photo: Stephanie Dimiskovski / Courtesy of Asukal
so far as clichés go, Raquel Undheim can attest to the truth of just one: not ever date a musician. now not from the flimsy stereotypes the web places in lists (they're "broke," they're "egocentric," they're "crazy"), however from the singer's personal experience of placing her own aspirations on cling for those of her boyfriends. "I had one dude say he changed into at all times embarrassed telling his family unit what I definitely wanted to do," says Undheim. "It didn't really grew to be a truth for me to position my own song out until I in fact stopped courting musicians. I simply could not determine how to stability all my desires, my relationships, and my career to reside what i wished to achieve."
It took a 12 months of being single and laying those poisonous relationships to rest for Undheim to start work on her five-music EP Purity—a hyperactive, bubblegum pop debut, launched last Friday below the identify Asukal, which capacity "sugar" in Tagalog, as a nod to her Filipino roots. beginning with the lead track, "whatever's incorrect," the album explores her previous relationships and the ways that she learned to move on from them. yes, the EP does cope with love and loss, but Purity is set more than the aftermath of a breakup. The songs are about discovering electricity in ache and overcoming it, now not residing on it. "I do not need to play the sufferer with my track. Purity is a journey of id, and bodily, emotionally, and spiritually slicing someone off that's no first rate for you," Undheim says. "There's a difference between being accessible to individuals and loving them and nonetheless doing that, however developing b oundaries for yourself to reside in shape and mentally strong." eventually, Purity represents Undheim's effort to reach her full potential after finally prioritizing her own goals. Which is why it became vital that she produce, write, and compose the whole assignment on my own.
picture: Stephanie Dimiskovski / Courtesy of Asukal
notably as a girl of colour, who relocated from "small-city country" to Manila in middle faculty, Undheim wanted to latest forward-pondering and innovative songs. "When i was dwelling within the Philippines, I didn't basically locate any female artists that I regarding," she explains. "there have been these captivating women with long hair singing love ballads, however I just wasn't into that. i wanted to listen to experimental songs and complicated compositions." Now as Asukal—a name that also represents her sugary sound—Undheim is doing simply that, and it's price adding her identify to the list of female artists whom she overtly admires: Grimes, Empress Of, and Tokimonsta.
through each detail, all the way down to the listing's name, Purity evokes a way of a "tarnished" innocence that speaks to discovering vigor in vulnerability. it is a deconstruction of her previous a number of years in big apple, where she relocated for college from Manila, and exceptionally in Bushwick, the place she lives now. look at the album cover and spot a ruby-red Ring Pop ruined with the aid of lint; hearken to her songs and hear experimental, electro-pop beats played to the sounds of darker lyrics. "You can't dangle me / Like I'm yours / I can't make you / a man apart from flesh, I informed you," she sings in "the way it's Gonna B."
Then there's her style, which she describes as "comfort, rubbish stylish." It's an extra manner that she creates thoughtful juxtapositions, centered around her exploration of innocence. "growing up in Manila when i was younger, i would go to those disgusting hole-in-the-wall thrift reports referred to as ukay-ukay retailers," she shares with a laugh. "The note nearly means 'thrift shop.' My pals and i knew they'd have overstock outfits from Japan, so we would go there attempting to find one-of-a-kind items that have been truly within your means. there were mounds of clothes put into these big packing containers in these truly poorly looking outlets with pee on the ground and rats and cockroaches round, however we knew that's the place you might discover a shirt for five cents, so that's what we did on weekends." one in every of her best finds is a red silk precise embroidered with plant life that she discovered at the backside o f a bin and has stored for years. "I'm pretty sure it's a bib, however I made it right into a good," she says.
photograph: Stephanie Dimiskovski / Courtesy of Asukal
It's surprising experiences like this that drive Undheim's trend and what she looks for when getting dressed. just this weekend, as an instance, she paired an extended-sleeved Adidas shirt with armpit slits and wings constructed on the returned with bell-backside sweatpants; the all-black seem changed into pulled collectively through the colossal hoop rings which have turn into her signature. "My aesthetic is awfully trash-lovely," she publicizes. In other phrases, she prefers clothes with a way of humor. "i like wearing anything with the skills to make a person cackle and not take what they're wearing too seriously. My roommate purchased me a Nickelback T-shirt from Beacon's Closet for my birthday, and i flipped." searching lower back, this explains why, when introduced with a drawstring bag with the Skechers's "S" at her album listening party, she seemed so thrilled to acquire it.
based on Undheim, her high-low trend sense is a personal reflection of her international roots. "I wager i'd say my style is an extension of the place i might store within the Philippines in these thrift shops that smelled like sewers," she says. Naturally, Undheim seeks out designers with the equal "trash-bootleg vibe" that reminds her of her favourite areas: underground dim sum raves and Bossa Nova Civic membership in Bushwick. Gosha Rubchinskiy and Demna Gvasalia's Balenciaga leap to intellect, as she lists off brands whose imperfect aesthetic suits her personal.
image: Stephanie Dimiskovski / Courtesy of Asukal
there's also a mention of Balements, the web's personal appropriation of Vetements and Balenciaga's tongue-in-cheek clothes. "I comply with Instagrammers with a bootleg-stylish vibe, too," Undheim says. "I just like the thought of taking these luxury manufacturer names to an excessive. Ava Nirui will bedazzle her inhaler with the Prada brand or fill her clear Helmut Lang bag with Cheetos and Skittles."
remaining, however not least, destiny Frasqueri, superior known as Princess Nokia, and Valerie Teicher, who sings beneath the name Tei Shi, continue to be steady sources of thought—fitting for an artist decided not to be boxed in through her tune or style. each Frasqueri and Teicher have carved out an area within the trade by unapologetically being themselves. via the looks of it, Undheim is poised to do the same.
Styling: Tara MikesMakeup: Isabel Y Rosado
Princess Nokia Takes Afropunk:
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