Aksu's influence on Turkish pop and world music has continued since her debut in 1975, and has been reinforced by her patronage of and collaboration with many other musicians, including Yonca Evcimik, Sertab Erener, Şebnem Ferah, Aşkın Nur Yengi, Hande Yener, Yıldız Tilbe, Işın Karaca, Seden Gürel, Harun Kolçak and Levent Yüksel.

Her work with Tarkan resulted in continental hits like "Şımarık" and "Şıkıdım" and her collaboration with Goran Bregović widened her international audience.

[9] After finishing high school, she began studying at the local agricultural institute, but left college to concentrate on music.

Along with her close friend Ajda Pekkan, Aksu is credited with laying the foundations of Turkish pop music in the 1970s.

It was to be left to her pupil, Sertab Erener, to win the Eurovision and realise Aksu's dream to push her musical vision further into Europe.

Parting ways with Tunç, in 1995, Aksu branched out with the experimental album Işık Doğudan Yükselir, drawing both on western classical and regional Turkish musical traditions.

In 1996, she released Düş Bahçeleri as a tribute to Tunç, who died that same year tragically when his private plane crashed.

In 2005, she was featured in Fatih Akın's documentary film Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul with a performance of the song "İstanbul Hatırası".

[19] Sezen Aksu's concert with Fahir Atakoğlu in Stockholm, Sweden in April 2010 was attended by many Turkish and Swedish music lovers.

After a 10-year break, "TurkofAmerica" and "GNL Entertainment" organized a series of concerts by Aksu in the USA, with the corporate sponsorship of the Washington-based Turkish Cultural Foundation.

[24] At her concert in Volkswagen Arena Istanbul in January 2016, Aksu announced that she would retire from performing live on stage: "Each ending is a new beginning.

1 in memory of Yaşar Gaga, but resurfaced on the social media in early 2022 after its lyric video was published on Aksu's official YouTube channel on 30 December 2021.

[27] President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party Devlet Bahçeli, and the Directorate of Religious Affairs, were among the political figures and government agencies that criticized Aksu and the song.

[29] Aksu also revealed the lyrics to a new song she wrote the previous day: "You won't be able to crush my tongue.

In 2012, Aksu wrote the song "Tanrının Gözyaşları" (Tears of God) in memory of soldiers who had died during the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.

[38] In 2002, alongside Ajda Pekkan and Seyyal Taner, Aksu was named as one of the gay icons admired by the Turkish LGBT people in the book Eşcinsel Erkekler by Murat Hocaoğlu.

[38][41] In 2008, she supported LGBT association Lambdaistanbul, which was closed by a court decision based on "the fact that it is contrary to general morality".

[43][44] Later in 2013, she published a statement on her official website[45] in support of the SPOD (Social Policy Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association) on its first anniversary.

[46][47] In her statement, she mentioned Mesut Şaban Okan, nicknamed "İrem", who was a victim of hate crime in Bursa in 2010.

As long as my breath is sufficient enough, I will take a stand against this discrimination, this speciesism, this cruelty that ignores and destroys those who are not like them; I'll take the side of those whose right to live was blocked.