Soko (singer)
Stéphanie Alexandra Mina Sokolinski (born 26 October 1985), known professionally as Soko (stylized as SoKo), is a French singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. Soko released her debut single "I'll Kill Her" in 2007. It achieved airplay success in several European countries as well as Australia, peaking at number three on the Danish music charts, and was included on her debut EP Not Sokute (2007). Her debut studio album I Thought I Was an Alien was released in 2012 and contains the single "We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow", which achieved ninth place on the Billboard Hot 100. Ensuing years saw the releases of her second and third studio albums My Dreams Dictate My Reality (2015) and Feel Feelings (2020).
"SoKo" redirects here. For other uses, see Soko (disambiguation).
Soko
- Singer
- songwriter
- actress
- dancer
2002–present
1
- Vocals
- guitar
- bass
- drums
- keyboards
As an actress, Soko began appearing in a number of French productions in the early 2000s and earned a César Award for Most Promising Actress nomination for her role in the film In the Beginning (2009). She won the Courage in Acting Award at the Women Film Critics Circle Awards and the Best Actress award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival for her role as Augustine in the film Augustine (2012). She later appeared in the short film First Kiss (2014), which featured "We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow" and contributed to the song's chart success. Her role as Loie Fuller in The Dancer (2016) earned her Best Actress nominations at the César and Lumières Awards.
Early life[edit]
Stéphanie Alexandra Mina Sokolinski was born on 26 October 1985 in Bordeaux, France to a Russian-Polish father and a French-Italian mother.[3] She has Jewish ancestry and said that "half of my family died in concentration camps" during the Holocaust.[4] She was raised Catholic "because they all denied their religion and what not", but she has stated that she feels "Jewish trauma".[4] She has five siblings.[5][6] Her father died of an aneurysm when she was five years old. The incident had a profound impact on her, influencing her to become a vegetarian and later a vegan.[1][7] This was followed by the deaths of all her grandparents and her godfather within the span of four years. She says that, as a result, she became "obsessed with death"[6] and developed abandonment issues[7] that were exacerbated by the fact that her single mother "wasn't emotionally available".[8] She has used the nickname Soko for as long as she can remember.[5] She began taking piano lessions at the age of five but described herself as a "very bad student" and stopped when she was 11.[9] She left Bordeaux for Paris at the age of 16 to become an actress and began writing songs while taking acting classes[10] at Cours Eva Saint-Paul;[1] she says she "picked up songwriting" when she was 20 and taught herself how to play guitar, bass, and drums shortly afterwards.[9]
Artistry[edit]
Musical style[edit]
Soko sings primarily in English, which she attributes to the fact that she mostly listens to music in English.[5] Her two favourite bands are the Cure and the Smiths, and the Cure's debut album Three Imaginary Boys is her favourite album.[9][20] She expressed her dream of collaborating with the two bands' frontmen, Robert Smith and Morrissey, whom she called "my gods";[9][21] she also referred to Smith as her "living hero".[22] Other inspirations include Conor Oberst,[7] Joy Division, New Order,[9] and Patti Smith.[22]
Soko has explored several music genres throughout her career. In 2015, she described her own work as "dreamy, punky, new wavey, raw, vital, emotional, very personal lyrics, sad but happy".[9] Her debut album I Thought I Was an Alien was described as "woozy lo-fi alt-pop" influenced by the works of Leonard Cohen and Daniel Johnston,[23] and was noted for its "demo-like rawness".[24] On the other hand, her second album My Dreams Dictate My Reality was labelled as "hi-fi" new wave,[25] goth-pop,[8][10] and post-punk.[24] Her third album Feel Feelings features her first song with lyrics in French and was compared to the works of Serge Gainsbourg and King Krule.[10][26] Her lyrics were characterised as "biting"[5] and "poetic yet immediately relatable",[10] while her "husky alto"[27] voice has been described as "throaty, confessional"[10] and "girlishly high-pitch[ed]" with a "raspy edge".[5]
Approach to acting[edit]
Soko finds roles that require physical challenges to be the ones she enjoys the most. For the film On the Ropes (2007), she trained in boxing for a year with French champions. For The Dancer (2016), she insisted on not having a dance double and she therefore trained eight hours a day for three months. She believes that acting helps her have more compassion for things that are unknown to her.[1]