Unique, Memorable, and Entertaining; A Review of Ashnikko’s Demidevil

Ashnikko‘s newest mixtape Demidevil shows the popstar delving deeper into her many influences to create an album of varied bangers.

Demidevil sees Ashnikko experiment with new sounds, as well as creating some pop tracks that wouldn’t seem out of place on the charts. ‘Deal With It’ is one such track, which samples Kelis‘s ‘Caught Out There’ to make an angry, but catchy, breakup song.

One of the most entertaining parts of this mixtape is Ashnikko’s lyricism. We have seen in her music so far that Ashnikko doesn’t shy away from taboos, and this project is no different; she isn’t afraid to tell you that she “‘gave your girlfriend cunnilingus” on her couch. This sort of lyricism allows her to deal with all sorts of topics with unprevailing humour. The album has everything from a reworking of Avril Lavigne‘s ‘Sk8er Boi’, featuring lyrics that criticise emotionally stunted boyfriends for treating their girlfriends like therapists; to a musical theatre parody number called ‘Clitoris! The Musical’, which is about, well, the clitoris.

However, this snappy lyricism falls flat on some of the weaker songs on the album. On ‘Drunk With My Friends’, a flat melody and chorus combine with basic lyrics and an overuse of auto-tune to create a dull and uninspired track. This is followed by ‘Little Boy’, which fails to live up to the entertaining confidence and originality of the rest of the album.

There are also many excellent features on Demidevil. One of the best is on ‘Cry’, with a feature from Grimes providing a stereotypically-Grimes alien-like verse, with plenty of reverb voice effects and lyrics surrounding religion and revenge.

Despite occaisonal moments of dullness, Demidevil manages to sustain a memorable and unique tone throughout. Ashnikko’s funny, and slightly vulgar, lyrics make for a distinctive voice that is helping to propel pop music into the future.

Demidevil is out now via Warner Records. Watch the music video for ‘Deal With It’ here: