Coco O.
Danish musician (born 1987)
Cecilie Maja Hastrup Karshøj, known professionally as Coco O., is a Danish musician best known as the singer in electronic soul duo Quadron. She released her debut album It's a Process in 2021.
01Early life
Cecilie Maja Hastrup Karshøj was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her father is biracial of Tanzanian descent.
Karshøj began singing in kindergarten and aspired to sing professionally from childhood. She first realized that her voice was received positively by others during a secondary school performance of a Bill Withers song. She names Michael Jackson and Lauryn Hill as early inspirations. Karshøj's grandfather was a jazz musician.
02Career
Quadron
Performing under the name Coco O., she formed the duo Quadron with Robin Hannibal of Rhye in 2009. The word Quadron comes from archaic Danish "kvadron", a term used to signify persons of "quarter" race, and refers to the fact that both musicians have a biracial parent. Coco O. was the duo's singer and moved to Los Angeles after the release of their debut album. Her voice was referred to by Pitchfork as "sweetly soulful."
Solo work
Jay-Z selected Coco O. to contribute the song "Where the Wind Blows" to the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby. She has also worked with Pharrell Williams and provided featured vocals for Tyler, the Creator, Vulfpeck and Joey Dosik.
In 2015 she released her first solo single, "Hardest Thing." Coco O. moved back to Denmark in 2018 and released her debut solo project Dolceacqua on 25 May 2018. The two-song EP has a bossa nova sound. The album was written for an ex-boyfriend and named after the small Italian village where they fell in love. ColorsxStudios described it as "featuring mellow, acoustic guitar accompanied by rich, cinematic strings" and noted the sound is a departure from her previous work with Quadron.
On 30 April 2021 she released her first solo album It's a Process. Zo of Okayplayer heralded the album as "a stunningly intimate showcase of the singer’s voice across a range of compositions pulling from all eras of r&b and soul."
03Other ventures
Coco O. appeared as a contestant on dancing competition TV series Vild med dans in 2019. She and her partner Morten Kjeldgaard finished in second place.
04Discography
Albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEN | |||
| It's a Process |
|
27 |
|
EPs
| Title | EP details |
|---|---|
| Dolceaqua |
|
| Eternal, Pt. I |
|
with Quadron
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN |
US | |||
| Quadron |
|
31 | , | |
| Avalanche |
|
3 | 115 |
|
| ", " denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart. | ||||
Other appearances
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Løb Stop Stå" (Boom Clap Bachelors feat. Coco O.) | 2011 | Mellem Dine Læber |
| "Hey There Lonely Boy" (The Decoders feat. Coco O.) | Non-album single | |
| "Visions" (The Internet (band) feat. Coco O.) | Purple Naked Ladies | |
| "Ode to a Dream" (The Internet feat. Kilo Kish and Coco O.) | ||
| "Skykvinden" (Grønflammeskoven feat. Coco O.) | Grønflammeskoven (Lyfbilledbog Soundtrack) | |
| "Hos Mig Igen" (When Saints Go Machine feat. Coco O.) | 2012 | Non-album single |
| "Where the Wind Blows" | 2013 | The Great Gatsby: Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film |
| "Treehome95" (Tyler the Creator feat. Coco O. and Erykah Badu) | Wolf | |
| "Through the Night" (Cedric Gervais feat. Coco O.) | 2014 | Non-album single |
| "Looking for Lovin'" (Dragonborn feat. Coco O.) | Part Of Something Bigger | |
| "Keep Da O's" (Tyler the Creator feat. Pharrell Williams and Coco O.) | 2015 | Cherry Bomb |
| "Afterglow" (Mads Langer feat. Coco O.) | 2016 | Reckless Twin |
| "Credo, Pt. II" (August Rosenbaum feat. Coco O.) | 2017 | Non-album single |
| "Credo, Pt. II" (Live) (August Rosenbaum feat. Coco O.) | ||
| "Business Casual" (Vulfpeck feat. Coco O.) | Mr Finish Line | |
| "Kerosene" (Phlake feat. Coco O.) | Weird Invitations | |
| "Slow Afternoon" (The Late Great Fitzcarraldos feat. Coco O.) | You | |
| "Don't Want It to Be Over" (Joey Dosik feat. Coco O.) | 2018 | Inside Voice |
| "Red Dragon" (CTM feat. Coco O.) | Red Dragon | |
| "Home" (Dragonborn feat. Coco O.) | Ride Upon the Storm |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Coco O.”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Coco O.jpg by artrebels/Kenneth Nguyen, CC BY 2.0
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