Ashnikko’s ‘Die-Hard Feminist’ Music Is The Boost Your Confidence Needs & Not Just On TikTok

You may have danced to Ashnikko's 'STUPID' bop on TikTok (Miley Cyrus has), but the blue-haired provocateur has much more to offer than sound bites for your funny videos. Meet the singer-rapper you should know ahead of 2020.

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Ashnikko knows how to make her listeners feel good. Hollywoodā€™s intimate LACE center, often used for art exhibits, transformed into a mosh pit of blue tongues stained by gumballs and cotton candy as attendees chanted ā€œWETā€ at the 23-year-old viral sensationā€™s pop-up show in Los Angeles on Dec. 6. Laughing like a mad scientist and running to and fro across the small stage, the singer-rapper from London bounced her fansā€™ energy right back as she spat out the lyrics to her viral hit ā€œSTUPID.ā€ Theyā€™re the same lines that have been used in more than 2.9 million TikTok videos by the beginning of December.

Whether it be a cozy venue or immense social media platform, Ashnikkoā€™s infectious flow brings people right to their feet. Thatā€™s an ability that didnā€™t only take shape when the line ā€œStupid boy think that I need himā€ turned into the anti-patriarchy anthem for 15-second videos online. Ashnikko has already been putting out tracks that make her Generation Z fanbase flip the bird to the ā€œstupid boyā€ in their life, or the metaphorical equivalent of whatever has been trying to dim their shine.

ā€œMy goal with my music is to make confidence songsā€¦songs that boost my own confidence,ā€ Ashnikko, which is the mash-up of her real name Ashton Casey, EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife during a sit-down interview at our Los Angeles office one day before her pop-up show. You also canā€™t help but laugh along with the perverted humor in Ashnikkoā€™s songs, making them even more fun to belt out loud. The singer, whoā€™s inspired by ā€œdumb, gross, explicitā€ humor found in Adult Swim shows like Tim & Eric and was once suspended from school for writing a dirty poem that involved a Sasquatch and her teacher ā€œsh-tting on the desk or something,ā€ said she tries to be a ā€œfunny b-tch.ā€

Ashnikko
(Lucrecia Taormina/Warner Records)

With both of those objectives, it may come as a surprise that Ashnikkoā€™s ā€œmuseā€ is actually her ex. ā€œHe was so inspirational to me because he really f-cked my life,ā€ Ashnikko said. ā€œI was very angry, a very angry girl for a long time. Still a little bit angry.ā€ But Ashnikko doesnā€™t mind the steam ā€” she actually feeds on it, telling us, ā€œI feel like we need to be a little bit angry, because f-ck the patriarchy.ā€

But Ashnikko isnā€™t just singing controversial lyrics for the sake of sounding controversial, as some do in the hopes of getting a seat on the train of viral Internet content. ā€œI am definitely not a TikTok artist. Iā€™ve been making music for a long time, before TikTok,ā€ Ashnikko told us, who released her first EP Sass Pancakes in 2017, followed by 2018ā€™s EP Unlikeable and her most popular EP to date, Hi, Itā€™s Me, a year after that. Rather, her music has turned into a rallying cry against a world that has elected a president who once encouraged another man to ā€œgrabā€ women ā€œby the p-ssy,ā€ a controversy that Ashnikko called out in the beginning stages of her career in ā€œPlease Donā€™t Grab My P-ssy,ā€ which she uploaded to SoundCloud in 2016.

ā€œIā€™m a die-hard feminist, it wouldnā€™t sit right with me if I wasnā€™t talking about my feminism,ā€ Ashnikko told HollywoodLife, words that she stayed true to at last Fridayā€™s show. She dropped on the floor of the stage to yell, ā€œThe rules of consent are so damn EASY,ā€ followed by the declaration, ā€œIā€™m f-cking tired as f-ck. Iā€™m so mad. My body, your body, is not an invitation for abuse.ā€ That served as the opening monologue before she sang ā€œInvitation,ā€ her 2018 collab with Kodie Shane thatā€™s a PSA about how her body is not something you can ā€œRSVPā€ to.

While feminism is the raison dā€™ĆŖtre behind Ashnikkoā€™s music, she is thankful that her newfound viral fame has given that message ā€” and her songs overall ā€” a mega platform. But that also means the singer-rapper is entering a new kind of fame, one that is unique to artists like Lil Nas X who have been instantly exposed to millions of people thanks to a breakthrough hit that made its rounds on TikTok.

ā€œSo since ā€˜STUPIDā€™Sā€ gone viral, the craziest thing that has happened is getting swamped by 12 year olds, which is very strange. It was at my little brotherā€™s middle school dance and that was very surreal,ā€ Ashnikko recalled during our interview.

Sheā€™s also hard to miss with her electric blue pigtails, which have many fans comparing Ashnikko to the anime hologram Hatsune Miku (whom she owns a ā€œmassiveā€ pillow of on her bed, she happily revealed). Thereā€™s her unique sense of style as well, which can be described as a cross between E-girl and streetwear youā€™d find on the sidewalks of Harajuku. She arrived to the interview looking ready to hop on a stage with a secondā€™s notice, wearing a neon green two-piece set layered with a Western-style denim jacket, and Dr. Martens boots intertwined with colorful shoelace she swiped (with permission) from her stylistā€™s house.

But Ashnikko doesnā€™t plan on her look ā€” or sound ā€” on being static. She revealed plans to dye half of her hair orange, and has already followed up the Oct. 22 release of her ā€œSTUPIDā€ music video (which has currently clocked in nearly 16 million views) with the release of her alien and cowgirl-themed video for ā€œWorking B-tchā€ on Dec. 3. Sheā€™s entertaining the idea of joining a boxing team, and undergoing laser-eye surgery to have 20/20 vision in 2020 (we see where her clever lines come from).

Other than that, nothing is too extreme on Ashnikkoā€™s list of New Years resolutions. Just as her hype-up songs suggest, Ashnikkoā€™s already confident with where sheā€™s at ā€” an indicator that something even bigger than ā€œSTUPIDā€ will be hitting us soon.