ASHNIKKO
shares new EP
‘Hi, It’s Me’
+ video for title track
out now
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“Ashnikko is the artist providing an antidote to the glossy, hyper-sexualised imagery of mainstream pop.” – Dummy
“If smashing the patriarchy had a sound, we’re pretty sure it would sound like Ashnikko.” – Time Out
“The unapologetic rapper-singer makes angsty tracks for her teenage self.” – Wonderland
“Pinching from the latest Stateside rap and hyper-real pop.” – Clash
“A hot stack of sass pancakes drizzled in dark and playful wordplay.” – i-D
“She’s been crafting off-kilter southern synth trap like no-one else, and she’s had one hell of a journey to get here.” – NOTION
“Ashnikko takes charge with a burst of playful energy.” – Complex
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The perfect antidote for coy pop sexuality in 2019, Ashnikko winds the sonic spirits of punk and hip-hop around each other until the finished product is almost indefinable. From the frenetic trap beats and salacious rhymes of her debut EP Sass Pancakes to her recent floor-filler Special, a host of influential names including Annie Mac, Julie Adenuga, Zane Lowe, DJ Target and Annie Nightingale have supported your new favourite anarchic pop artist.
Now Ashnikko again levels up for her next chapter by dropping her brand new EP Hi, It’s Me along with a video for its title track and lead single.
Hi, It’s Me is a break-up anthem that Ashnikko wrote for herself – a message from her stronger, more decisive self, begging the real Ashnikko to see that she has to get over her ex. “Repeat after me: I’m over it! We’re so over over!” she hollers during the track’s attention-grabbing hook. It’s a serious message about having the confidence to go it alone, delivered in a way that’s mischievous and immediately captivating.
The accompanying video was directed by Lucrecia Taormina. Like the song, the video reflects the struggle of being at odds with one’s self in the middle of a break-up. The heart vs. the head. It finds Ashnikko effectively kidnapping herself – a symbolical split personality that reminds us that in an ideal world, the reaction to heartbreak would be focused on logic rather than emotion.
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The EP is packed with ‘fuck you’ alternative pop: each track designed to embolden autonomous women and put shitty people – mainly men, and especially awful fuccbois and dumping douchebags – in their place.
Ashnikko speaks frankly about things that matter to her, prioritising her career over shit sex in the country R&B mashup of Working Bitch and bluntly defying stereotypical expectations of female behaviour in Manners. And on Stupid she teams up with Atlanta’s Young Baby Tate as the two next wave artists deliver their sexually liberated message. Whether the songs are imbued with a genuine and necessary anger or a sense of playfulness, we can all sing along.
The Hi, It’s Me EP features production from N8tive, Tylr Rydr, Firzt World Problemz, CallMeTheKidd (Hardy Caprio, Etta Bond), Oscar Scheller (Lily Allen, Mabel) and Jason Julian (Ms Banks, Avelino).
Art, music and sexual liberation are the three most potent ingredients in Ashnikko’s rebellion. Born and raised in the suburban hell of Greensboro, North Carolina, her parents raised her on a musical diet comprised exclusively of country music and Slipknot. But just as she was settling into life as an American teenager, they carted her off to Estonia, then Latvia. It catalysed an identity crisis she’s still reckoning with to this day.
Beguiled by M.I.A.’s Arular, Ashnikko’s internet-led deep dive into punkish pop artists began. Up until the age of 17, she listened exclusively to women musicians. Now, she counts the likes of Nicki Minaj, Björk, Janis Joplin and M.I.A. as the profoundly feminist and sex positive influences that helped shape her sound.
Desperate to escape, it wasn’t until she was 18 that she headed to London. Away from the strict confines set for her back home, she arrived in the capital naïve yet hungry to make it in music. Her nights were spent wandering in and out of nightclubs and gigs, befriending creative people who were cool enough to let her crash on their couch. It was a hustle in the beginning, but it’s now paying off.
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Hi, It’s Me
Special
STUPID featuring Yung Baby Tate
Working Bitch
Manners
STREAM AND DOWNLOAD THE EP HERE
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