“I just like being a little demon – a little devil hellraiser,” Ashnikko giggles, her voice both razor-sharp and feather-light. The London-based American artist is describing the concept behind her new mixtape DEMIDEVIL, the cover art of which shows her as a dragon being ridden by a demidevil version of herself. It’s just like everything Ashnikko does: as real as it is surreal and as terrifying as it is hilarious. “It sheds light on the polarity of my songs – some are tender and sweet, and some are more intense. The songs are very different, and DEMIDEVIL brings them together.”
The mixtape is Ashnikko’s first release since 2019′s Hi, It’s Me, the EP that introduced the world to “STUPID”: her scariest iteration yet. The homicidal rap song propelled Ash to viral fame, spawning millions of TikToks.
After a US tour with rapper Danny Brown, a headline-stealing femdom appearance flanked by male servants on the red carpet at the BRITs 2020, a Doja Cat support tour, and a string of sold-out headline shows of her own on the horizon, the coronavirus lockdown hit. That’s when she threw her energy into compiling her best project yet: a collection of songs that celebrate female sexuality and noughties pop, featuring Grimes, Princess Nokia, Kelis, a musical theater number about the clitoris, and countless vicious one-liners.
Ashton Casey was born and raised in North Carolina, and later Eastern Europe – but in truth, she says “the internet raised me”. As well as Tumblr, her most consistent influence was music made by empowered, misfit women: M.I.A., Nicki Minaj, Bjork, Kelis, and Janis Joplin to name a few. After honing her singing skills in her bedroom, she took a fearless leap of faith at the age of 18 by moving to London, completely alone, to make it as a musician. “I wanted to make it big in the big city,” she says wryly. “But I was slapped in the face by reality.”
“Drunk With My Friends” is a grunge-y party track sat alongside the sinister lullaby “Little Boy”, and “Toxic”, a vengeful alt-pop song about a music industry suit who dared try to take the credit for Ashnikko’s talent. Capping it all off is the echoing, guitar-based ballad “Good While It Lasted”, a rare moment of vulnerability in which Ash reflects on the embers of a former relationship. But true to form, she follows this gentle moment with a belly laugh: an excerpt from Clitoris, the Musical! “Yeah, me and some friends are working on a musical about the clitoris,” she chuckles, “and how it seems to be such a difficult place for men to find. Like a mythical land, shrouded in mystery. It’s a quest-based musical, set in medieval times.”
It’s that multiplicity that sits at the heart of DEMIDEVIL, the biggest and boldest Ashnikko release yet, defying any attempts to pigeonhole the blue-haired maverick. Ash is more than the blood-soaked character who cackled with laughter on “STUPID”, or the fetish queen that stomps through “Daisy”. The demidevil, she says, is “two people – and I can be five different people. I can be very multi-faceted.” Throughout the mixtape, she’s bratty, sexy, angry, and heartbroken, over everything from trap beats to rock choruses. Most importantly, she’s a songwriter with talents that will carry her far beyond a viral moment of fame. Her personal idea of success isn’t about online likes and comments – it’s about the people who will fill the room once music venues are up and running again. “As long as they know all the lyrics by heart,” she says, “then I’ll know I’ve succeeded.