Okay Kaya
Musician, Actor, Model
The Norwegian-born, Brooklyn-based model slash mood-pop musician releases her debut album this year
Model, musician, and actor Kaya Wilkins is far from your average internet-gen polymath. As Okay Kaya, she makes mood-pop somewhere between the lounge-bar earthiness of Sade and the wild blues explorations of Joni Mitchell. Collaborating with King Krule for a song on his 2017 opus The OOZ, Wilkins’ voice was plunged deeper into the musical mire still, as she whispers the story of a doomed Spanish love affair through dopey reverberations.
Born in Nesoddtangen, Norway, the now Brooklyn-based talent (who moved to NYC to model, and has walked for the likes of Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, and Marc Jacobs) landed her first film role last year, in the psychosexual queer thriller Thelma. Wilkins played a teen who sparks up a love affair with her classmate, with whom she is able to communicate telekinetically.
On June 1, she releases her debut LP – produced in collaboration with Sampha and The xx producer Rodaidh McDonald – which will, if all goes to plan, kick summer off to a weird, wonderful start.
Jack Mills