STORE MIX 097 : BIKÔKÔ 

In a different era, Neï Lydia Bikôkô might has been a pop star, the lead singer in a manufactured band perhaps. One-fifth of a girl group plucked from the cusp of womanhood, local shopping centres, and ambition-fuelled stage schools. Her whimsically soulful vocals would add intrigue to the most frivolous of pop songs, and it is easy to picture magazine covers radiating her luminescent beauty that is simultaneously cherub-like and startling. It would have been a tragic waste of musical ingenuity. 

An accomplished singer, writer, producer, keyboard, and drum player, Bikôkôis proud to be an independent artist, finding fulfillment in the months spent working on songs alone but slightly daunted by the energy required by the rest of the music industry – promotion content creation, emails, etc. This push-and-pull is an enduring theme of her musical career, as a child she flipped between singing near-silently to avoid being heard from her bedroom, and plotting to audition for the X-Factor.  

I didn’t feel comfortable with who I was. I got into the habit of comparing myself to everyone that I looked up to until I ended up disliking my introverted tendencies. I tried to fight them but it obviously didn’t work in the long run. – Bikôkô

Her recent single, Get Her is born of the realisation that her partner at the time showed her more love than she showed herself. Listening to the song’s pensive lyrics while looking at the cover image – a childhood photo, from which her brother has been photoshopped out – you can’t help but get the feeling that its creator is in the midst of a rebirth.In fact, she’s already re-emerged from the chrysalis. 

Joining an afternoon Zoom call from a London studio, Bikôkôrecalls how she came to cut her hair; she had been to New York for a few months as a teenager, returningthree years later and staring out at the landscape sherealised that she felt completely different, yet looked exactly the same. She chopped the tumbling black curlsshe’d had since childhood into a bubblegum-pink pixie cropto match her appearance to the internal changes she’d experienced. It made her mother cry, “but it was worth it”. 

Thisdeterminationto make her own authentic choices, despite the reservations of her loved ones and her management, speaks to a confidence that Bikôkôdoesn’t need to be vocal about. Softlyspokenand quick to laugh, her resolve is a bolt of steel wrapped in cotton-candy, quietly informing her creativity and trajectory in way that is wholly unique.  

Barcelona born and raised, when Bikôkôtook to the stage at Primavera 2022, she did so with her father on the bass and her two percussion teachers on the drums, her voice was soft and hypnotic, its gentleness a result of those muted bedroom studio sessions. After two years of concerts and gigs, her voice is stronger and more expansive, as are her influences. The daughter of a Cameroonian musician,R&B and West African rhythms continue to inform her work but expect future projects to a feature a much wider blend, as well as collaborations with other producers and musicians. 

Like most of us, Bikôkô’s actions and presence can be divided into two strands: an expression of her origins or an exploration of her future, she creates music as way to document her own dichotomous growth and a gift for us to discover our own.  

The release of a track is not the end of the process but the beginning of it all. - Bikôkô

For STORE MIX 097 Bikôkô takes inspiration from West African music in general, blending two sonic worlds to go back and forth between her favourite 70s Afrobeat or Afro-Rock tracks, and the gentler melodies of Laura Groves, Arima Ederra and other artists she’s recently enjoyed. She hopes that you check out the track-list, dig deeper into some of the featured artists and give some feedback on the mix – it’s her first.