SAMA award-winning gqom pioneer DJ Lag forays into pop music with Spanish alt-pop singer-songwriter Jazz Alonso for the enamouring new single “Oke Oke,” complete with an enchanting official video. Conceptualised and directed by Alonso herself, the “Oke Oke” visual captivates viewers with an avid display of cross-cultural collaboration and the intersection between desire and reality.
Traversing between London and Cape Town, the video flashes through vignettes that glimpse into the paralleled lives of two individuals, hinting at the tantalising potential of an imagined relationship. Alonso’s deft direction pays homage to the song’s emotive lyricism while honouring the textural nuances through vibrant splashes of colour and rhythmic editing.
“More than anything, when Jazz was writing, she very clearly saw ‘Oke Oke’ as an electric blue song,” Lag explains. “She wanted the visuals to recreate the song’s universe through colour and the music production queues through editing.”
Shot during Lag’s 2023 European tour, the whirlwind production saw the collaborators and creative team spanning multiple continents, overcoming logistical hurdles with ingenuity and passion. From a spontaneous makeup stop at London Boots to capturing the pulsating energy of two metropolises, every frame exudes an intoxicating, dreamlike quality.
“The lyrics are about transferring from having an imagined object of affection to becoming it,” Alonso elaborated. “The video plays with that sense of the borderline between desire and the realisation of desire.”
With “Oke Oke,” DJ Lag once again confidently infuses gqom into the broader dance landscape, while Alonso’s Spanish vocals introduce an entirely new dimension. The resulting alchemy is a tour-de-force that will undoubtedly captivate fans worldwide. As you step into DJ Lag and Alonso’s world, letting their kaleidoscopic visuals envelop you, be sure to request “Oke Oke” on your favourite radio stations and TV channels and connect with DJ Lag for more music news.
