At the intersection of militant hyper-femininity and ironic, performative masculinity lies the warped world of BABYNYMPH. Drawing on the sounds of deconstructed club, slut pop, Ibiza summer hits and SoundCloud rap, the rising talent has been quickly making moves in the hyperpop sphere, collaborating with the likes of Chase Icon, Basside and famously garnering a remix from the late great SOPHIE for single "clown shit" — and she's just getting started.
Now, BABYNYMPH is back with the lead single "Ice" off her forthcoming debut EP Pornopop - Abhorrence, and she's going right for the jugular. Featuring a screaming UK bass-inspired bassline and screaming vocals, the track sees BABYNYMPH unleashing her full fury on an adrenaline-pumping instrumental with frenzied threats to "fuck you with a knife" for a manic, sexually charged atmosphere. It's a song that you'll want to rage and throw hands to every time it comes on in the club.
As the first release off BABYNYMPH's own independent label KUNTHOUSE, the forthcoming EP is set to explore themes of dysphoria, fear, aggression and how sexual trauma can impact sexuality, reclaiming those experiences and turning them into something positive. Finding refuge in the catharsis of the club, BABYNYMPH injects a sense of fun into her music in a big fusion of genres that sees the artist delivering serve after serve.
Ahead of the PAPER premiere of "Ice," we caught up with BABYNYMPH to talk about the single, her upcoming EP and what's next for the artist.
What was the inspiration for “Ice?”
The main inspiration behind “Ice” was to create an aggressive “don’t fuck with me” type of anthem after going through a very negative sexual experience. I wanted to channel beast energy, making a clear statement that I bite back and I bite harder. An “Arm the Dolls” theme song in a way.
What was the writing process for “Ice” like?
I came up with the lyrics spontaneously while just playing around in a studio in Berlin. I wrote the beat first. At the moment I have been dealing with a lot of anger and negative emotions related to a recent unfortunate event. So I just tried to experiment with my vocals, pushing them to the limit and going full-on rage mode. It was not necessarily meant to make it to the final cut, but I ended up loving it so much, I made the decision to fully dive into that cutthroat and unapologetically literal, aggressive manic direction.
The recording process itself has been more of a fun little silly play-around moment. Basically, random fun ideas accidentally turned into a very fitting lyrical context, refreshing the BABYNYMPH sound. There was also something very appealing about sounding as masculine and hysterical as possible on that record. I can serve you a hyper-femme doll with a bro attitude. I can serve you dyke with the most bimbo attitude ever. All these social tribes and binary behaviors are being taken too seriously and come with way too many expectations for something that is just a construction of humanity practically not based on any logical factors. I’m over it. I’m all of that.
What do you hope people take away from the track?
Honestly just go the fuck off to it, it’s a banger and, of course, to not mess up with the dolls.
How do you see “Ice” fitting into the overall EP?
Even though the execution of the track is an upbeat, fun and stupid expression of aggression, It is following the overall theme of the EP — expressing my associations with the violent aspects of sexual acts, a reflection of my own ways of coping and losing trust, which leads to being in a constant self-defense mode, which sometimes can totally limit the amount of potential positive experiences because you instantly exclude the chance for a graceful interaction. I always like to add fun factors in everything though, you can get the meaning and relate, you might not understand shit and just vibe to the music in the clubs. Both are fine with me.
For the uninitiated, how would you describe BABYNYMPH?
"Cunt."
What does the future hold for BABYNYMPH?
The whole EP is going to be released next month via my own independent label “KUNTHOUSE”. I wanted to have full control of whatever I do creatively without any limits or potential censorship, as I believe that no art should be censored. I want to create a whole universe and an ecosystem around my concepts, ideas and vision. I am very collaborative by nature as well, so including my friends and exchanging ideas collectively to come up with something even more exciting just makes the most sense to me. This is how cultural progress is being done. Gatekeeping is giving insecurity to me.
Photo courtesy of BABYNYMPH
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