Inside Ashnikko’s life, her sexuality and dating life
Ashnikko (real name Ashton Nicole Casey) is an American singer who gained global fame after her 2019 single Stupid featuring Yung Baby Tate became the basis of a viral TikTok trend. Miley Cyrus’ participation in the trend gave the single more popularity. Stupid was certified gold in Canada and the United States.
Stupid is the second single in Ashnikko’s career-defining third EP Hi, It’s Me. Other singles in the project such as Hi It’s Me, and Working Bitch also became popular on TikTok. Ashnikko released her debut mixtape, Demidevil, in mid-January 2021.
This piece will look at Ashnikko’s sexuality, her love life, her response to hate, and her upbringing.
Ashnikko came out as bisexual during LGBT pride month in 2019
Ashnikko’s coming out story conforms with most stories from members of the LGBTQ+ community originally from the South. The blue-haired singer wrote on Twitter that she grew up in a conservative small town in southern USA, hating herself and struggling to understand why she wanted to kiss her girlfriends.
She only understood that her feelings were completely natural after vacating the South. “Only to move out of the South and realize I’m completely normal and to be accepted into the most beautiful LGBTQ community in London,” she wrote. Ashnikko then promised to have a wild time during London Pride.
Ashnikko expressed relief that she could finally embrace her true self. “This is the first year I have been truly honest with myself about my bisexuality and I’m really happy!” she wrote.
Ashnikko wrote the song Stupid to help her cope with a nasty breakup
The song that gave Ashnikko viral popularity came from a well of pain caused by a breakup. After the breakup, Ashnikko’s friend advised her to write a love letter to herself and read it every day. She thought it was ‘fucking bullshit’ at first, but at the persistence of her friend, she kept reading it.
Ashnikko then decided to uplift herself through music by writing a powerful uplifting song. “If I write one of those a week, then eventually I’ll believe it,” she talked to Paper Mag about the reasoning behind her songwriting. Eventually, she came up with the viral banger Stupid. She explained:
“The thing is, I was really sad. I was so fucking sad, I was going insane, but my only coping mechanism was to write a song about how I wanted to feel. So I would write, ‘Working Bitch’ and ‘STUPID’ out of a place of anger because that’s how I wanted to feel, but I was really going through it. I was really fucking mad and hurt and heartbroken, and now I’m fine.”
Music became an outlet for her emotions and it helped her heal. “I’m the most confident I’ve ever been in my life,” she added. Ashnikko talked to Dazed about other coping mechanisms she adopted: “I’ve been axe throwing, which was sick; I went to a break room where you smash loads of plates. I go kickboxing! Keep reminding yourself how toxic they are.”
Ashnikko has received hate for her unreserved lyrics, but she pays little attention to the negativity
The overarching theme in Ashnikko’s music is defiance in the face of adversity. She brazenly calls out ex-boyfriends and ex-producers who thought she wouldn’t make it, adds playful melodies to songs about sexual assault, and talks about ‘biting a dick in half and feeding it to her cat’ (in her 2016 anti-trump tune Please Don’t Grab My Pussy).
Ashnikko’s abrasive style has drawn criticism, especially from people who fail to understand her point of view. For instance, the song Invitation drew criticism because it seemingly attempts to normalize sexual assault. “I’ve tried to make it something that girls could scream – scream and dance to,” Ashnikko talked to Cash Music about the meaning behind the song.
“Not to make light of the subject, but give it banger appeal. And fuck the patriarchy, am I right? Might as well put it in my songs.” Ashnikko’s anti-misogyny message has been celebrated and bashed in equal measure. The internet, in particular, doesn’t welcome such blatant criticism of patriarchal systems and behaviors.
“I think that’s pretty much the goal of my music; to piss people off make other people feel empowered,” she tells Cash Music. Ashnikko mostly ignores the comments, but she does read them when she needs to feel hurt. However, she told Paper Mag that TikTok is too toxic for her:
“Yeah. Twitter is fun, but I don’t read my mentions. Well, I do read my mentions. Well, I go back and forth. Sometimes I read my mentions when I want to hurt myself and then sometimes I don’t. Oh my God, the TikTok comments, a cesspit. There’s just nastiness. I just can’t.”
Ashnikko was bullied for creating music during her time in Latvia
Ashnikko was born on 19th February 1996 in Oak Ridge, North Carolina. When she was 13, the family moved to Estonia for a year and moved back to the States the next year before relocating to Latvia.
The North Carolina native faced difficulties adapting to public school life in a foreign country. Rap became her outlet, and despite achieving moderate success, she received weekly death threats for making music as a woman. She told 1883 Magazine:
“I got bullied a lot because I did music. It’s quite a patriarchal society there, a lot of men were offended by my presence. Doing something different is uncomfortable, regardless what you do differently – you always get hated especially as a woman. But regardless, its always more rewarding to be yourself.”
Ashnikko relocated to London at age 18 to safely pursue music.
