NEO 10Y is putting political purpose back into queer music

Words: Will Stroude

When NEO 10Y first began releasing music two years ago, it was a direct reaction and an impending Trump presidency.

His debut single ‘Amerikkka’, was a impassioned response to the horror unfolding on the other side of the pond, and the accompanying video ‘The Kid Who Killed Trump’ – which saw the soon-to-be president topping a Mickey Mouse mascot before his own visage was set on fire and urinated on – prompted hate mail and death threats.

Two years later and NEO 10Y – the musical alias of London creative and multi-instrumentalist Nik Thakkar – is back with two new singles, ‘Dopamine’ and ‘Poems To Fuck To’.

The moody new tracks might take a more personal slant than his controversy-baiting debut, but as NEO10Y explains to Attitude’s Will Stroude, in the era of Brexit, Trump and hate-fuelled populism, there’s no separating the personal LGBT experience from the political dog-fight unfolding around us. If only everyone else could recognise it too…

What’s the meaning behind your stage name NEO 10Y?

So there’s a word in biology ‘neoteny’, which means the retention of childhood characteristics in adulthood. I was attracted to that word because it’s the idea that we all come to this planet and we’re put into this system which changes us and a lot of our instincts. We’re taught to act in a way which is almost unnatural. So it’s the idea of finding your inner child and making conscious decisions as a human based on what the kid version of yourself might do. I put one and the zero because it’s the binary code, so it’s the idea of togetherness and our reality. And on another level my Sanskrit name is ‘Nikhil’ which means ‘complete’, so there’s a parallel there as well. It’s a really geeky name, it’s probably the geekiest artist name in the world!

How long have you identified as non-binary?

For the last couple of years. I’m very aware of and in touch with my female energy. I’m a strong believer that if as human beings we all identified as non-binary, and appreciated that both male and female energies go into every human, we would be able to remove discrimination based on gender, and we’d be able to turn our planet into a more thoughtful and kinder place. It’s an answer to removing toxic masculinity. If you identify as non-binary you’re thinking about gender and what it means to each of us. I think it’s a good way to move forward.

You’ve worked across a range of industries like fashion and film-making – do you feel like music is where you feel most free creatively?

100 per cent. It’s the only time I’ve ever been the end of line creative decision-maker in a project, so this is ultimately me. I’ve played open mic nights consistently for the last 10 years, but had never written song a for myself to perform. I never thought it was a possibility. But the internet has allowed me to express myself in a way that I may not have been able to before. The first song I released was ‘Amerikkka’, and that was me being pretty mad about the whole Trump situation and Brexit, so it was a really strong emotion that started this project. I didn’t think I’d be doing it in two years’ time. But this is what I want to do, all my creative energy goes into it. I got a message from a kid a few months ago that was like ‘I wanted to kill myself and I didn’t because I listened to ‘Janis’,’ which is one of my songs about saving yourself. So I feel like it is having an impact. And ‘Dopamine’ is a song about world peace: It’s about finding who you are as an individual and reaching a level of happiness so that can be projected out.

So ‘Dopamine’ really represent that idea that the personal is political, insofar as changing the world starts with yourself.

I think for me, if I’m going to be making music for people to listen to I want it to have an impact, and I think we’re in a space now where there’s no room for un-conscious artists. I think we’re done with artists who are problematic. We have to create space for artists who are conscious and appear to actually make a difference. We’re at a crucial point in terms of this planet’s evolution and what we’re doing as a species. Music is a form of documentation and we should be using it to improve society rather than cause problems. I think it’s important for people to speak up about what they’re passionate about. But it’s very different for me as an independent artist compared to someone like Taylor Swift who has massive mouths to feed. But I do think anyone in a position of power or influence should be speaking up to help people have a voice.

‘Dopamine’ also comes with a sister track, ‘Poems To Fuck To’ – what was the thought process behind that?

It’s a very personal manifesto. Think of it as a descriptor to ‘Dopamine’. The lyrics of ‘Poems’ are so personal and I think I really wanted my voice to be heard. There’s no production on the vocal, whereas ‘Dopamine’ is a big song that’s made for radio and playlists, whereas ‘Poems’ is made for someone who wants to understand the artist more.

