Meet the Swedish artist upending the music industry with her new multi-sensory EP
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
Collaborating with Central Saint Martins graduate Simone Beyene, Ney Liqa is redefining the music industry’s traditional release schedule with a multi-sensory URL visual experience.
Courtesy of @ney.liqor
NAME NEY LIQA
AGE N/A
LOCATION Not sure, I blacked out.
STAR SIGN The scale one.
FAVOURITE CLUB A mini golf putter.
Jeffrey Thomson: Hey Tiffi, what are you up to today?
Ney Liqa: I've somehow managed to catch a cold! So I'm in my bed under a duvet drinking lemon ginger tea.
JT: Your new EP, Fade to Black, is dropping today, and you talk about it being a project born out of isolation and introspection. What can you tell us about this experience?
NL: Obviously we all know what happened last year…all of a sudden by not going to work or school or seeing people, I was just by myself a lot. And I am actually my most productive when I'm by myself for a longer period of time, because that's the only time I finally manage to focus. My friend Jack (who I made the EP with remotely), I think had a similar experience, where all of a sudden he had time to just make his own stuff, so he started sending me some beats, and I started writing on them, and I realised that a lot of the things I was writing about, was from years ago but I just hadn't processed it yet. So I don't think I would have managed to write these songs if I hadn't had that time alone.
JT: Personally, I’m obssessed with the song, Powertrip. It has such a great beat and sound to it. As an independent artist, how do you go about making, producing and releasing music without a record label to back you? What’s your process?
NL: Because I'm a very impatient person, the previous music I've released I've just written and produced myself and as soon as it's finished I've put it out! This time though I had to wait a lot, because Jack who produced it with me, had other stuff going on, and I think that was better, because it made me actually process and re-write some of the songs, as well as re-make the track list several times, and it ended up being the best of the best this time.
Being independent just makes sense to me, the whole idea that you need a record label to release music is ridiculous, there are so many free distribution services these days, plus marketing can be done in so many new ways. Besides, I honestly don't think I could handle having that kind of record label pressure on me, I'd much rather release stuff when I want and how I want. If people like the music, they will recommend it to others <3
JT: Talk us through your collaboration with CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS graduate, SIMONE BEYENE. How did you meet and where did the idea for this digital visual experience, fade2black.me, come from?
NL: Me and Simone went to high school together and we both moved to London five years ago separately, and then we became best friends! Her idea for the online experience came about because there were no live music performances during the pandemic, and she asked herself the question, “what would an immersive music experience be, if it can't be in real life?” At the same time, I was finishing up the EP and it just made sense to combine it and create a world for Fade to Black. We also wanted to get away from the stereotypical way of releasing music! We were both a bit sick of the roll-out that every artist does exactly the same as each other. We wanted this to be a bit different.
JT: There are five ‘rooms’ featured in the URL space, do you have a favourite one?
NL: I think my favourite is the Blackout room. Not only is it a 360˚ video of me playing chess with myself, but the video is beautiful and inspired by The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman, and the whole story behind us filming the video is hilarious. Oh, as well as the online shop! Because you can see me scrolling on TikTok!
JT: What does music mean to you?
NL: Ouff, big question. It means a lot of different things to me. Making music myself has always been the way I've processed emotions, and I always feel a bit odd when I haven't written or created anything in a couple of weeks. Listening to music is like the opposite of that, if that makes sense? It pours emotions back in when I feel a bit empty, and sometimes I can't even handle listening to music because I can't handle feeling the feelings. I guess that's what it means to me. Music = Emotions.
JT: If you could have any musician (dead or alive) feature on an original Ney Liqa track, who would you choose?
NL: Prince. Not only would it make my mum so happy, it would be a fucking sick song. With a very long guitar solo.
JT: What was the first song you ever wrote?
NL: I never really wrote down songs until I met my best friend as a teenager. She was very organised and always had little Moleskin books where she wrote down chords and lyrics. After meeting her I think I started writing down the songs I made, there were some good ones, unfortunately I think I've lost all of my own song books...
Credit: NEY LIQA and SIMONE BEYENE
JT: Do you remember the first album you ever bought?
NL: I think the first music I bought as a physical copy was this single from a Swedish artist called DARIN that I gave to my sister as a birthday gift. I think I was maybe nine?
JT: Which three musical artists were you OBSESSED with growing up?
NL: Obsessed with GINUWINE as a kid, because my big brother essentially provided the music taste for us younger siblings. As a preteen I adored ROBYN, and still do. As a teenager I think I listened to RADIOHEAD a minimum of three hours a day.
JT: Where do you see the industry in five years time? Will there still be an embrace of URL music experiences as the world gets back to IRL events?
NL: I think it's impossible to compare an online event to something live. There's energy that you can feel but you can't see in the same way when it's live. And I think now that we haven't been seeing gigs, there will be a lot more demand for live events than online ones.
But I do think artists should put a bit more effort into being, I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for here.. Original maybe? I think a lot of fans, including myself, would want platforms from the artists where you could see their work holistically, a more rounded view of their artistry, instead of just seeing pictures on social media or shitty clips from gigs. If your fans can't make it to shows, then why not film it with a 360˚ camera and make the people unable to go feel like they're there, you know?
JT: Any last words before we go?
NL: Go check out fade2black.me - it's amazing. Simone is a genius and if you like the EP, recommend it to your friends, my marketing skills are terrible so I'm relying on you guys.
Credit: NEY LIQA and SIMONE BEYENE