Artist Interview: Ninajirachi & Kota Banks
By Resonate | July 9, 2021
Words by Dylan Shortridge
Photos by Billy Zammit
With technological advancements such as cars or planes, the world has got progressively smaller and smaller, to the point that here in 2021 we can have face-to-face conversations with people on the other side of the world from the comfort of our own houses. As an early morning met a late night I sat down with two burgeoning talents from down under in Australia, Kota Banks and Ninajirachi. I nursed my morning coffee as Kota returned from an evening at the pub and Nina sat down after a busy day moving house, showing the absurd nature of communication across time zones.
The music scene in Australia has had the eyes of the world watching very closely this past year, partially due to the countries tight lockdowns that allowed many of the restriction’s the rest of us are still living with have become a distant memory down under. Aside from that much of the attention comes from many Australian artists being at the forefront of the genre recently dubbed hyperpop. A sound that Ninajirachi and Kota Banks have been helping to shape.
“The crowds have been screaming demonically it’s been incredible!”
“I feel like the name hyperpop is a bit gimmicky and almost a fad,” explains Nina “it’s cool that it exists because a lot of people have been putting out music under that umbrella for years.” The likes of Charli XCX, A G Cook and the late SOPHIE are all cited as some of the pioneers and early adopters of this sound. Taking tropes of electronic club music, Y2K pop nostalgia and a culture shaped by interactions on the internet. The genre has a maximalist feel, an almost polar opposite to the stripped back sounds of Lorde and Billie Eilish, in hyperpop everything is big, bright and beautifully chaotic. With Aussie hyperpop artists such as Kota Banks, Ninajirachi, daine and Mallrat leading the charge, it would appear from afar that the country is a melting pot for the new sound. “I think a lot of the buzz is on the internet, most of the people I interact with on a day to day basis don’t really know much about the world our music lives in,” continues Nina. Nodding in agreement Kota explains “I think it’s still at the very beginning, it’s starting to build up hype, at our shows there’s a definite sense of excitement.”
Unlike the rest of us on this side of the planet Kota and Nina have been able to play shows in support of their new collaborative EP True North, released in November 2020 and then bolstered with a deluxe edition in April 2021. They both erupted with “Oh my god! Incredible”, when asked about how playing live has been, “some of my favourite shows ever,” Nina continues “the crowds have been screaming demonically it’s been incredible!” It’s not uncommon for opinions of songs to change when played or seen live compared to the recordings, having released their EP long before being allowed playing shows the pair have been able to really see that change exaggerated, “even fans that I have spoken to have said their favourite songs have changed since seeing it in a live setting. Songs like Slytherin and Nice Girls Finish Last went completely off live but they weren’t necessarily the favourites on the EP,” says Kota “I think the sassier and more hype songs really go off live.”
Unfortunately, there are no current plans for the True North shows to make their way to the UK, but when restrictions do eventually allow for shows to resume promoters and bookers need look no further than Ninajirachi and Kota Banks for Australia’s hottest new hyperpop exports, “that would be amazing, you guys just need to book us and we will be there,” says Nina. However, while we sit in Boris Johnsons pandemic purgatory the pair have got you covered for live content. Their incredible live performance at Sydney’s Powerhouse museum will leave your mouth watering for some UK shows. Collaborating with interactive visual designer Georgie Pinn and a huge team the performance is just an appetiser of the shows, “It was really amazing I don’t think Nina and I have ever got to do anything like that before, it was great to work with her, it was a really big team that brought it all together so shout out to the entire team,” says Kota, “it was at a time when we really weren’t sure if we were going to be able to get to perform any of this music in a live setting so it was a way for us to give the fans something live regardless.”
“I think it’s still at the very beginning, it’s starting to build up hype, at our shows there’s a definite sense of excitement.”
The creation, release and promotion of True North were all halted, chopped, changed and left in a state of uncertainty. After the pair were first introduced to each other through their mutual contact; producer, label boss and in their own words “cupid of the music industry” Nina Las Vegas. Their first writing session together was comparatively unsuccessful, “we had both released music under Nina’s label and she hooked us up for a session together. I had been listening to the music that was coming out on NLV from Kota and I was like fuck yeah,” explains Nina, “We met at Nina’s house but she wasn’t there, Kota was kinda unwell so we didn’t finish the song, we didn’t reschedule we sort of just left it and then played a show together, and saw each other at festivals here and there, but we didn’t actually write together again until May 2019”
“We were originally writing songs for my project,” continues Kota “I love Ninajirachi productions and I was trying to make a project so I was employing Nina’s help. Then after a while it felt very Ninajirachi as well and because we were working in a very collaborative way it was so symbiotic this it didn’t make sense to release it just under me.” Although the majority of the release would fall under the hyperpop umbrella the pair also showed their versatility together with slower songs such as Kissing u and the incredibly dramatic Holy Water. The release shows what can happen when two solo artists combine their own influences and points of reference for larger projects. From the grime inspired Opus to Ariana Grande’s influence on Nice Girls Finish Last the project had pieces from all corners of the industry, “but also kind of no one at all, because it was the combination of us. I was influenced by Kota Banks and she was influenced by me,” explains Nina.
Now with the deluxe version of True North available for the world to sink their teeth into and a run of live shows under their belts, it’s coming to a point where they will return to working on their solo careers, but that does not mean that this is the last we will hear of Ninajirachi and Kota Banks collaborations; “I think there will definitely be collaborations in the future but we just don’t know what form it’s going to take” says Nina. “We don’t have anything immediate, but I think that Nina and I will keep working together until the day that we die,” continues Kota, “so who knows the future is unpredictable.”
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