Miss Kaninna shares slick, powerful debut EP KANINNA ahead of November headline tour supported by triple J
Proud Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, Kalkadoon and Yirendali woman & multi-award-winning Naarm/Melbourne-via-lutriwita/Tasmania artist MISS KANINNA (she/her - pronunciation guide here) - who now counts Kelis and Amyl & the Sniffers among her many supporters - today unveils her internationally-anticipated debut EP KANINNA (20 September). A slick, confident body of work that serves to challenge social perceptions of Aboriginal music, using her "powerful voice" (Complex) to explore freedom, sexuality and reassertion of dominance atop irresistibly tight production that moves fluidly across hip-hop, pop, R&B, soul, funk and beyond; KANINNA is aptly named for its creator as the culmination of Miss Kaninna's whirlwind 16-month career in music. It arrives alongside her addition to the final Bluesfest lineup, plus award nominations via the Music Victoria Awards (Best Song/Track - Pinnacle Bitch - her second nomination in the category and third overall) & the Corner Award 2024; ahead of her debut headline tour in November supported by triple j as well as performances at Listen Out, supporting Hiatus Kaiyote & Thelma Plum - all dates below. KANINNA - featuring singles 'Blak Britney', 'Pinnacle Bitch', 'Push Up' & 'Dawg In Me' plus focus track 'Friends' - is out digitally & on vinyl everywhere now - stream/purchase HERE; tickets to the Dawg In Me tour are available for purchase HERE.
Rhythmic, intoxicating focus track 'Friends' - described by Miss Kaninna as her favourite off the EP, "especially" its impossibly heady bridge - is a slinky, upbeat cut that acts as grittier extension of 'Push Up', with the "local legend" (Pedestrian) showing off her ability to draw the listener all the way in, whether she's putting her formidable vocals front & centre or holding back coolly. The track features guitar via Jerome Farah, bringing in Middle Eastern influences via producer YAOB (aka Jacob Farah)'s cultural heritage as well as paying homage to iconic 00s R&B/pop acts Miss Kaninna grew up on like The Pussycat Dolls.
Completing her long-awaited debut project - which originally began to take shape following Miss Kaninna's pivotal move in 2022 from lutruwita/Tasmania to Naarm/Melbourne - as she took a step back from a hectic 2023 touring schedule & festival season which saw her "explosive" (KEXP) live show win over new legions of fans internationally and in so-called-Aus, KANINNA is an undeniable showcase of the multi-award-winning “past, present and the future of music in this country” (triple j)'s jaw-dropping range. Club-ready music with resistance at its core, underpinned by unashamed authenticity, truth, and intensity; KANINNA makes a powerful and vulnerable statement of arrival and expression of the artist's experiences as a young Black woman in the colony, drawing from a rich cultural heritage with a mission to bring new representation to the scene and an urgency to dismantle oppressive structures - Miss Kaninna explains: "It took me a while to finally name the EP KANINNA. I had other names circling in my head but none of them really felt right. This being my first body of work as an artist I wanted to name it something I can be proud of and look back at in years time and still feel a connection to it. That’s when I realised it had to be my name. Since releasing music, people often ask me “what my real name is” which is so funny because my name is so unique that people must think it’s made up. As a child I was given a nickname because people either couldn’t be bothered learning how to say my name - or were just racist. A lot of the time when I introduced myself people would say “do you have an easier name I can call you” which really affected my identify and made me ashamed of my name. Now as a young adult I find empowerment in reclaiming my name and make sure people make an effort to say it right. I no longer accept people saying my name wrong or not making an effort to my face as my name hold power and deep meaning in my culture. This is why it was so important to name the EP KANINNA - it’s my name and you will know my power."
The KANINNA EP reflects the music Miss Kaninna grew up loving: from hip-hop, rap, R&B and pop with touches of Amapiano, Afrobeats, Reggaetón and Middle Eastern influences thanks to a fruitful collaboration with producer YAOB (Dean Brady, KYE, Adrian Eagle), with additional production via Finn Rees (Close Counters) and Jack McLaine (Vagabon, Medhanit). Exploring freedom, sexuality and reassertion of dominance, each track acts as a "theme song" for a feeling captured in time, from revenge ('Dawg In Me'), love and lust ('Push Up', 'Friends') to empowerment ('Blak Britney', 'Pinnacle Bitch') and, as Miss Kaninna admits, "cheeky bullshit" ('Kush'). With the artist's staunch anti-colonial message never far away, KANINNA challenges social perceptions of Aboriginal music, inviting listeners to expand their understandings - "I believe I absolutely have the capability of creating powerful political music that liberates the people, but I also have the capability to create music that just makes you feel good. Not all our music has to have trauma at the heart of it - we deserve to feel good about ourselves," she shares of her "Black pop" - reclaiming full use of the word 'Black' (rather than 'Blak') to "Collectively refer to Black & Indigenous people globally rather than setting Aboriginal people apart & diluting their Blackness." Miss Kaninna adds, "Working with Jacob (Farah - aka YAOB) has been an incredible experience - as two Black artists, we wanted to deliver music that has the potential to stand up against international acts, music that feels good, music for our communities and music we wanna listen to." In this same spirit, she recently featured on Gomeroi / Wodi Wodi man and artist Kobie Dee's 'Lifetime' - with a co-headline show between the two also announced as part of his EP launch tour.
