Enfnts Terribles

Editor’s note: this interview happened right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe.

You guys belong to a new generation of music. Would you prefer to go back 30 years in time and start there or are you happy to live in this generation?

Chibi Ichigo: I’m very happy to make music in this generation. We’re three female artists, and it wouldn’t have been as easy for us 30 years ago. If I could, I’d prefer to make music in the future. Imagine 200 years from now. You don’t know how things are going to be then. Imagine just singing in your head and people hearing it, that’d be cool.

Why is it interesting to be an artist in 2020?

IKRAAAN: People say we are the ‘coming-out’ generation. 2020 is the year to show people that we exist and we come in all shapes and colors. Even if you don’t accept it, we are here. I also use a lot of difficult topics in my songs, and 2020 is the perfect time to show that these topics aren’t taboo and that they are okay to talk about. We’re in an era where there isn’t as much racial discrimination as there used to be, but we’re also not in the era yet where everyone accepts one another. We’re in an era where we can still fight for what we stand for.

Chibi Ichigo: We’re a rebellious generation, and we can do whatever we want. I don’t feel like I have to mince matters when it comes to my lyrics or topics.

You are all part of small independent labels. The thing with major labels is that they focus less on visuals because they think YouTube is dying when it comes to music videos. How do you tackle your visuals?

Chibi Ichigo: It’s just so nice to work on a visual with your friends, and I honestly love creating them. Whenever I close my eyes, I can see the whole scenario played out. The moment I hear a song, I already have a clip in my head.

IKRAAAN: I lack creativity and can only come up with the corniest shit out there. Thankfully I have Eveline Bumba who is really good at all the visual and aesthetic stuff. She knows me better than anyone and knows what I like visually. I have also worked with Louise Guais for clips like “Happy Pill”. She thought of all the visuals, I didn’t have any input. Louise told me what to do, and it just fit perfectly.

MEYY: I didn’t have a lot of input for the music video of “Angelic Lies”. I thought it was super cool that Stig wanted to create the visuals for the song, and everything he does is honestly beautiful. So I just let him do whatever he wanted. My second video for “Common Love” was a DIY project that I made with friends. All the songs on my EP are accompanied by a visual I DIY’ed. I love being creative, but on the other hand, I also think: “I’m not a visual artist, I don’t want to take on too much.” It’s even a bit scary to create a visual. To me, creating a music video is like putting your stamp on something. A visual sticks around longer than a sound, so it’s important that it’s right. But I do love working on them.

You’re three young artists still developing yourselves. Are there topics that you have shared because it truly showcases who you are?

Chibi Ichigo: I draw inspiration from my own life. When I was still singing in Russian, it was sometimes hard to express myself because I couldn’t play around with the words. Since I’m singing in Dutch, I can do anything. I don’t have a specific theme, I just sing about how I feel.

IKRAAAN: I sing about how I felt during specific moments in my life without completely explaining these moments. As a kid, I always wanted to mean something to the world, I wanted to be revolutionary and by making music, I think I’m doing that. There are people that can find themselves in my music. The album is mostly about mental issues, society, and other topics. It’s based on trauma. For people to hear that and know that they aren’t the only ones feeling like that, it helps them.

MEYY: I think my songs are always about love. Love is really personal but also universal. I’m not very tempted to sing about things that make me sad. If I sing about pain, it’s about heartache.