Okay Kaya shares a mind-altering video for “Jolene From Her Own Perspective,” the new single from her upcoming world-building album, SAP, out November 4th on Jagjaguwar. The track finds Kaya Wilkins imagining Dolly Parton’s nemesis responding to her song: “I can’t believe we’re arguing about some man. That’s so silly. In fact, I’d rather talk about you and me.”

Wilkins calls the song “a love note from a depraved bisexual, haha just kidding. No, it’s Jolene as a queer anthem. Except it’s not a cover, it is a new tune. As the title declares: Jolene from her own perspective. Dolly forever.”

The video acts as a companion to the previously released video for the album’s lead single “Spinal Tap,”. Both videos were made in collaboration with acclaimed visual artist Austin Lee and demonstrate Lee and Wilkins playful and unique studio exchange. The laborious process took months to complete and involved virtual reality renderings inspired by Kaya’s drawings and complex storybuilding between the two artists.

SAP, which was entirely written, engineered, and produced by Wilkins, is a concept album about consciousness in which Okay Kaya focuses her trademark combination of abstraction and wit on what happens to her mind unaccompanied, on her tendency to feel less like a human and more like the sticky secretion of a tree. It conjures a world of sticky-membraned creatures reminiscent of the characters in old Gumby cartoons, but wet and glistening. “My writing process often begins with images in lieu of words. What if you’re tree-juice? How far along the stem do you have to ride before you get away from your parents and realize you’re the tear of this person and the blood of this person?” Kaya says. “I see a vision in my mind’s eye and take it from there. Austin has such a profound visual sensibility. Together, we translated many of my drawings. They became a wonderful invitation into his world. We developed this mascot, SAP, an alternate version of self.”

Photo Courtesy: Robin Hilleary