With a meteoric and historic rise spurred by "the left-right goodnight" (triple j) of her debut 2023 singles 'Blak Britney' & 'Pinnacle Bitch', Miss Kaninna has attracted wide-ranging support from Apple Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, SiriusXM's SoundCloud Radio, KEXP, KCRW, triple j (who crowned her with the J Award for Unearthed Artist of the Year 2023), iHeartAustralia, NME, ABC News Breakfast, The Guardian, Complex, VICE, Rolling Stone, ARIA Amplified, Beat Magazine (cover - September 2024), Channel 9's TODAY Show, Junkee, NITV, Yahoo! & Music Feeds' (#1 song of 2023 out of so-called AU - 'Blak Britney'), The Music (appearing on their cover twice), Acclaim Magazine and many more. Boasting a collective 2.3m+ streams across her string of singles and growing support for the artist resulting in twin syncs for 'Blak Britney' and 'Pinnacle Bitch' on season two Netflix's #1 series Heartbreak High - the former as the trailer's soundtrack, a first for a First Nations woman from "so-called-Australia"; 'Pinnacle Bitch' was recently featured at Sydney Fringe Festival horror-burlesque show Bite. With a staunch commitment to speaking truth to power via EVERY stage and platform she graces with her presence - "This is my path," she asserts, "for me it is a lifetime commitment, a marathon over a sprint", Miss Kaninna was named News Corp's #1 Best New Talent In 2024 - with heavy coverage on the musician across all News Corp national mastheads and scrutiny from conservative mouthpieces.
Miss Kaninna has recently taken her "incensed and important" (NME) live show to performances at Wonder Mountain, the 20th Anniversary NIMAs, Spin Off Festival (originally booked for 2024's ill-fated Splendour In The Grass), venues like City Recital Hall and QPAC, Amazon Music x Blak Loud showcase, supporting ONEFOUR at their first-ever Naarm show at Festival Hall, Luminato Festival Toronto alongside the likes of Big Freedia, and beyond - capping off a stacked 2023/2024 festival season spanning St. Jerome's Laneway Festival (alongside names like RAYE, Stormzy & Steve Lacy), SXSW, Meredith Music Festival, Beyond the Valley, Wildlands, Sun Cycle, and many more. In her short, 16-month career, she's already headlined the 2023 NAIDOC Bad Apples Showcase, played A Festival Called Panama, Dark Mofo, Pangaea, Party In The Paddock, MONA FOMA, Heaps Gay, Yirramboi Festival, Treaty Day Out, The Great Escape & participated in the APRA AMCOS TikTok SongHubs workshop with additional plaudits via Astral People who spotlit her as of their Best Music Discoveries 2023, Hobart Magazine (cover - Oct 2023), RUSSH, TimeOut, Mediaweek, The Weekend Edition, Fashion Journal, National Indigenous Times, The Music Network, Blare, Crikey, Concrete Playground, AUD$, Happy Magazine, Tone Deaf, The AU Review, AMRAP, ABC Radio National, CADA, Triple R (who she performed live for in 2023), FBi Radio (also performing at their SXSW Sydney 2023 Party), PBSFM, SYN FM, 2SER, RTRFM, 4ZZZ with DSP highlights like making the cover of Spotify's the hybrid twice + Local Hype once, plus key adds to crush, EQUAL AU&NZ, Fresh Finds, R&B Connect, The Drip, The Local List, The Flavour, multiple New Music Fridays; Apple Music's High Maintenance US, Wildflower, R&B Now, Alt-R&B, The Sound, Rap Life Radio & Amazon Music's Best of 2023: Down Under, Best of the Month and more, plus ARIA's mixtapes #NAIDOCWEEK – Keep the Fire Burning! & Press Play by Blak Label Music and many more for the ground-shaking artist as she continues to not just break, but remake (or reclaim) the mould.
Miss Kaninna - KANINNA EP
out now via Soul Has No Tempo
UPCOMING DATES
21 September - The Fortitude Music Hall, Meanjin/Brisbane, Turrbal Country QLD^
27 September - Listen Out, Naarm/Melbourne, Wurundjeri Country VIC
28 September - Listen Out, Boorloo/Perth, Whadjuk Noongar Country WA
5 October - Listen Out, Meanjin/Brisbane, Turrbal Country QLD
6 October - Listen Out, Eora/Sydney, Gadigal Country NSW
18 October - ALTAR, lutruwita TAS^^
1 November - Hindley St Music Hall, Tarndanya/Adelaide, Kaurna Yerta SA**
2 November - Fremantle Arts Centre, Walyalup/Fremantle, Whadjuk Noongar Country WA**
15 November - Strawberry Fields, Yorta Yorta Country VIC
23 November - Howler, Naarm/Melbourne, Wurundjeri Country VIC*
29 November - Black Bear Lodge, Meanjin/Brisbane, Turrbal Country QLD*
30 November - The Lansdowne, Eora/Sydney, Gadigal Country NSW*
*official headline tour date supported by triple j
^ supporting Hiatus Kaiyote
^^co-headline w/ Kobie Dee
**supporting Thelma Plum
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