Pop disruptor Ashnikko releases her highly-anticipated second studio album Smoochies – out everywhere via Parlophone/Warner Records. An explosion of maximalist pop with club, country and hip-hop inflections, Smoochies finds Ashnikko fully stepping into the commanding-but-hyper-cute persona she created for herself as a teenager. The album follows 2023’s debut WEEDKILLER, and is released alongside focus track “Skin Cleared”
Ashnikko’s second album, Smoochies, is her most personal body of work to date. It sonically expands her distinct hybrid-pop sound while taking a significantly more autobiographical approach to lyrics. The 15-track album is a rebellious one, made from a place of radical joy at a time when the world has never felt more threatening for femmes and marginalized communities. In response, Ashnikko is taking up space by inhabiting a state of pure play. It’s absurd and grotesque, explicit and tender, sexy without an ounce of desire to perform for the male gaze.
On Smoochies, Ashnikko says: “smoochie world was such an important place for me to inhabit to remind myself why i make music – to play. it was an exercise in eroticism, in power, in mischief, in not taking myself too seriously. smoochies is the tiny door you find in the club bathroom that you crawl through on your hands and knees to a technicolor parallel dimension ruled by rat princesses. I learned so much through writing this album, and i had a fucking amazing time.”
ASHNIKKO 2026 UK AND IRELAND SMOOCHIES TOUR DATES
11th February – Glasgow – O2 Academy
13th February – Manchester – Manchester Academy
14th February – Manchester – Manchester Academy
17th February – Dublin – 3Olympia
19th February – London – O2 Academy Brixton
20th February – London – O2 Academy Brixton