Kaya Wilkins AKA Okay Kaya has never given much merit to doing things the “normal” way. Since announcing her signing to Jagjaguwar in the form of a cover of Cher’s “Believe” last year, she has unarguably done things on her own terms. After a brief stint performing with Stine Omar of the duo EASTER as RØR, 2020 saw the release of Watch This Liquid Pour Itself, the follow up to her 2018 breakthrough record Both.

With this sophomore effort barely cold, she’s now surprise dropped a quarantine album. Surviving Is The New Living is a short but sweet collection of overall more acoustic and stripped-back tracks, displaying a slice of Okay Kaya’s mind whilst under lockdown.

“Snacks”, the latest offering from the album, sees her take a back to basics approach. Led by only an acoustic guitar and the occasional electric guitar riff to accentuate the introspective nature of the song, it’s oddly perfect for all your lockdown moods.

As weird and wonderful as ever, Okay Kaya sings “Revenge is a dish/That is best not to eat/It is tepid ranch/With some celery” her airy voice making it sound deeply profound, like a lesser-known proverb. As usual, Okay Kaya’s charm stems from her ability to take the most mundane topic and make it quirky. It’s simplistic yet eccentric in its lyrics, charming in its unconventionality.

In the video directed by Emilie Monies and Kaya Wilkins herself, we see a bleary-eyed Okay Kaya on her side with a bamboo candle in her ear. As the video begins, the candle is lit and the video plays out with Okay Kaya singing along to “Snacks” as the candle burns slowly down towards her face. Whilst this may sound ominous, the candle is being used symbolically to help block out all the anxious noise of the world, purifying her ears, something that we would love to do as well.