鈥淚OTA" By Lous and the Yakuza (Columbia Records/Sony Music)
Lous and the Yakuza has peeled back the pain and drama of her debut autobiographical album, "Gore,'' to reveal a space of love and playfulness on her follow-up, 鈥淚OTA.鈥� The Congolese-Belgian singer and songwriter does not describe her music-making process as therapeutic as some may think, it is just her way of expressing herself. She shows how to do just that on her second album.
Her latest endeavor explores a fresh new tone as she delves into softer themes in her music. The songstress known to effortlessly weave through trap, R&B and pop allows her romantic and whimsical side to shine through in 鈥淚OTA,鈥� giving us a richer picture of the artist set to skyrocket into international stardom.
Born Marie-Pierra Kakoma, the captivating performer behind Lous and the Yakuza has such a strong vision for herself and her music that she even has her own symbol: two hands being raised to the sky, which she paints on herself. She hints at the symbol in her opening song on the album, 鈥淐iel鈥� meaning sky, where she sings about spirituality with whispery vocals and soothing harmonies. The album is driven by love. Kakoma longingly sings of her love as a treasure in the pop song 鈥淭r茅sor鈥� and includes a cinematic ballad that could play during a montage of a love story in an indie French film.
Kakoma sets her ode to love in an anime dreamworld. Kakoma is a longtime anime and manga fan, and she happily talks about her . For "IOTA," Kokoma drew inspiration from the works of anime greats like Studio Ghibli and "Paprika" director Satoshi Kon. The a song about living with life鈥檚 problems, is her take on 鈥淢y Neighbour Totoro鈥� and 鈥淪pirited Away.鈥�
Kakoma is not shy about sharing what she has overcome to get to where she is today. Kakoma fled war in Congo at age 4 before moving to Belgium and later dealt with homelessness in her early days as an artist. Now, the Louis Vuitton muse鈥檚 French songs have transcended language on the music charts with millions of streams.
Kakoma鈥檚 love of Japanese culture reaches farther than anime and manga. It's in her name. The name Lous is an anagram for 鈥渟oul," and Yakuza comes 鈥� not for the Japan-based crime syndicate 鈥� from the word for 鈥渓oser.鈥� She has said she wanted Yakuza to be her group name to give credit to those working behind the scenes to support her.
One of her longtime friends, Congolese-Belgian Damso, is featured on the album in 鈥淟ubie.鈥� In the almost lullaby-like song, Kakoma sings 鈥淚 want to tell you I love you鈥� and Damso duets her. She also features French rapper Benjamin Epps in her song 鈥淪top鈥� that opens with a strong flow of French rap and a hard synth build.
The song is followed by 鈥淚nterpol,鈥� where Kakoma sings that her 鈥渇eelings are her instruments.鈥� It鈥檚 with those instruments that she draws us all the more into her Lous and the Yakuza universe.
___
For more AP Music reviews, visit: .
Beatrice Dupuy (), The Associated Press
