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Lous and the Yakuza returns with an EP and a Sci-Fi Film
After the success of her acclaimed first and second albums, Gore (2020) and Iota (2022), the charismatic Belgian-Congolese singer-songwriter and rapper Lous and the Yakuza is back with a moving and romantic new EP titled No Big Deal. She’s also starring in a sci-fi film that promises to be as thrilling as it is surprising.
by Violaine Schütz,
Publié le 18 april 2025. Modifié le 22 April 2025.
Lous and the Yakuza never disappoints. In 2022, the Belgian-Congolese singer-songwriter gifted us a magnificent Colors session alongside Dominican-Italian artist Yendry. That same year, she released her second album, Iota, which included tracks like Kisé, a pop tune with hip-hop undertones about the fragility of love and the feeling it leaves once the early excitement fades. There was also the explosive Hiroshima, a bold love metaphor built around the iconic bomb.
Iota, Lous and the Yakuza’s highly acclaimed latest Album
For Iota, the 28-year-old singer and Louis Vuitton muse remained loyal to her team. The album was produced by El Guincho, who also worked on Rosalía’s El Mal Querer. He had already produced her debut album Gore (2020), which featured the singles Tout est gore, Dilemme, and Solo.
“On Iota, the idea was to embrace the different layers that make up the human being and who I am.” – Lous and the Yakuza
Speaking about Iota, she explained: “This ‘iota’ symbolizes what’s left of my past relationships—whether friendly, familial, or romantic. I reflect on all the moments I’ve felt love in my life and what ultimately remains: a mere iota, a tiny amount. On this album, I allow myself to be a 26-year-old girl writing about love. Life made me grow up so fast that sometimes I feel like I’m 80. [Laughs.] But lately, I’ve rediscovered the passion of youth.”
She added: “This album is also a farewell letter to certain forms of love—toxic and extreme kinds that make us lose our minds. My main inspiration remains my own life. Just like with Gore, I tried to express the truth of what I feel and observe as accurately as possible. The idea was to accept the different layers that make up the human being and who I am.”
No Big Deal, the new EP from Lous and the Yakuza
So what’s next for Lous and the Yakuza after a three-year hiatus? On Friday, April 18, 2025, she released No Big Deal—an intimate new EP with a DIY, dreamlike aesthetic (handwritten texts and drawings posted on Instagram). And once again, it’s time for confessions. Comprised of three songs, the EP explores, in her words, “surviving the chaos of love, loss, and desire.”
Her comeback succeeds in every way, featuring bittersweet, poetic, and moving lyrics in both French and English, set to a stripped-down blend of pop, rock, and R’n’B. She delves into the various stages of a romantic relationship: painful breakups, lack of communication, nostalgia, regret, perspective, and new beginnings. True to form, there’s no self-pity—Lous turns heartbreak into refrains fit to be chanted like mantras.
This EP may also be a preview of her upcoming album, reportedly slated for 2025. “No Big Deal is the beginning of something—it’s just like a seed,” she explains.
A Sci-Fi Film with Jean-Pascal Zadi
Another bit of exciting news? On June 25, 2025, Marie-Pierra Kakoma, aka Lous and the Yakuza, will star in Le Grand déplacement, a comedy by Jean-Pascal Zadi featuring Reda Kateb. The premise? “In absolute secrecy, the first African space mission is preparing for launch! The crew, made up of people from the continent and its diaspora, must explore the planet Nardal to assess whether it could host all Africans should Earth become uninhabitable. The only problem? The journey will be long. Very long. And the greatest unknown in interstellar missions remains the harmony among astronauts…”
Following a small but memorable DJ role in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), she’s now diving into humor and sci-fi, playing an astronaut. Having revealed in 2024 that she has multiple sclerosis, she seems to be fully back in the spotlight.
No Big Deal by Lous and the Yakuza, available now. Le Grand déplacement by Jean-Pascal Zadi, in theaters June 25, 2025.
