Henjila is the musician fixing broken boys and forging emotional armour from femininity
Welcome to CHEW THE FAT WITH…, our long-form profile series where we invite you to sit down with fashion’s next generation as they dig deep into their memories. To chew some fat - defined as an informal conversation brimming with small talk - we encourage you to pull up a chair and take a big old bite as we spill the tea on the life and work of the industry’s need-to-knows. Just remember to mop up after yourself.
“There are floating castles in clouds, all expectedly pastel, pegasus are flying around, you’ll see some unicorns here and there,” envisions HENJILA, conceiving the innards of her magical mind across a video connection that seems just as distant and otherworldly. The young musician, with her ethereal voice and petite frame could probably pass as a fairy, if not the daughter of a Nepalese militarian, growing up near Sandhurst’s army barracks. Her lilac bedroom walls and Hello Kitty guitar decal open a nostalgic gateway into girlhood, the kind of home setting where you’d expect Polly Pocket to reside. Dolls and Disney, to Henjila, were a starting point in her hyper-feminine vision, seeing women as “powerful, gentle souls.” Despite her rosy smile, dainty ukulele playing and audible softness, the 19-year-old is steely in her stance on social issues; with race and male mental health taking the pole positions of her debut EP Moonshot, out today.
Henjila herself has the demeanour of a Strawberry Shortcake girl; she’s sweet and considerate, cartoon-like in expression, and centred around friendship. She speaks with a glittering sensibility about life and an optimistic sparkle in her eye. “That is a part of me, but there’s also a part of me that is more serious and political,” she says. “I don’t just want to be presented as this ditsy bitch who sings about ditsy shit.” In other words, if music was a movie, Henjila would be its covert, misogynist-slaying villainess. Her secret weapon? Bedroom pop that bursts with sharp emotional maturity.
Alice May Stenson: How would you describe your sound?
Henjila: I'm someone with a sound that attempts to create intimacy and strengthen communication. It's very light-hearted, it's for having fun and for people to relate to each other. As an artist I would like to be remembered for depth, the intentions I have in communicating a story, the art of telling it and even educating people lightly through my songs. I hope my music is found to be comforting and healing, because that's what music has done for me. So I only wish that for other people too.
Image credit: Olivia Brissett
AMS: Has music always been a serious career impulse for you?
H: It started when an older girl from my secondary school asked me if I wanted to perform with her at a talent show. I agreed to do it – I suppose I always remember her as looking really cool on the guitar. Being around the age of 10, I was easily influenced and wanted to play too. See, I had a guitar just lying around for ages and when I finally performed everyone was amazed at how unafraid I was on stage, because I was naturally carefree. I weirdly let loose and felt no nerves. I've always wanted to be a singer-songwriter, that's the wild thing, I was always dead set on music because even before that I liked to watch Disney princess films; Ariel and Mulan, even Barbie films. It was all very musical, super girly. I still demonstrate that in my songs today. When you compare Part of Your World or Reflection I embody that same cutesy femininity.
While her father donned military uniform, Henjila would dress her toys in ornate gowns, whisking them to make-believe lands across the bed linens to pervade reality. Unlike most musicians her age, Henjila is sincere, even calculated; singing beautifully about not-so-beautiful nuances which intersect the truths of growing up: insecurities, friendships turning sour. She only collaborates with peers her own age, ensuring that this EP is widely relatable and signals a hope beacon for younger girls.
AMS: Which other early life factors shaped your perception of womanhood?
H: I guess I've always had powerful women around me. Powerful yet gentle souls. Sometimes people have a habit of thinking that because you're feminine and soft, they assume that you're weak, when that's entirely not the case – the opposite for that matter. And my mum, she always wanted to be in the arts. She used to write songs like me, but because she's from Nepal and she was from a little village there, opinions around her were strictly conservative. She didn't actually tell me how she wanted to become a singer until a matter of weeks ago, after I began my own career journey. My mum didn't get to pursue her dreams but I’m fulfilling them for her.
AMS: How did you synthesise your own hopes and dreams into this EP?
