Trevor Noah: My guest tonight is probably the weirdest pop star you know. With every new song she breaks boundaries in herself but god forbid she films anything for it, the singer's visuals really having the tendency to leave us completely disturbed or insanely mesmerized. After watching 'DEVOURED' for approximately the millionth time earlier today, I have to say, I'm still a little bit of both. Please welcome, Aikya Balan![Aikya Balan walks out onto the stage, smiling broadly and waving shyly to the crowd. She's dressed rather oddly, wearing an oversized chunky knitted roll-neck jumper, baggy wide-leg denim pants, tiny coke bottle specs and a curly up-do that screams high school guidance counselor. She hugs Trevor Noah and then quietly sits.]
Trevor Noah: Welcome, welcome!Aikya Balan: A million times, Trevor??
Trevor Noah: Give or take. It is still.. quite captivating. [laughs] 'DEVOURED' and it's video is about 2 years old so I'm sure it's annoying to still be asked about it but... I don't think we've properly digested that video as a society.Aikya Balan: Im pretty sure we've all moved on by now.
Trevor Noah: Aikya, everyone that watched 'DEVOURED', left 'DEVOURED' scarred for life. You can't just move on from that. I just want to know what was going through your mind when you came up with.. all of that. Dissect the creative process for us.Aikya Balan: Well.. to be able to dissect the creative process behind 'DEVOURED', you have to understand that female orgasms are magic.
Just like unicorns, leprechauns and other popular myths?Oh my.
It was a question, a simple question!UM..! SO magical, really. It is said that every time a woman climaxes, a femme is born.
[gasps] A feminine human is born.. every time?Every time! [laughs] It's one of our many secrets. That was pretty much the concept of the video. When I wrote 'DEVOURED', I was tired of hearing half-assed bi-curious super shallow unoriginal sad attempts at hits that female singers try to pass off as LGBT anthems. I wrote an anthem for women who were actually attracted to the same sex, and somewhere down the road I realized it was more than that. I said to myself, "This is woman." That's how the video came to be, it was an ode to femininity. That's why there was the concept of birth involved in the video, it's something only women can do. Men are egoistic but women are competitive, which is why Rum and I had this huge dance off. And then you had basically the entire ballroom scene in the video with me. That was because a lot of the ballroom is about expressing your femininity in your own way.
When you say 'The Ballroom Scene', what exactly are you referring to because believe it or not, there are still people out there who have no idea.Ball culture of course! When you think of dingy clubs with gays voguing in one corner and drags racing in the other... you're thinking of the ballroom scene! There's many ways to name it, the ballroom community, the house system.. The impact ball culture has on the world is crazy for it to be so unknown. Vogueing? Came from the ball. House music and EDM? Came from the ball. Every major popstar? Had to go through us first. Twitter slang? Literally all of it is just leaks from our ballroom. It's the centre of ethnic LGBT culture, it's the centre of Pop culture, and it saved my life.
People might think you're exaggerating when you say the ballroom community saved your life but you truly mean that. You're selectively open about your past but you consider yourself blessed to still be alive today. Why is that?Well, I ran away at an incredibly young age. I was dealing with so much at home that by the time I was 17, I just couldn't anymore. New York City is the wrong city to be homeless, desperate and mentally young in. A lot of people look down on erotic dancers and sex workers because it has a lot to do with women using their sexuality to their benefit but who cares? The hardest part of the job is staying safe, it makes you extremely vulnerable to human trafficking and predators in general. I went through all of these things because of my decisions and it was the best and worst thing I've ever done. Through the strip clubs I was introduced to gay clubs and ball culture and that's where I learned where I truly belong. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now and I really do owe the ballroom my life.
What some people may not know is that you really do have a powerful story, even beyond that.I mean, I guess. I'm still taking my time on telling it...
I respect that. Usually, when people come this far, the first thing they do is introduce themselves through their past. You openly stated that was not something you were interested in.Yeah. I'm probably just being dramatic as hell but I want to be ready and I want it done right. It's been 3 years now since I've been famous and I've still only told a fraction of it. I want people to know I am not my past, I am who I dream to be in the future and until I get there in life, I have no intentions of looking back. One day at a time. One song at a time. Babysteps.
Babysteps.Babysteps.
So, 3 years, 1 album and 12 singles later...TWELVE SINGLES?
You released them.Did I???
Name all TWELVE SINGLES off the top of your head, right now!!UHM...!
Geez, Aikya, give me something to work with here.No no, okay, for real this time!
Ok....go!'A Hoe Never Gets Cold', available on iTunes now!! [bats her eyes to the camera] 'DEVOURED', a beautifully composed #1 single! 'Something Like That', my personal favorite! Wrote it about my mom, um..woo! 'Take Your Time', my debut single with Lotus!
How do you forget your debut single??I DIDN'T FORGET MY DEBUT SINGLE!
What about your second single??What? OH! The Boys! See?
There's still 7 more!I give up.
We almost did too but you finally gave us a debut album in December. Looking back, do you wish you would've gotten the album out earlier. Yes and no. I trust my timing, I never want to feel like I have to rush something. My whole schtick is that I'll get it out when I get it out and my fans trust me enough to know that it'll be good. I admit, it took me longer than it should've. I swear there were so many times I just wanted to sink into hiding and never make another song again but it's the fans that remind me that I have to keep going. I do wish it came out just a few months earlier. Would've made it much easier to get this new music out.
