Interview: Ninajirachi (AUS) - SLACKBARN! Festival

New South Wales electronic artist Ninajirachi aka Nina Wilson has had a tremendous 2025, scooping up ARIA awards and nominations galore for her breakout debut album I Love My Computer — hailed by The Guardian as "an immensely fun and inventive dance album that doubles as a surprisingly touching coming-of-age story from one of Australia’s minted electronic exports." Aotearoa dance revolutionary and fan Baby Zionov (whose excellent new album Raceways Of My Heart is out now) cooked up a probing selection of questions for Ninajirachi, who generously squeezed in the time to share her insights with us via the magic of the Internet.

Ninajirachi returns to our shores this summer to play an exclusive set at SLACKBARN! festival in Havelock North, featuring a knockout lineup across two stages at Black Barn Vineyards on 10th January — brought to you by The Slack Agency...

UnderTheRadar proudly presents...

SLACKBARN!
Kate Bollinger (USA), Ninajirachi (AUS), The Grogans (AUS), Marlins Dreaming, Shady Nasty (AUS), Eden Burns, Nice Girl, Nic & Reuben, HARLEY GIRL (AUS), Miakie, Dylan Biscuit, AJ Honeysuckle, Half/Angel
Saturday 10th January - Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR (bus pass options available)

Baby Zionov: The storytelling in your new album (I Love My Computer) is really tender and vivid, with all these little details that feel very specific to you, which is not super common in EDM! What inspired you to take this approach as a songwriter?

Ninajirachi: I wanted to make an album that only I could make and the only way to do it was to make music about experiences only I have had. Anything can be a song — EDM is just the wrapper that the songs are in. The songs and the wrapper informed each other when I was making the music, so nothing ever felt difficult or forced.

Did you run into any issues making the album work as both "personal storytelling" and "party music" at the same time?

Never.

Part of what makes the album feel so vulnerable is that it’s you singing the whole time, and you touch a little bit on being self-conscious about your voice on 'Sing Good' — how did you learn to get more comfortable with singing on your own productions?

In 2018 I met Kota Banks and we spent hundreds of hours making music together between then and 2020. I learned how to produce her vocals and vocals in general, and by 2020 I knew how to make mine sound the way I like.

Your visual identity has always been full of deep references to 2000s internet and otaku culture, especially on the new album. What were some of the most formative internet communities for you? Are there any sites you used to frequent that don’t exist anymore?

The common ones like Tumblr, Twitter and Soundcloud. I’m young enough that all of my favourite sites from childhood are still around. The only online worlds that I used to love and can’t access anymore are the flash games from Neopets. Especially Hannah and Pirate Caves and Ice Caves.

How do you reckon the world of "computer music" has changed over the last 10 or 15 years? Do you think a kid in 2025 using the internet to learn about music is better or worse off than you were?

Hmmmm I don’t know because I don’t know anything different to the upbringing and experience I’ve had. I can only imagine it’s easier because there are so many more learning channels now that are very easy to access. But there’s probably a lot more distraction now too. Maybe the biggest difference is that more people take computer music seriously now than in the past.

What kind of music (if any) do you think you’d be making now if you didn’t have a computer growing up?

I don’t know if I would’ve been a musician without a computer. My dream jobs when I was growing up had something to do with making movies or animals and nature.

Your set at Nympho this August was an absolute joy, one of my personal highlights of the year. What’s your experience of performing in New Zealand been like?

Thank you so much!! It has been amazing. Nympho is so awesome. In August this year the Nympho crew took us all to an abandoned water park outside of Auckland and Red Rocks outside of Wellington. We also went to Te Papa and Hobbiton haha.

What can we expect from your set this summer?

As much of my recent discog as I can fit into 1 hour heh.