The humour, angry address and metal sound of the original track have all remained a constant in Lil Mariko’s output since, but her production, writing and vocal range have since grown immensely through a series of collaborations and single tracks. It is only natural that artists like
Dorian Electra and
Rico Nasty quickly collaborated with Lil Mariko. Both have found a niche for themselves at the crossroads of different genres and have charted the course of hyperpop’s meteoric reign. In her work with both artists, Lil Mariko has shown her impressive range as an emerging talent. Mariko likes to toe the line of irony and sincerity in a similar manner as both artists, taunting her fans, calling them simps and asking them to worship her. Mariko often goes from sugar-sweet hooks to completely screamed tirades. The rage is not just an aesthetic decision. She plays with domination in many of her tracks like
Don’t Touch, “I stomped on his balls. That boy’s crying now”. Like Electra, performed characters are at the heart of much of her work. Her dominatrix persona confronts the simps, incels and obsessive fanboys of the world in a humorous manner, but from this performance, the artist has found traits she hopes to cultivate in her personal life.
Lil Mariko has never taken herself too seriously. Some of her songs like
Catboys are absolutely hilarious (the first line is: “This bitch love catboys (Meow, meow, meow)”). Yet, they always remain catchy and have a thread of earnestness within them. To a question of the irony of her work, Lil Mariko responded that explaining too much away can make it “kind of cringe lol”. Her track
Boring was the debut release of the newly formed Four Loko Records (backed by the brand behind the beverage just as vomit inducing as Lil Mariko’s music). Lil Mariko is only on the rise so be on the lookout for some new singles and an EP!