We spoke to Ninajirachi about her new EP, girl EDM, which continues the journey from her 2023 4×4 EP. girl EDM infuses her signature icy, glitchy textures with the club sounds of the late 2000s and early 2010s, offering a left-field twist on hard dance, electro house, progressive house, and trance.
The EP includes tracks like the hard dance-leaning “Hand on my heart,” the avant-electro “Ninacamina” with Izzy Camina, the title track “girl EDM,” and “Ice u out” featuring longtime collaborator Kota Banks. Each song showcases energy-rich production, pushing the boundaries of EDM and highlighting the importance of inclusivity in the scene, especially for female producers.
Since her 4×4 EP, Ninajirachi has garnered praise from major outlets like triple j, Crack Magazine, and Billboard. She has completed a North American tour, performed at major festivals, and just finished her flagship event, Dark Crystal, featuring NYC-based producer Doss. Innovating with club, pop, electronic, and dance music, Ninajirachi continues to make her mark on the global music landscape.
KALTBLUT: Congratulations on the release of your new EP, girl EDM. Can you tell us about the concept behind this project and what inspired its creation?
Thank you! This EP started as a sequel to my 4×4 EP from 2023, which was four four to the floor songs. I really enjoyed the format and wanted to do it again. My first LA headline show was in January and the lineup was all girl producers; myself, DJ_Dave, MGNA Crrrta and Izzy Camina. On the night we were joking about how it was the girl EDM show, like a parody of normal EDM shows where the green rooms are full of boys. It’s satire but also reverent. I’ve loved ‘EDM’ since I was a child but it comes with a lot of baggage in 2024 and many music fans turn their nose up at it. EDM doesn’t have to be that way though, it can be cool and interesting like underground electronic music. It can be produced by and for people who don’t fit its mould. That’s my vision for it at least.
KALTBLUT: You mentioned that EDM was the genre that first inspired you to pursue music production when you were 12. How have your influences evolved since then, and how have they shaped the sound of girl EDM?
It definitely was, EDM and dance pop. I loved Lady Gaga and Kesha as a young child and then I found artists like Madeon, Porter Robinson, Skrillex and Zedd through YouTube when I was 12. I loved electro house and complextro because they sounded so detailed and listening felt like a sensory brain scratch experience. My influences evolved when EDM started to become more (no disrespect) commercial and predictable and I sought the brain scratch experience elsewhere. I started to discover artists like SOPHIE, Cashmere Cat, Jamie XX and Wave Racer on Soundcloud and they have greatly influenced me since then.
Those influences have shaped the sound of my music in recent years partially because of the nostalgia factor, but also because I think enough time has passed now for that sound to be revived and revised in a meaningful way. I’m also just experimenting and having fun. Like what does 2000/10’s style EDM sound like produced by a girl from my generation in 2024? To me it’s an interesting challenge.
KALTBLUT: Your collaboration with Kota Banks on “Ice u out” seems to be a recurring creative partnership. How does working with Kota influence your music, and what makes your collaboration so effortless?
Collaborating with Kota is so effortless because our music taste and personal values overlap a lot, but we still come from very different worlds with very different skills. For example, she grew up writing a lot of country and folk music, and that’s never been a big part of my life, but it’s very cool that she can bring that into our work together. We both work very quickly and love learning. We were collaborators before we were friends, but we developed a very deep friendship after so many hours in the studio together.
KALTBLUT: You described your sound as “girl EDM.” What does this term mean to you?
I used to describe my music as left-field electronic/dance/club/pop but that’s too many words and not specific enough. Some articles have described it as hyperpop but even that can mean so many things. Straight up EDM fans usually comment that it sounds weird and experimental but underground electronic music fans find it very EDM. So girl EDM is a nice descriptor for the in-betweenness of that.
It’s kind of a joke but also not. It started at my LA show where the whole lineup was producer girls and almost all of the backstage crew were girls too, gay girls, POC girls, trans girls. We joked that it was the girl EDM show because it was so awesome but pretty unheard of, since most people think of EDM as a bro thing. At this show, it felt like we had infiltrated something that stereotypically wouldn’t be for us and made it our own.
Musically EDM birthed me, and its origins in bloghouse, electroclash etc. are extremely cool, raw and experimental, but the industry around it hasn’t historically been very hospitable to girls, POC, queer/trans people. Especially compared to the underground alt and internet electronic music scenes where queer & trans artists are some of the most celebrated. So my hope is that girl EDM as a descriptor can be referential while being its own thing. Hopefully it can renew an interest in the best parts of that sound and scene for people who wouldn’t usually be interested (for above reasons). Like I said it’s half reverent and half poking fun. It’s very serious but also silly and not serious at all.
