“These machines, weedkillers, can be a commentary on the destruction of wild spaces and biodiversity on our planet. But also, it can be me talking to my abuser, you know? It’s weaving together different narratives.”
It’s early morning in LA and Ashnikko currently hates her debut album, Weedkiller. A chartered landscape of cyberpunk fantasy, the blue-haired musician has upgraded her tongue-in-cheek Sailor Moon-style persona for an Arcane-inspired (imagine an anti-hero iteration of Jinx) saviour. A creator -and critic- of her newly spawned universe, Ashnikko, real name Ashton Casey, has spent her recent days on vacation from her nightmarish sci-fi counter-reality. It wasn’t until she spent the weekend hiking in a mushroom retreat with her girlfriend, that the rap star was able to reconnect with the very themes that permeate her record. With Weedkiller, the American-born artist wants to prove she’s more than a well-versed genre-surfer, but an innovator too.
The weird pop girl deliverance of Demidevil, Ashnikko’s 2021 mixtape, skirted the realms of Yule and Grimes while establishing the artist, with her unshakable rap-tinged melodies and confident electro-pop tunes, as a groundbreaking new act. Spitting tracks Daisy and Slumber Party (ft. Princess Nokia) became the social media successes that brought Ashnikko’s bratty rock-pop phenomenon to the masses. It’s been a year since her project made waves over the internet and earned her an eclectic fanbase, from Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes to Miley Cyrus, and for good reason. While Demidevil cemented the 27-year-old as one of modern pop’s must-watch names, Weedkiller is a cinematic statement and, more accurately, a look into a nonconformist's mind’s eye.
“I’ve been training for murder,” Ashnikko warns us. Her album title track, Weedkiller, is a steely battle cry buoyed by familiar
