Ashton Nicole Casey known professionally as Ashnikko, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Raised in the city of Greenboro. Her parents exposed her to diverse musical stylings, such as country music and Slipknot. She recalls becoming interested in music, specifically rap music, when she listened to Arular by M.I.A. at the age of 10, but did not listen to male musicians until she was 16 years old. As a teenager, her family moved to Estonia for her father’s studies, spending a year there before relocating again to Riga, Latvia. At one point, she was the only American in Latvia to attend a Latvian public high school. At the age of 18, Casey moved to London by herself.
Ashnikko’s first song, “Krokodil”, was produced by Raf Riley and published to Soundcloud in July 2016. She released her first EP, Sass Pancakes, under Digital Picnic Records in 2017. The EP was produced by Raf Riley and features appearances from Avelino. Ashnikko’s second EP, Unlikeable, was released in November 2018. The EP spawned the singles “Blow”, “Nice Girl”, “Invitation” featuring Kodie Shane, and “No Brainer”. Ashnikko released her third EP, Hi It’s Me, in July 2019. The EP was preceded by the promotional single “Special” and was launched alongside the EP’s title track and lead single, “Hi It’s Me”. The second official single, “Stupid”, featuring Yung Baby Tate, gained viral popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok. The song reached number one on the Billboard chart, and the Spotify Viral 50 chart. “Another song from the EP, “Working Bitch”, also found popularity on TikTok. Ashnikko embarked on a North American tour supporting American rapper Danny Brown in October 2019. She released the promotional single “Halloweenie II: Pumpkin Spice” in October 2019.
Ashnikko co-wrote the song “Boss Bitch” with American rapper Doja Cat, which was included on the Birds of Prey soundtrack. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ashnikko was scheduled to accompany Doja Cat on her Hot Pink Tour throughout the United States in March 2020 before it was canceled. In March 2020, she released the standalone single “Tantrum”. “Cry”, featuring Canadian musician Grimes, was then released in June 2020, alongside an animated music video. Following this, “Daisy” was released in July 2020, and a music video for the song was released in collaboration with Beats by Dre and TikTok a month later. “Daisy” became Ashnikko’s breakthrough hit, charting internationally in countries including Australia, Belgium and the United Kingdom. It reached a peak of number 24 in the UK, becoming her first charting and first top 40 hit in the UK.
“Cry” and “Daisy” both appear on Ashnikko’s debut mixtape, Demidevil, which was released in January 2021. “Deal with It” featuring Kelis and “Slumber Party” featuring Princess Nokia served as the third and fourth singles from the mixtape, respectively. In support of the mixtape, Ashnikko announced The Demidevil Tour, which was set to take place in October 2021, with shows in North America, the UK, and Ireland. More recently, Ashnikko co-wrote the song “Frost” released in May 2021, which figures in Korean boy band Tomorrow X Together – TXT’s album The Chaos Chapter: Freeze and its repackage album The Chaos Chapter: Fight or Escape released on August 17, 2021. She sent the hyper-pop, trap-based song over to TXT in English. The song was then translated to Korean. In September 2021, she was featured on Lady Gaga’s remix album, Dawn of Chromatica, where she produced a remix of the track, “Plastic Doll”.
After a year hiatus since the release of the two-side singles “Panic Attacks In Paradise” and “Maggots” in September 2021, Ashnikko released her first single, “You Make Me Sick!”, in February 2023. In March she announced the release of her debut album, Weedkiller, for August 2023; the Weedkiller World Tour across Asia, Oceania, North America and Europe started in March 2023, in Japan and will end in December, in Ireland; and the second single from the album, “Worms”, which was released a day later in March. In May 24 the third single titled “Possession of a Weapon” was released. The most recent single from the album is “Cheerleader”, which was issued in July. Ashnikko performed at the Coachella Arts and Music Festival on the second day of performances during the festival’s two-week run in April 2023, in Coachella, California.