H: It compiles snippets to summarise what kind of an artist I am. I see it as brief sections of my life, unpicking what's happened during them through each track. With the new single for example, Fake Friends, I went through a hiccup in my life during college, which was actually fairly recently, last year. I want to be an artist that can have fun and be relatable, but simultaneously can also speak in depth and on intellectual topics; communicating them in a way that's still digestible. I had a friendship group since primary school and I'd never been in any drama before. But then at the end of year, in college, when exams were just about to begin they all fell out with me. I’m talking outnumbered: seven girls and then me. It felt like I had been excluded, words went round. On top of my part-time supermarket job and fluctuating grades it all took such a mental toll on me. I was just panicking – now everything is at a standstill having mellowed down. I quit my job, didn’t see those toxic people from college anymore and I continued putting my emotions into music. I'd been making songs in my spare time during college, in all my lunches and breaks basically, with my friend called Luke Grieve – a really talented friend that I met in business class, funnily enough. Out of nowhere an agent DM’d him and asked if Luke had any full tracks to send over. I was the performer in those songs, so it all took off from there.
It seems that alienation is no strange feeling to Henjila. As the daughter of Nepalese immigrants, her childhood – while family-oriented – basked in the shadows of poverty and foreign language barriers. Her mother came from a low-income village in a location where creativity was considered a luxury to pursue. Young Henjila did not understand her father’s army absences, making music both her solace and an emotional communicator. “My mum didn’t know how to speak English very well, and was living in a new foreign country with her husband away at work all the time, with two kids to take care of – that was really hard for her.” Now the singer wishes to unite others struggling in isolation.
AMS: Yellow Face is a song that bravely addresses Asian hate. Have you any advice for people who also feel they are struggling to fit into society?
H: My advice for anyone is: don't try to limit yourself based on what someone looks like, or what you look like yourself, never limit a person’s whole personality solely based on skin colour. Try to be sensitive and listen to the alternative perspective of others. At the same time, you shouldn't be too harsh on yourself too. Realise that there are loads of people out there who have the same struggles. What I did was when I was feeling left out… well, I found a constructive way of dealing with it – songwriting – as emotionally beating yourself up is the most toxic way of coping. I found that when I wrote a song about it, the process relieved a lot of my stress. That, psychologically, is probably the main reason why I fell into music because I found myself being very emotional in general as a child; I didn’t know how to communicate those feelings well. So I think the closest thing you could do, as a release, is to talk to someone either about what you’re feeling or the struggles they have had with it. Finally, to educate yourself on the topic, whatever it is, try to come to terms with reality and try to make minor, positive changes in your own life.
AMS: Audrey Hepburn’s 1961 song Moon River is a welcome addition to your EP. Why are you drawn to old Hollywood pop culture?
H: I had a phase where I was looking in awe at old fifties films and the makeup, the fashions. My mum always liked and listened to a lot of Audrey Hepburn. I adore how women were so sombre in those days, and their visual glamour. But I don’t approve of the fucking misogyny back then, I try to see their talents in a feminist way. My aunt bought me so many vintage Disney video tapes, so I’ve been attracted to classic media from a young age. I picked Moon River because it's a very delicate and welcoming song that reflects my whole vibe. Plus, I've just always loved the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Hepburn was beautiful.
Image credit: Olivia Brissett
AMS: Finish the sentence. When I’m not singing, find me…
H: Cooking! I love to cook, the other day I cooked lasagna from scratch for the first time. It was surprisingly alright! Aside from that, poem writing is high up on my list. Making sushi is one of my favourite things but I haven’t found a local place that does decent sushi grade fish yet. I overindulge and like eating too much, it’s probably my guilty pleasure. In the two weeks before a music video shoot I ate like shit and it caused awful cystic acne on my nose, which doesn't go unless you drastically change your diet. Then on the day of my music video it was still there so there's a huge fat pimple for Fake Friends. So what you’re going to see is a huge fat pimple making friends basically.
AMS: Is that your favourite song from the EP?
