Review Ashnikko - Demidevil

Ashnikko was always going to bring out a new mixtape with a bang, and ‘Demidevil’ arrives like a colourfully-chaotic cannonball. Banger-packed, the ten-track project finds Ash on her finest form, spitting cutting, unfiltered bars over glitchy R&B-infused booming pop backings. Teaming up with fellow a series of game-changing female artists, she recruits Kelis on sleek-pop sizzler ‘Deal With It’, Grimes on fiesty ‘Cry’, and Princess Nokia on ‘Slumber Party’ - a dancefloor-grind, girl-loving, sex-positive banger with the opening lines “I’m not shy I’ll say it, I’ve been picturing you naked”. She even reinvents Avril Lavigne’s 2002 classic ‘Sk8er Boi’ on ‘L8r Boi’, revamping the iconic lines to “He was a punk / She did ballet / What the fuck does it matter anyway?” Ash preaches empowerment and sex-positivity throughout, with final track ‘Clitoris! The Musical’ riffing on classic piano-led musical theatre balladry as Ash pushes female pleasure to the forefront and tells a clueless boy that he’s doing it all wrong (“You’ve been rubbing the same spot on my leg for 10 minutes / You haven’t hit it”). Ten tracks of orgasm-loving, empowering anthems, that pack a punch musically as well as lyrically, what’s not to love?