Dream Girl

Being normal can be overrated. Just take it from Soko, the Bordeaux, France-born singer and actress whose 2012 album I Thought I Was an Alien served as the extraterrestrial-inspired soundtrack for starry-eyed girls (and guys) everywhere. But whereas we’ll always love her debut LP for its stripped-down, emotional, and entirely acoustic sound, her sophomore effort leans in the opposite direction.

As POPULAR’s Kate Williams summed it up, Soko’s My Dreams Dictate My Reality “is richer and more eclectic, but unequivocally Soko: dramatic, honest, and a little weird.” And yes, that’s totally a compliment. Williams sat down with the 29-year-old recently to talk about her album, her self-described “Peter Pan syndrome,” and of course, crazy dreams. See a sneak peek of our chat with Soko below, then read the whole interview when POPULAR hits newsstands soon.

She used to have horrible nightmares. “When I was a kid, I would have nightmares, and it would always be right before someone close to me would die, or get sick, or have an accident. So I thought I was doing that, I thought I was killing people with my dreams—my father, my grandfather, my godfather.”

She’s now an insomniac. “I mostly dream when I’m rested, and I haven’t been rested for a while. I haven’t had more than three or four hours of sleep in a long time. I’m exhausted.”

She’s not ditching acting for her music career anytime soon. “All of the movies that I’ve booked for next year are led by women directors,” she says. “I’m the lead, and they are all super-strong female characters that push me in all sorts of crazy directions.”

After becoming an “adult” at age 19, she doesn’t want to ever grow up (and even wrote a song about it!). “I was a complete adult, being super responsible and paying my bills, then I thought,  ‘What am I doing? I’m living like an old person, having possessions!’ “I’m owning things, and thinking about the color of my  walls! Who am I?”