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Artist Bio
UK-based alternative artist Aaron Kokolay has built a catalogue that moves between nu-metal, gothic post-punk and shoegaze since making his debut in 2024. Originally from Bolton, he began making music in his hometown, picking up the guitar in primary school before studying piano and voice throughout high school. After producing independently from home, he moved to London for university, where he met producer Lila Stanzcyk-Ropiak, a collaborator who helped shape his evolving sound.
Kokolay's debut single, "Made 4 Ur Love", fused 2000s nu-metal with electronic production, drawing influence from acts such as Deftones and Evanescence. He continued expanding his sound through releases including "Eroded Into Skin" and "Cutting The Tether", a collaboration with Angel Athans, before releasing his debut EP "Lover's Inferno" in 2025. Reimagining Dante's Inferno through a queer lens, the project explored themes of love, heartbreak and self-discovery while blending heavy guitars, nu-gaze textures and ambient production.
Following the EP, Kokolay released "Wouldn't Even Know", his most successful single to date, drawing from the pop rock influence of No Doubt's "Hella Good". He then took a year away focusing on his studies, only to return in 2026 with "Touch Until You Please", a heavier exploration of his sound influenced by French nu-metal acts Eths and Mypollux, marking a darker shift in his songwriting from love and self-exploration to themes of power and control.
Touch Until You Please
Artwork
Release: 8th August 2026
Audio File
Lyrics
Pray now, mister
You can be my only friend
Hear out, whispers
Through the shadows, feel my pain
Systems, fall in
I don't want to play your game
Sweep in, sweep out
When will life repay the shame?
You can be my only friend
Hear out, whispers
Through the shadows, feel my pain
Systems, fall in
I don't want to play your game
Sweep in, sweep out
When will life repay the shame?
You can’t fix the broken pieces if they’ve fallen down
Picking scabs that haven’t healed and watch the wounds unwound
Tie the knot on a piece of string that never had a bound
Bleaching tears that hit my face, and never make a sound
Picking scabs that haven’t healed and watch the wounds unwound
Tie the knot on a piece of string that never had a bound
Bleaching tears that hit my face, and never make a sound
Touch until you please
As I bite onto my tongue
Strip me to the core
If that’s what I’m here for
As I bite onto my tongue
Strip me to the core
If that’s what I’m here for
If it's an impediment
To what nature designed
Je sais pas
Si cette torture est à ma taille
Chew me up and spit me out
I carry your disease
Rip my skin
And watch me bleed
As they all say to me
To what nature designed
Je sais pas
Si cette torture est à ma taille
Chew me up and spit me out
I carry your disease
Rip my skin
And watch me bleed
As they all say to me
Keep it down
Drown in doubt
Bow down to what is above you
Keep it to yourself or he’s gonna hurt you
Drown in doubt
Bow down to what is above you
Keep it to yourself or he’s gonna hurt you
Touch until you please
As I bite onto my tongue
Strip me to the core
If that’s what I’m here for
As I bite onto my tongue
Strip me to the core
If that’s what I’m here for
Corrupt what is meant to be
Your silence is deafening
In places that you shouldn’t be
Speak and I lose my teeth
Your silence is deafening
In places that you shouldn’t be
Speak and I lose my teeth
Keep it down
Drown in doubt
Bow down to what is above you
Keep it to yourself or he’s gonna hurt you
Drown in doubt
Bow down to what is above you
Keep it to yourself or he’s gonna hurt you
Song Biography
"Touch Until You Please" explores power, control and the lasting effects of trauma. I knew I wanted to make this song for quite some time, even way before I released my EP, and I started writing it a month or so after releasing "Wouldn't Even Know", during a period where I felt completely out of control in my own life. My relationships felt fragile, I questioned the way I communicated with people, and I found myself constantly wondering whether I was the problem. The song took almost a year to finish because I wasn't just writing about what was happening around me, but everything that had led me there.
While my previous music explored relationships, love and intimacy, this was the first time I wanted to confront something much deeper: how childhood, family and trauma continue to shape who we become. As a filmmaker alongside making music, producing a short film centred around sexual assault unexpectedly brought me back to my own experiences in childhood and my complicated relationship with my father. Writing the song became a way of processing those experiences through music. It pushed me into places I'd never gone before, not only lyrically but melodically, vocally and as a songwriter.
Musically, the record draws heavily from the French nu metal scene alongside bands that shaped me growing up, including Korn, Alice in Chains, and Jack Off Jill. French has always been a complicated language for me because it reminds me of my father. Although I'm far more comfortable speaking English and Burmese, I wanted to reconnect with that side of myself through music rather than memory. Revisiting bands like Eths, MyPollux and Pleymo became a huge part of writing the record, and eventually inspired me to include French inspiration mostly in the production, but somewhat with the way I approached the lyrics themselves.
The themes of the song naturally extended into its visual identity. The artwork represents invisible systems of control through a marionette suspended above a town, manipulated by looming figures that blur the line between innocence and evil. I'd spoken to the artist for over a year about wanting imagery centred around a loss of control, and together we developed a piece that felt inseparable from the music.
It was also important that every aspect of the release remained entirely human-led. From the songwriting and production to the artwork, photography and visual development, no generative AI was used at any stage. In a time where creative work increasingly feels automated, I wanted this project to be rooted entirely in collaboration between artists.
This is the most vulnerable song I've released, both thematically and vocally. Looking back at my earlier music, I can hear how much I've grown in confidence as a writer and vocalist. More than anything, I hope "Touch Until You Please" connects with people who recognise parts of themselves in it.