While researching the hyper underground last December I found a lot of new music that resonated deeply with what I’ve always felt it to be all about since teenage years. A DIY ethos, lofi techniques and a strong emphasis on melody. After listening to Pupsies and Saraunh0ly a lot, I got into what seemed to be layers and layers of lesser known artists, producing an incredible amount of music that also sounded amazing. All while still being very young and just working from a laptop.
One artist that seems to have both undeniable talent as well the courage to put a lot of themselves into their music is 8ngelonline. Recently, we featured the latest 8ngelonline album and we started talking. Naturally, I asked if we could do an interview.
Thank you for doing an interview with us, who is 8angelonline?
My name is Nikoletta but most people call me Nika. I live in Southern California. During the day I am a tattoo artist, and when I can I make music.
You have a recurring motif, which is a noose shaped like a heart. What’s that about?
So I make all my cover art and when I dropped my first single in 2022 I put the heart noose on the cover. I just kept putting it on all my other cover art because I liked how it looked, and that made it recognizable as ‘mine’. Eventually it became kinda a logo for me and represented to me how too much love can kill you even with the best intentions. I made an official logo with the heart noose in it, and even got it tattooed on me!
I’ve always had a big heart and I’ve just given it to the wrong people a lot in my life. I think heartbreak is one of the most intense emotions you can deal with. So naturally some of my best music is made from that. I’ve always been a writer since I was young with poetry and then music. For me writing is the easiest way to express myself.
How did writing turn into composing?
I taught myself guitar when I was 14 and from there learned bass and got more confidence singing. I never thought about recording and putting stuff out until I got more into underground music. I grew up homeschooled mostly, spent a lot of time on the internet and always listening to music. In 2020-2022 I found so many different genres of underground music that inspired me: happy hardcore, sigilkore, hyperpop, cloud rap, etc. It reminded me of music I liked as a kid (nightcore mostly lol) and I decided to try to record some and figure it out.
So I downloaded audacity and used youtube beats to record and mix music. I was doing everything myself and had no idea what I was doing at all. But it created a cool sound that I can’t really capture anymore. You can see that in my early music like Digital Paradise.
In the very beginning I didn’t write too deeply, it was only later when I understood more about music engineering that I was able to create what I imagined in my head easier. I always loved emotionally charged music, so when I got a little audience I started putting out more personal music and I resonated with the people who found it. Which made me want to keep doing that, so people, especially girls could know they’re not alone in what they feel.
What were your references at the time?
Huge inspirations for me at the time in the underground were Yung Lean, Lil Shine, Pvscale, David Shawty, Cartier God, oaf1 and Wicca Phase Springs Eternal.
I was just going to say I can’t think of many recent style pioneers that aren’t cis male, except maybe Sophie.
That’s very true. I do think the underground music scene is heavily cis male dominated. And I actually really struggle to find other female musicians to work with, so far it’s only been my irl female friends that would record with me. In recent years though, I feel like women are getting more recognition in the underground. Like Saraunh0ly, Ayesha Erotica, Suckerpunk, lil hero, and (even tho it’s a duo) Snow Strippers. Most of the female musicians I listened to early on in my career though were from the 80s to early 2000s.
You mentioned you had imagined a sound in your head – when did you manage to actually achieve what you wanted?
2023 was the year I started to really develop my sound. On my second album Phantasmagoria you can hear the start of it, and the idea is there just not the technical skill to create it. Around August-September I started collabing with DJmegan23 and I think ”1000 Perfect Diamonds” is the best example of the new sound I was trying to make. Following that I released Desire in December 2023 and that was my Mona Lisa, I put a lot of emotion and care into each song . My favorite from that release being “Human” also produced by DJmegan23.
How did you get in touch with the artists you collaborate with?
Most of the people I’ve worked with reached out to me actually! Mostly through soundcloud or instagram. From there we become friends and I meet other people through them. I’ve been very lucky in that way.
Unfortunately most of my music friends live far away 🙁 but I’ve met my favorite videographer irl a few times @ggggoldbloom (we have another video coming out! hopefully this month) as well as Fiction57. Hopefully I can meet more of them soon.
And what about live shows?
Live shows are a lot of fun! I had a bit of anxiety but being able to sing my music to people who were there to see me, even if it’s a small crowd, meant so much to me. It’s an unforgettable experience for any musician. It helped that there was an engineer at the show who was doing all the technical aspects and I just brought a usb with my song files on it.
I like it, that’s what Molly Nilsson does too even after performing for a decade. Tell us more about your writing/production process – do you use bitcrushing, AI beats or any of the other popular tools right now?
Well, I haven’t used my guitar in a year or so, I usually just work off the beats. I don’t usually bitcrush my vocals I just do a lot of layers most of the time and add delay. I also don’t usually outsource for mixing and mastering so I will just export when I think it sounds good, listen on different devices to see how it sounds and adjust, then release.
AI in general in the art world is just terrible. I would hate to like a song and then find out the singer is AI or the beat is AI. People work hard for years to build the skills to make music that AI can spit out in a minute, but the AI is missing the soul behind the music. It’s very damaging to everyone when people use AI to create art, and honestly it’s kinda embarrassing. Not to mention it’s terrible for the environment. I cannot fathom how people continue to use it so religiously.
I’m so glad you said that. What about the crazy release schedules people have these days – do you feel like you need to keep up to get more streams?
That’s something that I’ve debated a lot. I’ve worked with people who live off their music and drop weekly but I noticed the difference between mine and their music – theirs had no message it was just the same thing over and over. It pays their bills which is awesome but I don’t have the same audience they do, and I want to have somewhat of a direction with my music. I love to do collabs but usually my solo stuff is pretty organized. I don’t have a lot of time to work on my music as well since I work full time. So I’m very particular about what I make with my free time
I think living off ur art is always the dream but it’s a hard thing to accomplish. It takes a lot of dedication and sometimes a little luck. If I could make more money off my music that’d be awesome, but I don’t want to compromise my vision in exchange for mass producing.
Finally, do you have a favorite anime that I need to watch?
Evangelion! It might be kinda basic but it’s my all time favorite favorite. A close second is Elfen Lied even though they didn’t animate the full story.
Thanks again for sharing your world with us.
You can find 8ngelonline’s music on streaming platforms – we recently featured her latest record Closure.
