Megan Warrender
Princess Nokia yet again presents themself as a multifaceted artist of which there is no end to the different parts of themself that they continue to explore through their music.
The two new albums, Everything Sucks and Everything Is Beautiful are excellent additions to Nokia's already eclectic back catalogue of music. These projects come after the artist dropped two new singles - one from each album, on Monday, the first Green Eggs and Ham, and the other Practice. On Instagram, Nokia posted: “Green Eggs and Ham is definitely a get-up and get ready be happy mood. And Practice is her older sister who’s over shit and is a bad bitch and doesn’t come home till 4:30 am”. This notion rings true throughout the albums.
According to a press release, “Everything Is Beautiful is a representation of the sensitive, feminine side of the gender-fluid artist,” which they recorded over the course of two years in New York, Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles. It is a celebration of your inner child, bubbly and innocent - a sentiment perfectly encapsulated by the music video for Green Eggs and Ham, where Nokia pays homage to the playfulness of the children's film Matilda. A much harder and angular Everything Sucks, however, is described as “a brash, ruthless and insistent collection” that took just one week to record. Opening track Harley Quinn shows we are in for a treat from the get-go as Nokia lashes out over heavy jarring beats "the bitch is back".
This isn't the first time however, that Princess Nokia has experimented with their sound. From electronic bumper album Metallic Butterfly, to the funky soulful Honeysuckle, to 1992 which featured hip hop bangers Tomboy and Kitana, we have seen nothing but range. Perhaps the most polarising was 2018's mixtape A Girl Cried Red, which strayed drastically with a more emo inspired sound. As a long-standing fan of punk and emo music and culture, Nokia explained to Dazed “black people created punk – the band Death was way before The Ramones. Same with Bad Brains. If you think about it, the wool has been pulled over our eyes. This is our shit”.
As an artist who enjoys such varying genres of music, it is admirable to see Nokia carve out a space for themself in many the different scenes they adore. As stated in Everything Sucks track Crazy House: "I brought weird to the block".
Catch Princess Nokia live throughout March during their 19 date European tour.
1st March - Zurich @ Dynamo
2nd March - Fribourg @ Fri-Son
3rd March - Milan @ Santeria
5th March - Vienna @ Arena
6th March - Berlin @ Columbiahalle
7th March - Hamburg @ Grünspan
9th March - Copenhagen @ Amager Bio
10th March - Stockholm @ Vasateatern
12th March - Helsinki @ Tavastia
14th March - Cologne @ Live Music Hall
16th March - Amsterdam @ Paradiso
17th March - Antwerpen @ Trix
18th March - Paris @ Cabaret Sauvage
20th March - London @ EartH
21st March - Bristol @ Motion
23rd March - Leeds @ Stylus
25th March - Dublin @ Vicar Street
27th March - Barcelona @ Bikini
28th March - Madrid @ Mon Live