O-klou? OK-lou? “I don’t really care. It’s whatever you want it to be,” says Oklou (real name Marylou Vanina Mayniel) in a new video to accompany her cover story in the Spring 2026 issue of Dazed. Whatever you call her, it’s undeniable that the French musician stole our ears and our hearts with her debut album choke enough, which more than earned its place near the top of our albums of 2025 list.

If you also count yourself among choke enough’s many fans, Oklou uses the video to share some behind-the-scenes details from the making of the record, plus a stellar list of influences including Arca, Burial, Boards of Canada, Kate Bush, SOPHIE, Danny L Harle, A.G. Cook, and Oneohtrix Point Never. There are also some more personal touches, such as her relationship with her dad (who gets a shout-out in the lyrics to the title track) and her most comforting animated films (Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke).

It isn’t all just music and movies, though. Elsewhere, Oklou reflects on parenthood as a counter to the money-driven, “work-focused” nature of being a young adult in 2026. “Having a child forces you to kind of take a break from all that,” she says. “I still have a hard time being like, ‘Girl, you cannot be everywhere all the time’. And having a child is helping me in that way.” Luckily for us, it isn’t taking all of her time away from making music, though.

Watch the full video above, and read Oklou in conversation with PinkPantheress (from the Spring 2026 issue of Dazed) here.