I have so much appreciation for artists who step out of the box when creating music—those whose creative expression feels almost otherworldly, setting them apart from the mainstream. Oklou is one of those rare artists. Her raw expression pulls you in so closely that you feel every emotion pouring through her music. In her latest album, Choke Enough, she collaborates with experimental icons like A.G. Cook, Bladee, and Casey MQ to create an emotional journey that explores the desperate desire for freedom in a world that’s constantly falling apart.
Oklou, a French singer and producer, is known for composing sounds that defy convention, entering a realm of experimental art. Her music reflects a melancholic yet accepting understanding of growth—like what it means to make difficult decisions in order to evolve. Inspired by amazing artists like Arca and A.G. Cook, Oklou leans into the digital and surreal, producing music that scratches a certain itch in the brain. The kind of music that makes you feel like you’re going through another universe, ascending into something bigger. The melodies of each song are so incredibly raw, and I honestly feel like it digs into me internally.
Her 2020 album Galore was the project that introduced me to the beauty of experimental and digital pop. Oklou has a way of delivering music that you’ll never forget the feeling of hearing for the first time. Choke Enough continues that legacy.
Choke Enough is like a floating experience on a cloud. Each angelic beat makes you feel weightless. In her currently released music videos, Okloushe carries cold undertones through blue and white imagery, although it’s not distant-feeling. Instead, it’s warm and welcoming. She is surrounded by her people dancing and feeling infinite, perfectly capturing how the album reflects a journey through love and freedom.
It feels like safety. One lyric in particular stood out to me from “thank you for recording” saying, “When I get bored of looking inside myself /, I always open my windows at night.” This line means so much to me, because it really is about the desperate search for something interesting within yourself. It’s about self-satisfaction, the desire to feel something, to connect and exist without judgment, even as the world spins out of control.
There’s a dreamy denial of reality across the entire album. Oklou doesn’t seem interested in coming back down. Instead, she invites us to live in a place where we can like what we like, love who we are, and never apologize for imagining things unrealistically. Choke Enough feels like the rush after a night out with your friends—the kind you never want to end, like your head against the window watching the street lamps turn off while it’s early, cloudy morning. And when everyone goes home and the silence creeps in, you capture the sad but beautiful feeling of being an observer, like of “clipping your wings” to grow, as she says in “harvest sky.”
One of the most moving moments for me comes in the track “hHarvest sSky,” a song that embraces the bittersweet freedom of solitude. She says, “Obsessed with living in the present / And with no one around me, I come alive.” It’s a line that makes me feel unashamed for loving lonesomeness. For Oklou, being present means letting time slow down and surrendering to it. Another standout is “ict,” which perfectly blends eerie and ethereal energy, allowing the album’s themes to continue spiraling upward and inward.
Choke Enough proves that otherworldly and off-putting music is BACK and more essential than ever. It adds new meaning to living, to feeling, to dreaming without limits. Like Ethel Cain once said:
Give choke enough a listen here:
