Six years after she broke through with ‘Stupid’, a savage breakup banger that blew up on TikTok, former NME Cover star Ashnikko is fiercer and funnier than ever. On ‘Full Frontal’, a delirious club thumper from her raucously entertaining second album ‘Smoochies’, she sings about wanting to “sit on the DJ’s face and feel the beat through my puss”. Rarely has the dancefloor’s sexual pulse been celebrated quite so viscerally.
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The musician born Ashton Casey, who identifies as genderqueer and pansexual, and uses both she/her and they/them pronouns, has always been unfiltered. But ‘Smoochies’ feels more straightforward and relaxed than her 2023 debut, ‘WEEDKILLER’, on which she created a “post-apocalyptic dystopian fae world”. Back in May, she told NME that this follow-up would sound like dinnertime “conversations with friends” where “the most graphic, heinous shit of all time” is on the table. And, well, so it proves.
Ashnikko raps about treating a man “like a trinket” on ‘Trinket Girl’, brands herself a “high fem dom looking for a sub” on ‘Wet Like’, and brags about her dog being a “scrotum crusher” on ‘Chichinya’. The latter also contains a lyrical nod to cult ’80s duo Strawberry Switchblade: an unexpected reference point from an artist who normally draws from the Y2K era. When Ashnikko gets romantic on ‘Smoochie Girl’, a hyperpop blast about falling for someone new, she adds a little salt to the sweetness: “Is this too much? I wanna take out my IUD.”
It’s all set to pummelling industrial pop that’s accessible but never antiseptic. Working with her regular producers Slinger and Oscar Scheller, Ashnikko incorporates elements of K-pop, country and early-2000s R&B into her sonic assault. On ‘Microplastics’, she even comes across like an underworld Gwen Stefani. Occasionally, and on the shuffling ‘Sticky Fingers’ in particular, the influence of innovative production duo the Neptunes is perhaps a little too pronounced. But even less musically punchy cuts have at least one ear-snagging lyric. “Flick the bean – English breakfast,” Ashnikko deadpans on ‘Lip Smacker’.
The album ends with its most reflective moment, ‘It Girl’, on which Ashnikko sings about rejecting the male gaze and reconciling her ultra-confident public persona with the person underneath. “I wanna kill the it girl in me,” she confides over an acid-tinged country shuffle. On the one hand, it feels like a glimmer of vulnerability at the end of a hard night’s shit talking. On the other, it points to a possible new direction – Ashnikko gets introspective, maybe? But for now, this remarkable artist is feeling her oats and plenty more besides.
Details
- Record label: Parlophone
- Release date: October 17, 2025