DEMIDEVIL - Ashnikko (2021) (Female Artist Spotlight)

by Chloe Richardson

Ashnikko’s latest album, DEMIDEVIL, is a deep dive into a queer fantasy filled with bright colors, spirited, energetic beats, and sapphic sleepovers. Bending and twisting hyperpop and hip-hop into a beautifully original category, American singer Ashton Casey layers her genre exploration with multiple explicitly matter-of-fact explanations of why she is so dissatisfied with men, as can be heard in songs such as “Deal With It”, “Little Boy”, and “Clitoris! The Musical”. Featuring collaborations with the likes of Grimes, Kelis, and Princess Nokia, Casey crafts outspoken self-love anthems that would make any woman 100 percent proud of who she is. Casey even puts a personal spin on Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” in her cover “L8r Boi”, in which she acknowledges that aforementioned skater boy really isn’t, in fact, good enough for her. Additionally, Casey gets remorseful in her second to last track “Good While it Lasted”, asking if the subject of the song will “forgive [her] for the nasty things that [she] says when [she’s] wounded”. With the release of DEMIDEVIL, Ashnikko has successfully proven that she is infinitely more than just a TikTok superstar.