Cuter than a baby cat, but with pretty sharp claws too...SoKo is a new voice making big waves. Bewitching voice it is to. Button-cute Gallic diction, cartoon aperçu on love, melodies like a spring day in Paris with The Zombies on the record player.
It started, as it does these days, on MySpace. In late 2006, 20-year-old French actress and musical Anglophile SoKo posted her songs, fashioned from a piano and her beloved ukulele. Heartbroken songs. Filthy songs. Funny songs. Beautiful ones too. The homemade production couldn't disguise the genius pop ear informed by an obsessive love of '60s pop and folk. And the fluffy melodies can't conceal their blackly comic lining. On I Think I Am Pregnant and I'll Kill Her SoKo is messily confessional. Then on My Wet Dreams she's laugh out loud potty mouthed.
From the humble halls of MySpace unfurled an international success story...and it goes a little something like this. Danish radio downloaded a demo of the song I'll Kill Her, started to play it on daytime and SoKo had a hit record in Denmark. A sold out tour and captivating festival appearances followed. Then it was play-listed on national radio in her homeland France. In August 2007, Triple J put her on high rotation and the US' influential KCRW have come on board since.
Features on iTunes Denmark, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, USA and Canada followed, then in January this year I'll Kill Her went to the top of iTunes Belgium and to number 4 in the charts proper. Soko's ‘shitty song' had become a no-fi digital hit without a record label or plugger. Meanwhile in the UK, Jo Wiley at Radio 1 has started playing the track pencilled in for her first UK single I Will Never Love You More.
A mammoth two million profile views on MySpace is a testament to her international following and the emotional connection she's made. Still only 22-years-old, SoKo's career is moving forward effortlessly and alluringly. She's a young female making reluctant radio music with brains and spiky corners - the melodies paint an emotional rainbow, the lyrics a piquant stew of thoughts and feelings. Need we say more?