Bully Magazine - THE REVIVAL OF ANNAHSTASIA

The word revival means ‘a renewed attention to or interest in something’ however when we sat down with multidisciplinary artist, Annahstasia Enuke, we quickly uncovered something entirely different. With her new EP titled “Revival” set to be released this August, Annahstasia shared that the project is made up of songs / ideas & concepts that have been in development for the past 10 years.

“When I was left by myself alone in my room, I realized I am enough. I have everything that I need. Whereas before the pandemic, I felt like I let all of these outside sources determine what I was missing or what I needed. That's when I began to survey of all of the songs I’ve written in the last ten years with the intention of bringing them back to life to be sung again”

The project began taking shape at the beginning of the pandemic back in 2020 when the times were uncertain. With lockdowns & restrictions seemingly having no end in sight, Annahstasia found herself stuck at home like the rest of us who were fortunate enough to do so. Afraid that the momentum she had been building was beginning to fizzle, Annahstasia grew concerned for what this meant for her career. Pointing the finger at the pandemic for being the reason that all of the opportunities were being taken away, Annahstasia had her breakthrough moment.

Tré Akula: Who are you and where are you from?

ANNAHSTASIA: My name is Annahstasia and I’m from Los Angeles, ethnically I’m Nigerian-American. I am an artist.

T: How do you balance your music with other obligations - modeling, performing etc?

A: I have always been very attached to doing multiple mediums since I was young. I remember always making sure I was in every art program my school offered knowing that my parents didn't have the means to send me to any extracurricular activities outside of school. I always took advantage of whatever was around me. One of the first art programs that was available to me was black & white photography and when I got into that, I had the experience of winning multiple awards shortly after.

It was the first time I was being acknowledged / given any kind of accolade for what I had accomplished. From this perspective, I became addicted to exploring every kind of medium. The daily challenge became: can I take this on and how well can I learn it?

Art to me is a lifelong practice, I see all of these mediums that I have expressed myself in as me circling and learning as I cycle through life. Music is what connects all of these mediums together. However, music sadly is the only medium that exists within the framework of ageism. It's the one medium where I do feel a bit of a time crunch associated with it. My photography, my ceramics, my paper making work, my performance work and my film work eventually – all of these mediums I know I can execute and make time for as I get older.

T: How long have you been in Berlin? Does that inform your creative process?

A: I’ve never been to Berlin before this trip actually haha, I’m here for an indeterminate amount of time. I came here from LA because growing up in LA was very difficult for me as an artist. If you don’t grow up with nepotism or access to these gatekept spaces, it’s a place where it feels like fame and success are so close and so within reach but you don't have access to it. You may have the talent, the means etc. but you don't have the person with the key to the door.

During my childhood / teenage years, seeing celebrities around was so innocuous that fame felt almost cheap. As a dreamer, this affected me because the dreams that I had and the dreams that I still have are so big and grandiose that as a black woman in this space people were often threatened.

On numerous occasions I was asked “Why do you think you’re worth that?” or “Don’t you think you need to humble yourself?” or “Who are you?”. I learned to not internalize those experiences and instead would remind myself of the fact that I am worthy.

I did the work at a competitive level coming from a city where the barrier to entry is high, the expectations are high, the curation is high etc. There’s a reason I’ve been offered x amount of deals. As a result, it feels like there isn’t enough focus on the artistry aspect of things. I don’t see LA as where my people are at. I am now in the process of figuring out what my base is going to be because I feel disassociated from New York & LA. After 10 years between the two cities, I never really found my ‘people’ or my ‘space’. I’ve only been in Berlin for a short amount of time however I do notice that people have a more stable sense of community here. America has such an individualist ethos and mindset that even within community, it feels highly conditional.

T: What is your relationship with the feminine and the masculine?

A: For me, femininity when I was young was directly tied to sex, being sexy or sexually desired. In the outside world, I wasn’t able to find examples of what femininity could be outside of these boxes. My parents raised me in a fairly progressive but strict household. My mother was never hyper feminine, she worked full-time and was the breadwinner of the family. Emotionally, she was very stoic whereas my father was the opposite. He was the one who always wanted to talk and would handle the more ‘feminine’ things happening in my life.

This allowed me to see how fluid masculinity & femininity could be and in hindsight, helped to shape the person I am today.

When I left my family home and entered the world as a model, I had society’s idea of femininity projected onto my body. I would walk into castings and have everyone in the room expected me to be feminine simply because I’m a woman. I felt so attacked by this that I shaved my head.

Through modeling and shaving my head, I was able to develop my own definition of femininity. It was a very healing process which taught me that femininity can be whatever you make it.

T: What’s next for you? Are you working on any new projects releasing this year?

A: Rival coming out in August of this year. I will be releasing it on vinyl only as a semi protest against streaming and what it puts independent artists through. I want people to find and discover my work on their own, there’s true appreciation for the music when it’s being consumed in this way. Making music tangible again is very important to me.

T: If you could talk with any artist dead or alive, who would it be and why?

A: That's a hard question because there’s a lot of people but also because I’m not an artist where collaboration has been the root of my process, it’s less about me working with them and more about me wanting to have a conversation to pick their brains.

Here’s my top 5: Bill Withers - He the one who set me on this journey at the age of 15 when I first heard Grandma’s Hands. Terry Collier. Nina Simone. Joni Mitchell - I would love to talk poetry with Jonie, she’s one of the best writers out there. Alice Coldtrain - I would love to talk to her about creating ensembles. Her talent is knowing who needed to be in the room to create magic together.