Electric blue hair, rebellious sense of fashion, blushingly explicit lyrics: Ashnikko is not your typical pop star, and of course, her road to prominence wasn’t a typical one, either. Ashton Nicole Casey was born in North Carolina and by the time she turned 18, she had lived in two other countries, namely Estonia and Latvia, before heading to London to make her dreams come true. After releasing two EPs, her big break came from a viral TikTok hit, „STUPID„, a song from her third EP, „Hi, It’s Me„. Her highly anticipated debut mixtape, „DEMIDEVIL” was finally released in January, and even the title perfectly sums up Ash’s dual personality. On the one hand, she’s hot-headed, provocative and tough, but on the other one, she’s extremely sensitive and sentimental.
The rapper told us there weren’t many things to be excited for nowadays, however, we’d have to disagree with that. Not long ago, she made her debut TV performance with her biggest hit to date, Daisy, she’s having a large-scale livestream show on April 30, and even though the mixtape has only been out for 3 months, she’s already working on her first proper album. Oh, and at the beginning of February, as she sang in her song „Deal With It”, she got herself a puppy too, whom she’s proudly showing off on her socials. We couldn’t resist to ask her about her doggo, and then we talked about „DEMIDEVIL”, her inspirations, she told us her definition of confidence, she shared a message with her Hungarian fans, and of course we taught her a little bit of Hungarian, too – exclusive interview with Ashnikko.
© Charlotte Rutherford 
© Charlotte Rutherford
How are you doing today?
I’m good, how are you?
Yeah, I’m fine. I’d like to ask you, how is your puppy, Wednesday?
She’s good, she’s being really naughty right now. I got my eyes on her, though. She’s good, she’s chewing wires. Oh my gosh! Just as I said she’s chewing wires, she went for another wire! She’s so naughty!
Congratulations on „Demidevil”, it’s been a long time coming, and it’s so good. How do you feel now that she’s been out in the world for 2 months?
Now that she’s out, I feel a sense of relief, I feel like I’m unconstipated now, like I’ve been sitting on that project for a hundred years. Unfortunately, my own label decided to leak it so it came a little bit earlier than I anticipated, which was sick. But you know, you gotta roll with the punches and just let these things happen. You gotta be adaptable.
What was your main inspiration behind the title „Demidevil” and the whole concept of the mixtape?
So, Demidevil is half devil, half human. Basically, I’m a real hothead… I’m definitely a real hothead in person, but then also super sensitive and very emotional, so there’s a real rollercoaster of emotions in my brain. My brain chemistry is all over the place. So yeah, it’s basically just about being a very multifaceted human being. I am truly a Demidevil.
Which song is your favourite from the mixtape?
Why would I choose a favourite on my own mixtape?! It’s like choosing a favourite child!
So you don’t have a secret favourite?
No, what’s your favourite?
My favourite is probably „L8r Boi”, or „Clitoris! The Musical”, or „Daisy”, obviously.
Alright, so those are my favourites right now because they’re your favourites.
Alright, cool! I love all of your music videos too because they are so iconic and look so cool. Which song would you like to shoot a video for from the mixtape next?
I don’t wanna spoil my secrets! You’re trying to make me spoil my secrets? I got few surprised nowadays with covid, there’s few things to be excited about. I can’t spoil my secrets!
Alright, alright. We’ll be patient.
Which one do you want?
„L8r Boi”.
„L8r Boi”, okay.
Is one of the secrets that you’ve just mentioned your album? Are you working on it?
Yeah, I’m in the studio a lot recently, which is cool. I’m trying to get back into writing. I went through a brief few months of feeling extremely uninspired and just not writing at all, which is sad for me, but, you know, with creative blocks, you just gotta ride them out. And I did, and now I wrote a song last week that was beautiful.
Which song of yours would you show to a person that doesn’t know you yet?
Umm… hmm… maybe „Toxic” or „Daisy”.
Now let’s get back to the beginnings for a second. As a child, did you always want to be a musician?
I always wanted to be a performer. I always wanted to do something in the arts and I always loved music, but I knew that I wanted to do it professionally at like, 15 or 16.
And who were your biggest inspirations?
The artists that inspired me to be the artist that I am are Björk, Nicki Minaj, Joan Jett, M.I.A., Missy Elliot, Gwen Stefani, Kelis, Paramore, Janis Joplin… who else? Courtney Love… I’m trying to think…
That’s an endless list!
It’s a long list.
You’ve done some pretty cool collaborations like the one with Grimes, with Princess Nokia, or Yung Baby Tate. But who is your dream collaborator that you haven’t got the chance to work with yet?
Probably M.I.A.
© Micaela McLucas 
© Charlotte Rutherford
Your songs are so empowering and really can boost people’s confidence. Where do you get your confidence from?
Confidence is not a personality trait, it is a scale. It is something that you have to learn how to have and how to maintain. It is something that I’m still working on constantly and I have to wake up and remind myself how to do it all over again. It is not something that comes naturally to me, which is why I have written some of these songs as a way to hype myself up, as a pep talk to myself. I think it is very important to me that my fans know that I am not this uber confident, nothing bothers me type of person. I am also trying to hype myself up and make myself feel confident. That’s what these songs are, this is why I wrote these songs. I’m manifesting it in my own life.
Is there a message that you would like to share with your Hungarian fans?
I am so excited to finally meet you! I’m manifesting this every morning. I wake up and I pray that we will meet one another soon in real life, live in concerts when I get to tour again, one of these days. But it will be beautiful. It will be beautiful to finally be able to meet you in real life.
That’s all we planned for you today, but before we let you go, can we teach you how to say „I love you” in Hungarian, so you can take away something from this interview, as well?
Okay, teach me!
So it goes like this: sze-ret-lek.
Could you type it for me?
Yeah, sure!
Okay, now say it.
Sze-ret-lek.
Sze-ret-lek. Now say it all together.
Szeretlek.
Szeretlek. Szeretlek! Cute, thank you!
