Kohla turns trauma into cinematic fantasy in new album

It’s an uncomplicated premise but one that carries considerable weight across an album that came to life against the backdrop of intense health challenges and personal change.

Under the moniker Kohla, the Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter and producer has spent years honing her sound, drawing from R&B, soul, jazz and classical music, while building increasingly elaborate sonic worlds around her songwriting.

With this new release, appropriately titled Fantasy, Johnson takes this notion of world-building a step further, turning personal upheaval into a cinematic collection that explores the dichotomy between reality and imagination.

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“My life has changed a lot in the past couple of years,” she says. “I think I internalised so much that when it came to writing, all of my emotion went into this project because I’m actually not the biggest over-sharer in person.

When Johnson enters the world of Kohla, it’s not merely a case of escapism. It becomes a space in which difficult experiences can be processed, magnified and, perhaps, understood.

Written during a complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) diagnosis and an extremely lengthy wait for NHS endometriosis surgery, Fantasy attempts to come to terms with the profound effect of these experiences, both on the everyday and on the creative process itself. But Fantasy does not focus solely on struggle. Rather, it is a mix of tenderness, playfulness, and hope alongside darker reflections.

Johnson is interested in what happens after trauma; in the possibility of emerging with a different perspective.

She says of the album: “A lot of the story, it can be quite dark, but then at the same time, there’s a lot of hope and happiness there as well.

“It’s about navigating life, and going through hardships, but then coming out the other side.”

The album’s title suggests an imagined alternative to the world outside but its emotional honesty comes from the opposite impulse – a willingness to look closely at reality, even when it hurts.

It’s not a new approach for Johnson, Her debut album, 2023’s Romance, emerged from a break-up, and resulted in her experimentation with genres such as soul and jazz.

“I look back at that album really fondly because I learned so much from it,” she says. “I found my confidence in producing and exploring genre, and writing from the heart as well.”

Fantasy, however, represents a more cohesive musical vision. During its production, Johnson set herself the goal of becoming more proficient at orchestral arrangements, exploring software, and learning how different elements could interact.

She said: “Production-wise, I had a lot of fun just making things sound much bigger, taking an intimate experience and then layering things like gospel choirs around it to make it feel larger than life.”

Her early experience as a clarinettist proved useful. Having learned the instrument from a young age, she was already attuned to how instruments communicate with each other, and the importance of giving each room to breathe. Those principles now inform the album’s expansive arrangements.

Orchestral textures are balanced against the intimacy of the songwriting. In Bound to You, a song Johnson describes as particularly personal and diary-like, she takes small,private moments and expands them into something monumental.

Across the album, references to spirituality and afterlives sit alongside recognisable human emotions, giving listeners various ways to approach the material.

She wants the songs to reward repeated listening, revealing new connections as the broader story comes into focus.

It is a style informed by her admiration for artists such as Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey and Grimes, musicians whose albums create worlds that extend beyond individual songs.

Johnson also sees the visual side of her work as inseparable from its sound. Having studied painting at university, she made the artwork for Fantasy herself and remains closely involved in styling, research and the wider aesthetic surrounding the project. “When I meet people, I say I’m an artist rather than a musician,” she says.

For her, that distinction captures the ambition behind Kohla – an integrated creative project in which music, imagery and narrative reinforce one another.

Of late, that carefully constructed world has begun to find an audience with Johnson making one of her biggest breakthroughs somewhere unexpected – on TikTok.

After years of performing and receiving critical recognition without feeling she had connected with a particular demographic, Kohla went viral in early 2025.

The response introduced new listeners to an extensive back catalogue, including her earlier album and EP, and helped establish what fans affectionately call the “Kohla Cult”.

Johnson believes the connection comes from the emotional directness of the music, as well as the opportunity for listeners to get to know the person behind it.

She said: “I think a lot of them see me as a big-sister figure, because the way that I write is very emotional,. I’m very expressive but I don’t take myself too seriously at all.

“Even though I think the persona of Kohla can maybe come across as a bit aloof sometimes, in real life I’m very chilled out and a bit nerdy. I think they really accept me for who I am.”

The community surrounding Johnson’s work has become an important source of encouragement,but so too has her emphasis on collaborating with fellow female musicians, photographers and videographers.

This includes members of Popgirlz Scotland, the feminist collective she founded in late 2019 alongside Josephine Sillars. “As I’ve grown older, I’ve just realised how important it is to find my people and people who understand me and my work,” Johnson says. “And once you have that, actually making things is so much easier because people just get it and give you the control you want.”

For an artist whose work depends on emotional precision, that sense of trust matters.

So does the confidence Johnson has developed in her own abilities.

She describes herself as more skilled, more self-sufficient and increasingly more gentle with herself.

There is already a third album in progress, with the writing complete and production under way and Johnson continues to develop future plans for PopGirlz.

For now, though, Fantasy marks a significant moment in Johnson’s evolution as Kohla, representing a bringing together of her interests while acknowledging the difficult experiences that have shaped it.

Ultimately, she hopes listeners will find something of their own lives reflected in its songs.

Asked what she wants people to take away from the album, Johnson says: “I think it’s self-reflection. I’ve always wanted to make projects that make people think and feel something.

“To know that I’ve achieved that, and have made someone feel emotional or made them think of a certain memory – I think that’s the goal of making art.”

Fantasy may offer a temporary refuge from reality, yet Kohla’s greatest achievement is to make that imagined world feel deeply and discernably human.

The invitation is not to escape, but to feel more, look inward and return to the world with a little more insight. Fantasy was released on Friday.