too much like a studio record and not enough like my garage band crap that i like more … and i had no money to remix it. I thought it was a sign that I shouldn't put it out … not now .. maybe in 10, 20 years … but not now. Music is still the most precious thing I have.. the only amazing thing living in me… I didn’t wanted to ruin it by letting it out too early”

In August of the same year, she declared that she was 'reborn' and released her first album "I thought I was an alien" on 2012.

The start track of the album "I Just Want To Make It New With You" says it all.

"You will discover me through my songs

learn my heartbreaks and fears and depression

hear all the cracks and the lack of talent

and i hope that you don't hate me by then"

Soko - I Just Want To Make It New With You (中文翻譯)

Unlike her previous EP, "I thought I was an alien" possess strong depression and discomfort to life and death. Among all of the songs in the album, Soko distinctively likes "We might be dead by tomorrow".

"to me this is the most heavy & meaningful song of my album.. the one that represents me the most."

"I wanted to use color film for the "love" images, and black and white to capture the threat of death.. As a reminder of "live your life NOW, love NOW, don't wait til you're dead".. i hope that comes through ? i want this LOVE NOW message to get imprinted in everyone's head and people to get somehow less flaky with love.. and just go for it.. instead of making excuses for not being open or able to love.."

You will know more about Soko in this interview.

"I Hope I won't be dead because I am afraid of death. Because I have so many people dying in my family when I was a children. So I don't Want to take anything granted in my life."

"I have really terrible problem with lies, I think it is one of my biggest fear. I don't think I am a good liar at all. Even I tried, I think I'd betray myself very easily. I like people to be very honest and I try to be very honest with all the people, but most with myself. That's the most important. "

"And about the fact that I do love women, I've always had been attracted by people , in general, I don't care if they are men or women. And I just love the beautiful people with the beautiful soul. That make me feel good and that I have admiration for and I feel passionate about. It doesn't really matter if it's women or men. And I cherish those special people with the same passion."

"I am not one of those person who can imagine things to write that I don't know about or I just feel like I need to write about vital things because the music that touches me is when I feel like people really mean what they say. And I want to hear about people's experiences in what they really feel other than like generic lyrics where I feel like I don't know the person at the end song and they are just talking about general feelings so like everyone can relate to it but I don't care about that. It doesn't touch me as much as writing about people's experiences and things that are viable."

"I love monkey And I watch monkey video all the time. It's like if they love each other, they gloom each other and they give love to each other and they sing together. And if they get angry, they are just gonna fight. And that's just what they do. They don't hide their feeling. It's like animal instinct. I think that's what I have."

"I don't care if people want to do what the fuck they want as long as they are not trying to kill me or trying to rape me, or trying to do something bad to me. I don't care what they do as long as they don't hurt my friends or family. Of cause I am against war and of cause I am against murderers and of cause I am against violence and I absolutely hate it. Th'st just common sense, you know. It not like I am not brothering by people's habit or like people like 'Don't you hate when people...infront of you". No I am no point to judge, People should be more open minded and tolerence.

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Some of her amazing work: