interview with owen ok
based out of vermont, owen ok is a singer/songwriter and producer that finds himself switching from anthemic synth-based ballads to hard-hitting alt-pop, and everything in between.
his debut ep “dear you,” was released in 2022.
the interview
what is the message behind "for you to see"?
i think if you look around right now, there is just not a lot of empathy in the world.
but worst of all, it seems like this is all our generation has ever known, and we’ve kind of grown up with the world falling down around us. i was honestly just really fed up with all of the apathy that i see everywhere and i needed some way to get these feelings out before they drove me crazy. this is where the song came from, a place of anger and frustration in the hopes that there is some way that people can change and start actually caring for one another selflessly again.
who are your favorite artists?
del water gap, jeremy zucker, holly humberstone, the 1975, and bleachers.
which albums did you listen the most to last year?
an album that i have been really obsessed with since it came out was del water gap’s self titled album. i just think that holden (del water gap) is able to create such beautiful and deep lyrics, while also being able to produce all sorts of exciting and moving pieces altogether. that combination is something really unique and special, and i’m just in love with everything he makes. i’ve listened to holly humberstone and jeremy zucker a bunch too with all of their releases over the last couple of months, as well as everything the 1975 have made because their stuff just never gets old.
who is your biggest artistic influence?
i think this answer is always changing, but the one person who is always a constant is matty healy. i just think that everything that the 1975 have done and continue to do is so pure and always pushes some sort of boundary. i also find the way that the1975 are able to jump around between different genres and just make what they like is really inspiring to me as someone who is still trying to find out the types of music that i want to make.
when have you started doing music?
music has always been a giant part of my life, as i’m sure it is for most people, so it has always kind of been there. i used to take it pretty seriously when i was younger and i was in a couple of bands throughout middle school, but after that it was more of just a pastime. it really wasn’t until the pandemic that i started to really take things seriously again. i think this was a really shared experience for a lot of artists, because the pandemic sort of put things into perspective and made a lot of people, myself included, realize that life is too short to not do the things you love and do them with your full effort. i don’t really know what’s going to come from making music, but it makes me happy and i love it, so it just makes sense to me to try and give it everything i’ve got.
what message do you want to convey to your listeners with your songs?
when i’m making music, i honestly just do it to make music that i want to hear or as a way to release some feelings and thoughts. so with that, i hope that by making music that i care about and is really personal to me, then other people can find comfort in it. i really believe that there are alot of shared experiences out there, and if i can help even one person to feel like they’re not alone with whatever they’re going through, then i’d feel like i’ve succeeded.
who would you love to collaborate with?
this kind of relates to my biggest influence, but it would be an absolute dream to work with matty healy (from the 1975) on something. i just think that the way he is able to jump across so many genres, while also getting the best out of the artists that he works with, like the songs he did with holly humberstone and phoebe bridgers, is genuinely incredible. also, since he is such an inspiration of mine, i think it would just be a surreal time getting to see his creative process.
give us some spoilers on your upcoming music.
even before “dear you,” was finished i already started working on my next ep, which i could not be more excited about. i think this next project is going to show a whole new side to me and my music, with songs that feel even more personal than anything i’ve released so far. i can’t tell you too much more about it right now, but i will say that this upcoming ep has the most fun song i’ve ever made and the saddest song i’ve ever made, so there’s that to look forward to!
describe yourself in one word.
without giving myself too much credit, i think i would use the word attentive. i think when it comes to most things i’m usually the type of person who will try to take a step back and listen to what’s going on around me and take everything in. i think this is also one of the reasons that i feel the need so heavily to make music, because i’m constantly taking in everything from the people and world around me, so music is sort of my way to report back to others about how i’ve experienced things and how they’ve made me feel.
what's your favorite track on your latest ep and why?
which song was the hardest to write and what do the symbols mean?
picking a favorite song is basically like picking a favorite kid, because i really do feel such a connection to all of these songs on the ep for such different reasons. but, if i had to pick just one song i think i would say “hopealliswell”. this song is by far the most personal and meaningful to me, and i think this was also the song that i was able to articulate and get all of my feelings out in the best way. i hope that this song can mean many different things depending on the listener, but for me it was about losing one of my friends at a really young age, which is something that was a huge turning point in my life in terms of maturity and overall perspective. i’d say that this song was also the hardest to write lyrically, because it meant so much to me and i wanted to be sure that i got everything out in the right way. as for the symbols that i keep using, their meaning is actually pretty simple as each symbol represents one of the songs on the ep. some of these are quite literal, like the house for “home is you”, but some of the other ones are what they are for really personal reasons that i think i’m just going to keep as a secret for myself.
if you could go back to the day you first made music, what would you tell yourself?
even though i still never follow this advice today, i think i would tell myself that not everything i make has to be perfect. i am a severe perfectionist when it comes to the things i create, which has some benefits because i’m always trying to be better, but it has also been really hard when i work through ideas. i think with that, i also tie a lot of my own self worth to the music i make, so when something is not up to the standard i set for myself then i get really down on myself just as a person too. i think this is something that i am slowly getting better at though, because it is when you get past the point of chasing only perfection that you are able to have more fun with creating, which i think has led me to make better songs all together.
what's your favorite lyric from your songs?
if i’m being totally honest, my favorite lyric of mine is actually in a song that isn’t out yet. but, from the songs that are out, i think my favorite line is probably “never wanted you to leave my side/ got you printed on my skin” from “hopealliswell”. i think the reason i love this lyric so much is because it is so literal and talks about the experience i had of not wanting to forget about my friend who passed away, so i got a tattoo for them so that they would always be with me.
what does music mean to you?
i think at its very core, music is something that can and should connect everyone.
just in terms of music existing, there is a reason that it is able to flourish in every culture around the world, because it is such a perfect expression of human emotion that can’t always be described or shown through other mediums. i also think that if you look at where music is at its most pure, it's at live shows. of course, it's then at these shows that people are quite literally brought together under this shared love of art in a place where they can enjoy it free from judgment. at least for me, when i’m at a concert that is where i’m the happiest and best version of myself. i think many people can relate to this too, which really says something about it’s effects. or in other instances, with apbp being the best example, it can literally bring people together from all parts of the world in order to share art and help other artists grow.
what is your process when you have an idea for a new song?
i think this is a really similar experience for a lot of artists, but getting a new idea for a song is kind of like lighting in a bottle, and i’m not really sure where any idea comes from. any time i try to consciously sit down and write, nothing ever comes of it. so all of my ideas, whether they start as a single line, a beat, or some sort of chord progression, they come to be in random places like when i’m in the shower or in class. in those situations i just try to write them down super quick or record them as a voice memo so i don’t forget them. from there i like to write out most of the lyrics with a live instrument like a piano or guitar, and try to figure out how the song will progress as a base. after that is when i start working on the actual production ideas and fleshing the song out to its final form.
who is recording your music video?
so when i am making songs, i just find it impossible to separate a physical representation from them, so music video ideas always kind of come hand in hand in my head with the songs while i’m making them. as for the videos that i’ve released, i come up with the ideas for everything and how it will all work by myself, and my parents and girlfriend have actually been nice enough to film the shots of me in all of my videos so far.
thank you for the interview, owen!
10th of february 2022
review on the ep dear you,
by owen ok
owen has the talent to capture and convey his feelings and thoughts
both lyrically and musically in such a wonderful, unique and touching way.
each song reflects a part of himself.
he has a very unique way of representing his thoughts and feelings in his songs.
"for you to see" symbolizes the roughness of the world,
while "miss you more" is a totally beautiful and loving song about love.
listen to all the songs on the ep and find unique art in them