H: Not going to lie, I quite like them all equally. You see, they’re all different and a favourite in their own way. If I had to choose this instant… I would say Paper Boy because of how it’s constructed, the chords and overall production. The meaning, too, is authentic and derives from a male partner I had with anxiety issues and insecurities. What I talk about is how I’d like to help him in uplifting his spirit. I like it because it's a different type of take to a usual heterosexual relationship where the boy usually takes care of the girl. This time around it’s reversed, if you look at it that way, it talks about men's mental health. People hurt you in relationships but loving someone is never wasteful.
By flipping the usual fairytale script, Henjila upholds the no-bullshit zeitgeist of Gen Z – that it’s acceptable for men to cry and Princess Charming does actually exist in the realm of romance. Woozy heart-eyes track Something About You continues the singer’s relationship with adoration, this time “like taking a rose-tinted window, adding fucking marshmallows and flowers, and viewing your first love through that.” What is love, if not a burning flame on which to toast your marshmallow stack? The song is one long swoon, perfect for soundtracking a snug campfire date– or for the single crowd, dreaming up romance while also cussing Cupid in your thoughts.
AMS: What can we expect from your next chapter?
H: I’d love to build a more solid fanbase, up until now my fans are mostly my friends. I’m aiming to create a really cute, safe space for all people. As well as this I’d like to polish up my musical style, to expose more ears to my songs. In the area I grew up in, in my background, people just don't expect you to do well, you know? And I've been told that directly. So I just hope I can prove them wrong.
AMS: When people say those things, are you ever struck by self doubt? Or question whether this is the right life direction?
H: Never, oh my God, I’m such a stubborn bitch! IT FUELLED ME [laughs] That said I think my self esteem was very easily affected on every other aspect though. If anyone said anything negative about how I looked I'd be obviously hurt by it, but with singing and music, it’s like no bitch, nothing you can say will hurt me.
AMS: Who do you musically aspire to?
H: Growing up I was listening to loads of amazing artists. I loved eighties Japanese soul city-pop stuff and noughties K-Pop girl groups. That’s not to forget the Spice Girls, Amy Winehouse, Corinne Bailey Rae, who were all huge influences on my life. In my music tastes now, this might sound a bit weird, but I just don't find myself listening to male artists. I don't know why, if you look at my playlists they’re pretty much 95% female. I’m not doing it on purpose, I’m just more attracted to girly energy.
AMS: Waking up tomorrow as a Spice Girl, who would you prefer to be?
H: Baby Spice all the way! Give me the go-go boots, the little dresses, the quirky hairstyles. Oh and the Buffalo shoes, I’m dying to get some. I just need to get richer first [laughs].
Henjila wears her smile like an accessory, much like the stringy bead necklaces hanging atop her cardigan or the lavender eyeshadow that folds at each euphoric grin she makes. She dresses somewhere between a kawaii-meets-fairycore milkmaid and the cool surf girls you see on holiday, with their conch chokers and wind-billowing hair.
AMS: Where do you pull your own visual cues from?
H: Oh my God, you know the noughties Harajuku fashion in Japan – or the latest Pinterest craze – coconut girls, I’d probably say those two style areas. Coconut girls dress up in Hawaiian hibiscus print, platform sandals, that beach-y vibe. But also my whole fucking pink Barbie dream childhood, I love the pastels Disney princesses wear. I was always a big fan of Bratz, Winx Club, Totally Spies. But my mum's always been into astrology and I guess that's where I get that nature influence too. If we’re talking star signs: I’m Capricorn Sun, Libra Rising and Aquarius Moon! My mum and dad are very spiritual people. As a girl I loved the moon and butterfly wings, fairy wings, all that mystical stuff.
AMS: So if you were a fairy, what would your magical power be exactly?
H: I’m going to be really extra, but I’d have to be a celestial fairy. So I'd have – stars are incredibly hot burning rocks, right – I’d throw meteor stars around, but they’d be fiery pink pastel meteors. Of course I’d have matching wings!
Perhaps Henjila hides the real magic in her voice, a vocal ability so alluring that it leaves only two conclusions: she must’ve acquired it from sea witch Ursula and that her EP Moonshot is a blend of enchanting pop euphony and eloquent lyricism worth listening to. It’s out today on all major streaming platforms.