Photo Credit: Coco Capitán
Okay Kaya – the project of Norwegian-born, New York-based Kaya Wilkins – releases a new single/video, “Asexual Wellbeing,” from Watch This Liquid Pour Itself, her new album out January 24th on Jagjaguwar. It follows the “rhythmic drum-pad beat and swirling, airy synths” (Stereogum) of lead single “Baby Little Tween.” Kaya’s lyrics are intimate and playful; in one moment of “Asexual Wellbeing,” she sings of ‘Bon Jovi’s rosé’ just a few lines away from the question, “Can they turn the two of us into a tree?” Her interest in parodying certain elements of pop songs allows her to showcase her humorous side, but it’s important to her that the songs remain vulnerable enough to connect with an audience.
The accompanying video was co-directed by Adinah Dancyger and Kaya who describes it in her own words:
island mud house
horses and stringy apple tree
blood of beet meals
baby in a moth suit clipping the
clothing-rack soon dry
look out for a field
be fire and dv’s and shitty driving good music
imitate algae in the coolest jacket to exist
loving your loved ones like it’s never going to end don’t let the hand deject you
except the shadow it gives
paint face true Scandinavian inappropriate
hang out by historical landmarks and feeling
NOTHING
Kaya has been playing music since she was a tween, learning songs on her acoustic guitar and listening to Cody Chesnutt (even playing in a black metal project). Her music and artistic process has a cyclical nature, like water circling a drain. Reacting — whether physically on set, or alone with her guitar — has become an integral part of her writing.
Collaboration is central to Kaya’s creative process. Although she remains at the center of her artistic process, and recorded most of Watch This Liquid Pour Itself herself, she also collaborated with producers Jacob Portrait (UMO, Whitney, (Sandy) Alex G) and John Carroll Kirby (Solange, Kali Uchis) to fully realize her ideas for how this record should sound. Each of the music videos for the new record are co-directed by Kaya and Adinah Dancyger, and were shot respectively in Germany, Japan, Norway, and New York.
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