“I like to make it [music] and have people hear it while my heart is still in it,” says Nina Wilson.
Better known to her fans as Ninajirachi, DJ, songwriter and producer Nina Wilson hails from the Central Coast of NSW and has emerged in the world of EDM as a fierce triple-threat woman in her own lane.
When we chat over Zoom, Nina has just returned from climbing a mountain in New Zealand – not the expected pass time for an artist on the brink of releasing her newest EP and jet setting to Las Vegas to perform at one of the largest dance music festivals, Electric Daisy Carnival.
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While Nina quotes known male EDM artists as inspirations, she continues to carve the way for her fellow and future EDM girls. “I was an EDM kid and I really loved the EDM era Porter Robinson, early Zedd and Skrillex,” reflects Nina.
“That was the kind of music I wanted to make, but it was way advanced beyond what I was capable of doing at 14 years old.” 10 years later, the now 24-year-old reminisces on little Nina, saying she would be very proud of where she is now and the kind of music she is putting out into the world.
What you can expect from Ninajirachi is beyond conventions and genres. Her music twists the forms of EDM and hyperpop and transcends into a concept that has to be experienced to be understood.
Released today, her latest EP Girl EDM follows closely after 4×4 which came out in November last year. “4×4 and this EP in my mind are kind of like one album,” explains Nina.
“Half of it is already out so there’s only two more songs, one of them is a bit faster and in the past, my faster songs have been quite popular among my fans, so hopefully they like this one as well,” she adds. Fans can also expect a new song with regular collaborator and labelmate Kota Banks.
The title track Girl EDM is her favourite, not only because it’s the most recent song she’s finished but also because the accompanying music video is a recap of her North America headline tour.
“The recent tour I did was six weeks in January and February, where the shows were so close together,” she recalls. “I was touring with almost an entirely girl crew – every night was like a sleepover.
“I was just so happy being in the green room and we’re all doing our makeup and straightening our hair. I’ve done a lot of touring where I’m a support act and there are usually a lot of boys and not as many girls in green rooms. We were all sharing hotel rooms and it was so fun. I really didn’t want to leave by the end of it.”
When prompted to tell us her favourite memory from the tour, Nina thinks for a minute before taking us with her on the journey that was the first show of the tour in Los Angeles.
“It was probably the biggest one. It was a sold-out headline show at The Echo and it was my first time really seeing what a room of my fans looked like in that country and I was just so happy to see that there were so many different kinds of people and so many girls,” marvels Nina.
“Even my stylist who got me an outfit for the show said to me, ‘Nina there’s a married lesbian couple in the front row, this is so awesome’, I can’t believe this is such a girl dance music show. That was where I think the [EP] title started brewing in my head from that show.”
As for many Australian Gen Z kids, the internet has been a constant in our lives since childhood and Nina is no exception. “I feel my music and I guess my worldview is more shaped by the internet than any kind of real place,” the artist says.
“I only got into all of this from the internet when I was really young and I know it’s kind of a non-place, but it’s also kind of omnipresent and with me wherever I go.”
The world of Ninajirachi exceeds all perceptions and offers listeners a textual, forward-thinking and unpredictable experience they can soon encounter on her Dark Crystal 3 tour, featuring Doss, Cherry Chola and 1NN3553LF.
“We’ve brought out Doss from the US who’s one of my favourite producers. I feel like she is so Girl EDM,” says Nina. “She is the mood board – I’m obsessed with her –so I’m really excited to even see her play as a fan.”
Ninajirachi is performing at Max Watt’s on May 31. For tickets, head here.
