Ashnikko - Blow

“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

“Ashnikko [has] perked up our ears with the release of her debut single.” – GRM Daily

Ashnikko made a huge introduction with last year’s debut EP ‘Sass Pancakes’. Featuring Avelino as well as production from Raf Riley, the EP earned tips from i-D, Notion, Complex and GRM Daily as well as airplay from MistaJam at 1Xtra.

Now the London-based American artist returns with a new found confidence with her brand new track ‘Blow’. Not only is it bigger, bolder and more immediate than anything she has done before, but her independent attitude remains fierce and even more focussed.

‘Blow’ is ignited with her in-your-face rhymes which combines a message of female empowerment with bold, cartoonish imagery. Ashnikko wrote the track herself within a single session, while production comes from a one-off collaboration with Culture & Tones.

She explains:

“The song starts with ‘Take it off and show them how much you want it’, which is poking fun at the culture of women being exploited in music. I’m tired of being brainwashed that my body is my biggest asset. And it’s me saying to myself that I will never exploit myself in a way that doesn’t empower me, I will try to stay authentic. Me having my tits out is my choice, I’ll do it if I feel like it.”

It’s a motivational speech to myself, a ‘fuck you’ to the people who treated me like I didn’t exist, and a reminder that I need to love myself. Recently I’ve had people tell me that I’m really lucky to get to where I am now. Obviously I am lucky – I’m a healthy girl and I’ve lived a relatively comfortable life – but in music, I’ve been busting my ass for eight years. It’s been a long uphill struggle, as I left my whole family to move to the other side of the world on my own. It was absolutely terrifying. That wasn’t luck: that was me cutting off my leg to grow a third arm.”

‘Blow’ is the first taste of Ashnikko’s new EP ‘Unlikeable’ which will be released later in the summer. Produced by fellow OddChild artist CallMeTheKidd, are similarly incendiary and concise, with lyrics that explore issues of misogyny, consent and equality.

Ashnikko’s back story goes something like this: One moment you’re a regular teenager living in North Carolina and the next thing you know, your family uproot 7500 kilometres east – first to Estonia and then to Latvia. Living in Riga, she stuck out like a sore thumb. Her parents gave her no other option other than to enrol in a public Latvian high school. She was the only American girl in the entire country to attend a Latvian public school, with her lessons taught entirely in Latvian.

Her escape was to spend her weekends flying to London to pursue a music career. She eventually established a new home-from-home within the OddChild community where she’s spent the last four years focussed on developing her music.

Ashnikko recently joined Kyra TV to present the Greatness series alongside her friend Emerald Lewis. Their mission – to understand "what is greatness?" by spending time with, and learning from, the most inspiring and extraordinary people in the world – has so far taken them to a floating island that was built by two artists in Canada; a night in an incredible glacial ice cave in Iceland; to the Eve: Pro-Wrestling collective in London which describes itself as a “ground-breaking feminist-punk-rock wrestling promotion”; and Namibia, to work with orphaned baby baboons.