Image by Sahar Nicolette for Subvrt Mag
Hi, I’m Mary, and I’m an Asknikko-aholic.
I first heard of the American singer-songwriter and rapper, Ashnikko through her song ‘STUPID’ on TikTok – it went viral, you see. For those of you that don’t know, TikTok is a hub of short videos that are either funny or incredibly cringeworthy – If you’re aware of Vine it’s like that, but much much worse…
TikTok is something that’s cool to hate. It has young children on it, awfully embarrassing parents, pervy elders and just about everyone in between. It’s made up of instant-quick content, beamed right to your fingertips in short 15-second video clips – it doesn’t get anymore Gen Z than this folks.
The dance routines on the app, in particular, seem to have struck a chord with audiences, becoming iconic with teens in the same way Moonwalking or Big Fish Little Fish did with previous generations. Thankfully, I can’t see my dad doing the ‘Renegade’ anytime soon – look it up.
Due to the 15-second video limit, the app thrives on short snippets of catchy songs, and ‘STUPID’ by Ashnikko, that’s a damn catchy song…
If you’ve never seen Ashnikko before, she has a particularly striking image: she has electric blue hair and well, practically blue everything – it’s part of her ‘brand’.
Her hair is also very very long. At the Brit awards, her locks measured a whopping 10 feet and two fellas – who looked almost like her minions – had to carry the damn thing all night! Other hair raising moments includes the time she styled her luscious blue locks into devil horns… but that’s for another time.
As an artist, Ashnikko is pretty free speaking, the queen of sex talk, and she frequently reminds her fans that’s she’s a bit of a freak. I can imagine her as the type who was always getting in trouble at school for scrawling crude poems about her teachers, the type who would turn up to third-period art class with a hickey. Yeah, she may not be a good role model, but she’s kind of a badass anti-hero, and that’s what I love about her.
Fitting in with her rebel aesthetic, the subjects of her songs are usually quite taboo. Part of the purpose of Ashnikko’s music is to destroy the stigma surrounding her lyrical subjects of sex, masturbation, being tough and being dominant. She intentionally breaks with tradition, redefining expectations by being increasingly outrageous – exhibit a) being her hair length and colour.
You always feel guilty whilst enjoying something taboo, that’s why it’s taboo, right? You feel as if you’re not supposed to be anywhere near it, but you do it anyway. That’s how I feel listening to Ashnikko.
It saddens me to know that people only view Ashnikko as a cringe artist because of where she gained her notoriety. TikTok is the future if you ask me. Fuck it, Ashnikko is the future too. I mean, I wouldn’t play her music to my grandad. He’d hate her, and she’d probably love that. But, one day, the rest of you will realise. Ashnikko is the future.
We may have sold out of Volume 8, but we’ve still got some limited edition Hinds postcards left! If you’re looking for some lovely print material to read, then check out our store for copies of Volume 7 and 6 HERE.
