Interview: Chika
Born in London and raised in Oxford, UK meet chika. In her penultimate year of uni. chika. writes songs that reflect her experience growing up as a queer second-gen Indian immigrant and discuss surrounding relationships, aspirations, and self-reflections; her lyrics are honest and core-cutting in their finesse and simplicity. Although she doesn't have any fancy quotes from fancy people to add here (yet), her friends have described her music as '11pm on a Tuesday night' and 'sitting down with some whiskey and a good friend'
Released Feb 9th, ‘Unlearning’ is a collection of reflective thoughts. Predominantly based on analyzing previous relationships, the EP starts with the retrospective track ‘gr8ful/h8ful’, before diving into ‘SAVIOUR’, which looks more at the moment where you come to realise just how toxic a relationship has become. It then moves on to new grounds in ‘Real Deep’, a song about wanting to know a person intimately in every way, before finishing with the self-empowering track ‘INCREDIBLE’, a song about, well, feeling like you’re incredible (and acknowledging just how far you’ve come).
When you're 21, you're just beginning to really have the capacity to look back on the people you've met and the relationships that have soured and think 'why?'. This EP was written in the span of a few weeks where I spent a lot of time analyzing every single relationship I’d ever had, including the one I have with myself, and applying pressure to see where the cracks were. What I found was difficult to accept at times, annoying at others, but still allowed me to know myself even better – and these songs are the result.
Read more below about her journey!
What type of music do you listen to in your free time?
It's a pretty eclectic mix! Lots of alternative r&b, lots of hip hop, a little pop and then some of the tunes that I grew up listening to. I'm trying to get into the practice of actively seeking out new music sometimes instead of always listening to my comforting faves, so that's been a lot of fun!
Do you produce your music yourself?
Normally I'll lease the beat from a producer or work with someone, but very recently I produced my first track! I think at the moment and with my current skill level I prefer writing lyrics and melodies to a beat, but I definitely want to transition more into producing my own tracks somewhere down the line and becoming a more well-rounded artist.
What's been the best thing about uni/ college students being your main target been?
There are loads of great things, but uni students these days are (I think) developing a greater focus on healing and becoming more in tune with themselves. It's like an age of discovering what's underneath the surface, if that makes sense, and because that kind of self-analysis inspires a lot of my music it feels quite natural for other uni students to vibe with my music! And I guess as a uni student, I feel pretty at home around other people at uni :)
What do you think your biggest achievement has been while doing music?
Probably being invited to perform at JoyRuckus Club 3, the world's largest music festival for Asian artists. The energy was incredible and getting to discover other Asian artists was such a nice feeling. Other than that, having a few local radio plays was pretty cool! I've got some gigs set up for summer, too, and I think that's really going to help me bring even more energy into my music and really grow as an artist.
What else do you hope you can achieve while doing it also?
Honestly, it's just music for me. Like - other life experiences, definitely - music is inspired by things we experience, so I want to experience a whole bunch of things so I can grow and reflect and find even more peace with myself. And I definitely want to get a dog one day (not sure if that's a traditional 'achievement' but it's gonna be one for me!). But if I'm living a life just doing music, being around friends, experiencing happiness? That sounds pretty ideal to me.
What would you say has been the most difficult part bout being a queer artist in this day in age?
I think it's a lot easier being queer today than it was even 10 years ago, and especially moreso being a queer artist. Music has always been about self-expression and so I think is a more accepting field than others. I've...honestly never really faced any backlash for being a queer artist, and I'm really privileged to be able to say that.
When writing Unlearning what was your thought process like during it?
God just so. Much. Self-reflection.
A lot of acting out conversations that I wish I'd have had with people, a lot of talking to myself in the mirror and telling myself things I needed to hear.
It was healing, in that way.
What can people Saviour you said is about realizing how toxic a relationship is, have you had any experience with that or know one who has?
I'm pretty sure everyone has known somebody in a toxic relationship - or been that person in one. I've seen people around me go through them and I've been through it too. I had to do a lot of work with the parts of me that were inclined towards toxicity in other people, and really focus on healing and learning to vibe with myself, and it's been so worth it - I mean, it allowed me to write the EP! :D But also, I'm a lot more content with myself now.
With your EP out now to the world, what do you hope people will learn from it?
Honestly, leading on from the previous question, I hope people find solace in the EP. I hope they can get good vibes and good energy from it, and that it can make them feel good, or let them channel emotions that they're finding a bit tough to channel, or just - get some peace or resolution or anything they might need. Music's kinda magical in that it can serve literally any emotion, and I hope they feel some of that magic.
Check Chikas socials out below!