KALTBLUT: You recently wrapped up a North American tour and performed at major festivals like Lollapalooza and Hard Summer. How do your live performances influence your music production and vice versa?
They massively influence my music because my shows are parties, I’m a DJ, and if a song won’t work in that context, I will usually change the production until it does. There are exceptions, I love writing pop music and in 2022 I released a big project that was more ‘sit down listening’ electronic music. But I don’t usually play those songs at my shows unless I’ve created a ‘live’ version of them that works better in my set.
My music influences my shows because I try to play as much of my own original music as possible without compromising on the energy or arc of the set. At a headline show I’m aiming for like 75-100% original music but at a festival it’s more like 50%. To fit X song in, I might have to remove Y song, or change the order so that the songs flow seamlessly, etc. etc.
KALTBLUT: You just finished the third iteration of your flagship live event, Dark Crystal, with special guest Doss. How did this event series come about?
Dark Crystal started as a one-off party in Sydney as part of Vivid Festival in 2022. I curated a lineup of Australian artists making electronic music that felt very unique from any other artist in Australia, yet made sense playing altogether at the same party. It was a big world-building exercise and it went so well and sold out so quickly that I ran it again in 2023, with a Melbourne date too. This year I threw the third installation and it turned into a national tour with dates in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland. I also brought out Doss from New York as a special guest for her first ever tour of Australia, which was a dream come true. I’ve been a fan since I was a teenager.
I don’t always feel like I fit into the music landscape in my country, the mainstream/commercial music culture here is very stale and the population is small without much room for niches. Most of my musical influences come from overseas and aren’t well-known in Australia, so people don’t always get what I’m doing. But these shows demonstrated to me that the people who do get it really get it, and I don’t need to prove myself to anyone but them. I’ve never felt so understood as an artist than with the attendees of Dark Crystal.
KALTBLUT: You’ve been recognized by various prestigious media outlets and received a nomination for Record of the Year at FBi Radio’s 2023 SMAC Awards. How do these achievements impact your career and motivate you moving forward?
It meant a lot to be recognised by FBi Radio in particular because I’ve been listening to the station since I was a kid, my Dad always has it on in the car. They were the first station to ever play my music and I discovered some of my favourite artists ever through FBi, like Grimes, SOPHIE and Iglooghost. It feels good to have the support of my peers and my hometown, and a real real legitimate music community that I’ve been a part of for a long time. I never make music with the goal of winning awards though, because most of the time there are factors at play beyond the music itself. It’s out of my control so I don’t think about it.
KALTBLUT: With the release of girl EDM, what are your plans for the future? Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that you are excited about?
I’m working on my album and I’m soooooooo excited about it, it’s like girl EDM thee album. It definitely won’t come out this year but I’ll have a few collaborations with friends come out between now and then.
KALTBLUT: How do you engage with your fans while building anticipation for your releases?
I have a Discord server where I share news ahead of time and other stuff that I don’t post anywhere else and I think it’s helped the people who like my work get to know me more. For the girl EDM EP, I made a trailer with a preview of all the songs and artworks and logos and tour wrap up footage. Sharing that in advance felt good, because it gave people context for the music well before it finally came out.
KALTBLUT: How important is the connection with your audience in your music, and how do you ensure that your projects resonate with them?
For me, producing music is like collage or patchwork, I collect scraps of inspiration from all the media I consume and try to pastiche them together into my own favourite songs. I hear something I like and want to try it in the style of X or with the lyrical themes of Y, etc… So it’s mostly a selfish endeavour, but I figure that the people who follow me are the people who like the same things as me and want to hear them combined in the same way I do. In that sense, I can most purposefully connect with my audience by being myself and making the music that I like. Plus people are psychic and they can tell when you’re phoning it in.
KALTBLUT: Many aspiring producers look up to you for inspiration. What advice would you give to young artists looking to make their mark in the EDM scene?
Wow that’s very kind! Well obviously trust your gut and be yourself before anything else but everyone has heard that before. So after that I would say to identify your community and remember that they are so much more important than any industry gatekeeper person who might offer you XYZ. Community and industry can overlap but it’s good to spot the difference when they don’t.
KALTBLUT: What keeps you motivated and passionate about creating music, and how do you stay inspired amidst an ever-changing industry?
The ever-changing nature of it is inspiring to me, there is always someone somewhere making incredible music like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It makes me want to keep up with the change and I try to stay on top of digging for it. If I ever feel uninspired, it’s probably because I’m not tapped in enough.
KALTBLUT: Is there anything else you’d like to share about the EP, your journey as an artist, or any upcoming endeavours?
If you like it, you may like to listen to my 4×4 EP, because it and girl EDM are spiritually one big album. My next album is going to be even better :)
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