I think we were all shocked when we first heard that you were making new music. It took you 3 years to give us an album, we were all expecting it to take you 3 more! I'm shocked too, to be honest. I don't know, as soon as I released the album, I was immediately inspired to make more music. That album only really showed one side of me and I was just like, 'damn...I still have so many more to show.'
What side of you is this new project, '30 Silver Coins', going to show?Definitely a much more toxic side of me. I think we all have our inner Judas, that piece of us that just wants to self destruct. That's what the project is all about. I'm attacking myself for attacking myself, it's pretty deep. Has it's moments where it's really intense and others where it's really sexy. I think everyone will love it if they give it a chance.
What's the difference between 'Out of Sight, Still in Mind' and '30 Silver Coins'?'Out of Sight, Still in Mind' was literally my way of avoiding actually talking about me. The whole album I was trying my hardest to shift the blame on everyone else, I was running from the truth there. In '30 Silver Coins', I'm forcing myself to finally face it. Think the Robot Chicken opening credits where the scientist straps down the chicken, that's the concept. Instead, I'm not showing myself arbitrary bull, I'm showing myself the truth.
So.. 'A Hoe Never Gets Cold' is your truth?Yes! The title sounds messy but with the song I'm sort of scolding myself for being such a half-ass lover. Physically? I can be your wildest dream. But I'm such an mental wreck that emotionally, it's really hard for me to connect. I don't have a problem with getting attached but I'm just so bad at it that I refuse to.
Would you consider love or lack thereof to be the center of your life? I ask this because you seem to always sing about it.On no, not at all. It's just a really good distraction and at the very least, it is exetremely relatable to sing about. In my reality, the center of life is me. I'm really not joking when I say I'm vain. In the few moments where I'm not trying to make everything about me, I'm freaking out about the state of the world. I'd consider myself very political in an anti-political way.
To be compeltely honest, that's why I wanted you on the show so bad. It'd just be another day on teh net and out of nowhere you'd casually take a strong political stance on something and then move on like you said absolutely nothing. I love it but am also deeply frustrated with you. Could you imagine if this show was like that? "Turkey is under the control of a dictator and France is a few months away from making the same mistakes as the US. I'm going back to sleep." and just like that, I put my head down and we roll the credits. Everyone in the crowd would feel cheated and exetremely confused! 'Turkey?? Dictatorship?? The French are going to repeat our mistakes?? WHICH ONES!'[laughs] I throw stuff out there like that because I want people to know where I stand and I don't want for there to be any speculation on my views. I have no intention to actually go into detail about why I feel that way though. I'm a reasonable person with reasonable views, I should never have to explain myself. For the same reason, I don't consider myself to be any kind of activist. You will never catch me debating my right to exist or anyone else's. That's stupid. I have better things to do, like sleep.
Exactly. Why debate when you can just vote and take a nice long nap?Yikes, I don't do that either.
You don't vote?Nope! I have no hope in this country or it's poloitics. I will not participate in letting politicians think whoring themselves nonstop is the key to running a country. Ironic coming from me, right? But what I did was an art, what political candidates do is just cheap. I'm serious! I was surviving the best way I knew how, politicians are literally auditioning for who gets the lead part in destroying the world.
Well, if you want to further develop faith into a system, you know you have to actually put energy into bettering that system, right? How do you expect that we keep a democracy if people simply stop trying?After this last presidential election, I don't expect the U.S. to keep a democracy for long. People chose a man who can spew the hate they want to hear over a woman with the actual experience to run a country. A live, breathing CULT won over educated voters with "faith" in our political system. But to answer your question, I have no faith that things will better, that's why I don't have hope in this country in the first place. When I lose hope in something..anything? Dassit, it's cut. For example, you asked earlier why it took me so long to release an album? I lost hope in myself as a singer and as a person many, many times so I just stopped writing, recording and caring and I still wouldn't care if I didn't feel in debt to my fans.
What an interestign way to look at it. I'm all about different perspectives.It's your job.
That too. [laughs] On a much lighter note, your outfit is awesome.Aw, thank you so much! I've been really feeling the hipster Hindi normcore look these days. Turning out to be my favorite phase yet.
Is this how you usually dress? You look so cool and yet..elegant. I don't know if I should pass you a blunt or kiss your hand. [laughs]Both, please! Contrary to popular belief, I wear a lot of clothes. My style varies from month to month. It's damn near summer but Kamadeva told me in a dream that I will prosper in love if I wear 50 layers of the weird thrift store clothes that I brought home from my trip to New Delhi.
Has your love life prospered yet?[Aikya frowns] No. But Kamadeva is the same god who thought he could disturb Shiva while meditating and not be immmeadietely reduced to ashes, I take his words with a grain of salt.
Did..did you just burn a Hindu diety?No more than Shiva already did.
You just openly started a beef between you and Kamadeva, a god of love. Your songs about failed relationships are starting to make a lot more sense now....[laughs]
So what's next for you?In a long term sense, I'm hoping for more music..more life..more progression. More of being honest with myself and a lot more of being open to my fans. In a short term sense? A tour.
A TOUR!!Yes, finally! I already have the merch ready, and I think a certain fan is gonna lose their shit once I drop it hehe. More details coming soon.
Thank you so much for being on the show. Aikya Balan, everybody!
