Enfnts Terribles

How would you introduce yourself to people who aren’t familiar with who you are?

My name is Ari Abdul. I’m currently twenty years old, and I make music pretty much. I wouldn’t say I just make music and say more create because there’s also the visual side. It’s creating a whole world around the music.

You released your first songs this year. How is it to finally release music after working on it for a long time?

I completely didn’t expect anything at all. I went into making music without expectations. The whole music thing actually happened by accident. I never really intended to make music; I was just a fan girl. I would listen to all these different artists, and then, my best friend happened to be a producer. He was always working at the studio, and over the pandemic, I was hanging out with him. I would be his emotional support, and we would hang out. I was doing TikTok at the time, so his mom was like, “Why don’t you guys make a song?” We created a song, and it didn’t do a lot at first, so I didn’t have high expectations, especially it being the first song. Having it come out, seeing the reaction, and waking up to see the streams blow up overnight was something I’ve never processed and think never will. I went to bed as some girl who hung out with a friend and woke up with calls and emails not knowing what everything means. It’s the coolest thing ever.

Was it an advantage to start independently without a label having expectations or guiding you in a direction for the first songs?

It does have an advantage because everything happened organically, more naturally. Not having people force anything, and it just comes. It has more authenticity.

Is there something specific you want to showcase on your first EP Fallen Angel?

I do. There’s this world that I’m building. Once again, coming from the perspective of a fan girl before being an artist, that’s something I would want out of my favorite artists. When writing and creating all these songs, I was putting puzzle pieces together to build this story and characters with this world behind it. It’s like having an era with influences from my own life and showing who I am while being interesting at the same time.

There’s this trend on TikTok where songs get a sped-up or slowed-down version, which you did too with “BABYDOLL”. Why do you think these special versions work so well?

I feel like everything that is old is new. All the trends—whether it’s music or fashion—it’s just recycled over and over. This sped-up version reminds me of when I was in high school; there was nightcore, and everybody was going crazy for these beats. That died down, and we went to slower reverbed music. We’re always going back to it, and I mean, we’re here now. Everyone loves the hyperness of it and the slight nostalgia it adds.

Speaking of “BABYDOLL”, why was it the ideal song to debut as an artist for you?

My first song was part of multiple songs that we created. When my friend and I were in the studio creating all these songs as jokes, we had three different songs. We were listening to them and were thinking about what could do well on TikTok. One of them, we completely scrapped because I pretend that the song didn’t happen. It was a bit cringe: in the style of emo rap-trap. The other two were definitely more alternative rock with guitars and drums.

It never did that well, and “BABYDOLL” immediately did well in America through TikTok. It never took off from the US; we were pushing it on TikTok for five months before it did anything. I was posting the same song over and over again, but one day, it was the sped-up version that set it off. It was at the beginning of the sped-up trend, and I was wondering what would happen if I’d do it to my song. I loved how it transformed the song completely, which is why I released both versions on the platform. The original version is sad and moody, while the sped-up version just wants to let you jump. It makes me happy because it has a serotonin boost inside it.

Interview and pics by Maxim Meyer-Horn