Both tracks have very sexually-charged lyrics like ‘I love it baby when you’re still inside of me’. Clearly your sexuality isn’t something you shy away from in your music. Do you feel vulnerable putting that kind of stuff out there or are you a bit of an exhibitionist at heart?

I think it’s the latter. It’s something I don’t think about, it comes naturally. I’m quite a sexual person. I don’t know why! I guess I have a really healthy relationship with sex now. I’ve had an unhealthy relationship with sex in the past maybe, when it comes to giving me that dopamine hit. When it comes to ‘Dopamine’, you can get that hit from anything: from hugging a puppy, eating food that you like or from fucking, right? And the song is about all of them. So ‘I love it baby when you’re still inside of me’ – it could be about dick, it could be about God or the universe. But I do want to be an unapologetic queer artist. It’s part of my life and activism as an LGBTQ+ person. I’m not trying to be like ‘oh I don’t want everyone to know I’m gay’. Fuck that shit. That’s not me at all. Whether it’s my sexuality or my skin colour, want to be a hero to kids who might look like me or feel like me or can’t come out. I want to empower people to be themselves. Our generation is the one that’ll be running the world, and we’re getting queerer by the minute. I think at the moment there’s a lot of victim culture coming out of LGBT celebrities and I’m tired of it: I think that puts kids back in the closet, and we should do the opposite of that.

Do you think gay artists are still forced to desexualise themselves to achieve mainstream success?

I think there a probably still a lot of artists who don’t come out because they think it’s going to harm their numbers and sales, and being a closeted record-signed artist must be the biggest fucking nightmare to exist in a human’s brain. I would never want to be in that position. I think being honest from the outset is so important. This is a really honest representation of me as an artist and it’s just the way that I am. I’m going to try and keep it as real as possible.

Were you always that open and comfortable with your sexuality and identity?

I’m so lucky. I’m acutely aware of the privilege of growing up in London and being a queer man in this city is such a blessing. Look at India – Section 377 has just been removed so finally [there are] these freedoms that kids would have had if colonialism hadn’t existed. But I’ve personally never had very many problems when it comes to my sexuality. I had some friction with my parents at the time I was saying I was pansexual at 18, 19, and they were like ‘Ah, this is a phase’, but they got over it real quick. But for me as a second generation immigrant who’s had no problems, I want other kids to know that it’s not a problem. Obviously everyone’s situation is different, I want to be a representation of someone who’s like, been okay. And it will continue to be okay. If anything, it’s better to be queer than to be heterosexual because you’re a more woke human being, you’re more aware of oppression and issues that minorities are faced with. A queerer world is a better place for humanity.

When ‘The Kid That Killed Trump’ video came out you did witness at lot of hate though, and even received death threats – was it a bit of a wake up call to see that hatred manifest and be confronted with it head on?

I was hung drawn and quartered for that! But I received a lot of support as well. I understood that it would provoke a reaction, but I dealt with the consequences and I feel like the more hate you’re getting, the more love you’re getting somewhere else.

Of course, after you released the video Kathy Griffin later got herself into hot water with a very visually-similar image of herself holding Trump’s decapitated head – what did you make of that? It was almost career-ending for her.

Was it though? I think she’s pretty fine. I think these things blow over real quick and if anything it’s given her content for her new shows, and it’s given her more or a platform. I always try and see what’s really going on in a situation and I think it was a stunt, she knew what she was doing and what would happen – and the more dramatic it was for her, the better. I think it’s funny her visual was so similar, but I believe in group consciousness and I believe hundreds of thousands of other people are that angry about the situation that’s happening, and this is how it manifested. I think the fact I’m doing the same thing as one of the biggest comedians in the world is fucking cool.

What’s next for NEO 10Y?

I don’t have massive funding from a label which means I have the advantage of actually being able to release whenever the fuck I want. What I do have coming out hopefully in November is a song called ‘Reality Check’. Again, it’s a little bit political but it’s kind of a tongue in cheek song as well. It really slaps. So I’m really excited to put that out. I’m just working, I’m just keeping doing it.

NEO 10Y’s ‘Dopamine’ and Poems To Fuck To’ are available to download on iTunes and stream on Spotify now.

For more NEO 10Y visit NEO10Y.SPACE or follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

Artwork by Ava Fersi and Achraf Amiri

Editorial images of NEO 10Y by LUXXXER