Almost two years ago I went on a mini binge looking for a combination of music inspired either by early 2000s dance pop with a modern twist, or Phonk-inspired music that dropped the generic, played out formatting and had some fleshed out vocal content. Despite the fact that this was fueled by my need to play too much Assetto Corsa and weave through traffic, I actually stumbled onto a handful of really interesting things, and one of them actually went on to be my #1 song in my Spotify wrapped. That song would be god save the queen by kixnna.

Now if you’re sitting behind that screen right now thinking “who on earth is that I have never heard of them” you wouldn’t be alone, because while currently sitting at sub 1,000 monthly listeners it is an absolute anomaly Spotify served me this song. Anomaly is overall a great way to describe this song as a whole because while sitting firmly at exactly 1 minute long, it somehow manages to accomplish everything it needs while also being criminally short. Being built around a fairly simple melody played on what has become probably the most ubiquitous synth sound in Phonk the song proceeds to completely subvert your expectations with a smokey vocal delivery and thick growling reese bass. The vocals themselves deliver this combo of dispair and sass in their delivery that brings this uniquely apathetic and jaded feel to it that pairs perfectly with an instrumental I can only describe as being deeply embedded in a part of the internet that reciprocates similar feelings. 

The biggest drawback to a song this short is it’s actually incredibly hard to write about. I have had multiple drafts of this article since the inception of AuraLink a year ago and they all suffer from the same problem of feeling short compared to what I feel should be standard. The good news is this gives me time to also cover her latest single I gave you everything which unlike god save the queen hasn’t been blessed by Spotify’s algorithm as it currently sits at under 2000 streams. Dropping the phonk inspired production for a much faster drum and bass inspired dance vibe kixnna bounces back and fourth between dance hall slow vibes and manic, hundred mile per hour regret for over-investing in a former love. This intimately passionate writing is lovingly laid over what is honestly one of my favourite pulsing synth patches I’ve heard this year creating a unique feel that nothing I know of can emulate. It’s simple, but it works.

Overall, kixnna is on my shortlist of people to watch, and is exactly the kind of artist that made me want to start AuraLink in the first place. Theres hundreds of hidden gems out there that the algorithm isn’t feeding us, and this is my platform to find them and deliver them straight to you. So with that said, go follow kixnna on myspace or whatever the hell you spend 13 hours a day scrolling, because I know whatever she has coming next is going to be nothing short of amazing.