New York-based DJ, performance artist, and fashion fixation, Alice Longyu Gao, has undoubtably won us all over with her Harajuku-meets-Bushwick DIY style but it is her sharp cross-cultural music that keeps us coming back for more.
Her latest track, "Magnificroissant," takes her affinity for Japanese visual-kei surreality to new heights. With an overload of spinning CGI sushi, flying eyeballs, pastel pagodas, and multitudes of bready French pastries, Gao presents a fully immersive fantasy world reminiscent of both J-Pop megastar Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and the smart subversiveness of Chinese artist Cao Fei. "Magnificroissant" is earnest about its absurdity, relishing in baguette-driven word play, Gao even sports the crescent shaped pastries in her hair buns.
"We love a good 'I don't give a fuck' attitude, and everyone who feels like a vulnerable girl needs that spirit to deal with demons and fuq bois" says Gao, and the sentiment rings true. With devastating bars like "Look at your pretentious face/ You think you are the coolest/ I don't like it/ Pollute my eyes," Gao channels her inner Cardi B for a song that is just as aggressively self-affirming as it is charmingly whimsical.
Watch the PAPER Premiere of Alice Longyu Gao's "Magnificroissant," below, out now:
Photo courtesy of Alice Longyu Gao