Ninajirachi, Photograph: Billy Zammit
For Ninajirachi, EDM is not a dirty word. At least, not anymore.
In the course of the last eight years, the Central Coast-born Nina Wilson has released plenty of hard-hitting, extroverted dance tracks that have invited the genre tag EDM. But it wasn’t until Wilson started playing shows in the USA that she felt comfortable accepting the label.
“I felt so weird about being included [as an EDM artist] because I didn’t really see girls and alternative people and people with different identities included in that world when I was growing up,” Wilson tells Check Check.
But after sharing bills with likeminded acts such as Izzy Camina, DJ_Dave and MGNA CRRRTA, Wilson realised she could play an active role in steering EDM away from its historic links to bro culture and into a more liberated, diverse space. “I realised I can reclaim it in a way,” Wilson says. “I don’t think that’s really been done yet, but it’s so important to me to do that.”
This explains the title of Ninajirachi’s new EP: girl EDM. Like its predecessor, last year’s 4×4, the new record is dedicated to four-on-the-floor kick drum patterns, heavy bass and monster synth sounds. Izzy Camina and frequent Ninajirachi collaborator Kota Banks both make guest appearances.
Ninajirachi will celebrate the release of girl EDM with the third annual instalment of her Dark Crystal club night. Along with events in Sydney and Melbourne, Dark Crystal will travel to Brisbane for the first time. Joining Ninajirachi on the lineup are US artist Doss and locals 1NN3R53LF and Cherry Chola.
Check Check speaks to Wilson about accepting the term EDM, and the artists that inspired her to become a producer.
SEE ALSO: Forest Claudette: “It’s important that I stand for something”
Check Check: Did you make girl EDM at the same time as 4×4?
Ninajirachi: Yes. So, basically, in 2022 I had the idea to make 4×4 because I made the song “1×1” and it was a four-to-the-floor dance song. And I hadn’t really made any music like that for about a year and I didn’t really know why, because in 2019-2020, that was all I was releasing and my fans really liked it.
And then I thought, I should just make four four-to-the-floor dance songs and put them on an EP called 4×4 and have the first song be called “1×1”. And then I ended up making so much music in that vein that I really liked that after I made 4×4, I thought, well I’ll just do another four songs on another EP.
How did you come to the name girl EDM?
Originally, it was called “Four more,” but then when I was touring in the US in January/February, the first single had come out and I was just touring with a lot of girls and we were all kind of joking about the term EDM and how funny and silly it is – especially in America where it’s so legit and people are so serious about that kind of music.
We were just all laughing about how we were all doing our makeup together in the green room at an EDM show, and that never happens. That was when the idea to call it that crystallised. And also because a lot of people were describing my music like that back to me. So I thought, if that’s what people are projecting onto me, I identify with it and I will just run with that.
Tell me more about accepting the label “EDM.” What comes to mind when I think of EDM is extremely bro-ey and soulless. How has it felt to have people tell you what you make is EDM?
My first thought is the same thing. Like, it feels like a very vapid, soulless world of music. But it’s the music that first got me into wanting to be a producer. I think it’s just the culture attached to it that is really cringe and bro-ey and stuff, but the actual music itself that got me into that world is just so amazing and so complex and so intricately produced.
EDM in America is, like, not a joke. It is so huge and so serious, and when I first started touring in America, I didn’t know about all that. I would talk to fans after my sets and they would be using that term and I was getting write-ups on EDM blogs and included in these playlists. And it was really jarring at first – I was like, oh, I don’t want to be associated with that.
I felt so weird about being included there because I didn’t really see girls and alternative people and people with different identities included in that world when I was growing up. And then I realised, that’s just something that I can create with my friends who aren’t bro-ey and stuff, and I can reclaim it in a way. I don’t think that’s really been done yet, but it’s so important to me to do that.
Who were the artists that made you want to start making music?
When I was really young, my first idol was probably Lady Gaga. And a lot of her music is pretty EDM-coded or very electronic pop and there’s, like, drops and weird noises but it’s still pop songwriting.
Then when I got to early high school, I started spending a lot of time on YouTube and I was discovering Zedd and Madeon – but Zedd before Clarity; like, very bro dance music Zedd – and Porter Robinson and Skrillex.
I was just finding all of this music on YouTube and it was so interesting to me because I couldn’t identify what the music was. Like, it wasn’t a guitar and it wasn’t a piano and I couldn’t understand what could make those sounds, but I really wanted to. So, I literally Googled, “What do people use to make this music?” and it was FL Studio and I downloaded it and got started.
Did you have any friends who were into that kind of music as well?
Not at all. I actually got low-key bullied by my friends, my close high school friends that I’m still friends with now. Because I’m from the Central Coast, I started Year 7 in 2012 and everyone was just listening to indie music like The Kooks and stuff. So, if I’d be in the car with my friends, it’d be like, “Don’t let Nina put on her music, she’s just going to put on the bleep bloop shit.”
It was all from the internet that I was discovering this stuff. And my parents actually were into Prodigy and Daft Punk and stuff, which is pretty cool.
What keeps you coming back to the Dark Crystal concept?
We did the first one in 2022 and it was part of Vivid festival in Sydney. It just went so well that I knew we had to do it the next year as well. Also, a lot of people flew interstate for the first one, so that made us think, well, we should do another one in the next biggest city to see how that goes. And then last year, they also went really well and both of the shows sold out weeks in advance.
Every show has been good. It seems like everyone’s been really positive and happy and the energy has been so lively, lots of jumping up and down and people singing along. And it’s so fun to also have it be more than a Ninajirachi headline show. Like, I’m actually sharing it with my friends and there’s an arc to the night.
Do your fans have a collective nickname?
This is totally ironic – like, I know it’s a joke – but a few of them have called themselves Jirachinators. It’s very tongue in cheek. I would never say, “Hey Jirachinators,” but I think it’s funny when they do it. If it catches on, I’ll go with it.
View this post on Instagram
Dark Crystal III
Ninajirachi
Doss
Cherry Chola
1NN3R53LF
Thursday 30 May – The Brightside, Brisbane
Friday 31 May – Max Watt’s, Melbourne
Saturday 1 June – Factory Theatre, Sydney
Ninajirachi also performing:
Saturday 8 June – The Naval Store, Perth
Friday 21 June – Night Shift @ Altar, Hobart
Saturday 22 June – Night Shift @ Altar, Hobart
Tickets via the artist’s website
