Ninajirachi photographed by Aria Zarzycki.
Ninajirachi is inviting the world to come watch her perform unspeakable acts on her laptop. The Australian DJ and producer coined the term “girl EDM” and, having racked up 1.2 million monthly listeners with her debut album I Love My Computer, clearly, the label is sticking. Her intoxicating sound has earned her viral hits like “Fuck My Computer” and “iPod Touch,” a sold out debut UK headline tour, and a prime-time Coachella set. Still parked in Palm Springs post desert and post-show high, my fellow Aussie hopped on Zoom to talk Pinkpantheress, groupies, and touring with Tame Impala.
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LUCIA BROWN: Hey, Nina.
NINAJIRACHI: Hi, how are you going?
BROWN: I’m good. I’m so excited to chat with you. Where are you right now?
NINAJIRACHI: I’m in Palm Springs after Coachella. I stayed here for a few days.
BROWN: Oh, nice. How was the Coachella set?
NINAJIRACHI: Coachella was epic. It was really crazy. It was my first time.
BROWN: Did it sort of feel like an “I made it” moment?
NINAJIRACHI: Yeah, I guess so. I was really gagged when I got the offer last year. I was super stoked, and I loved the stage I played on too. It was indoor and air-conditioned and nice and dark for all the lighting.
BROWN: Did you have time to enjoy the festival and see anyone else?
NINAJIRACHI: Yeah, I saw Slayyyter, saw Jane Remover, saw FKA twigs and Young Thug.
BROWN: Who was your fav?
NINAJIRACHI: Oh, it’s all a blur. Fav was probably Jane on Sunday.
BROWN: What was the crowd like at Coachella? I feel like it notoriously has kind of a dead crowd.
NINAJIRACHI: That’s what everyone says, but in the tent everyone’s dancing. Yeah, it was great for me. I guess, wandering around the festival, there’s different genres, so different energies at different moments in people’s sets. But for me, I was super stoked. Especially the first weekend because a lot of people had told me that it was that energy, and then it was awesome. So I was very, very happy with whoever came to my set at least.
BROWN: Where has been the best crowd? Because you’ve been on tour for a while now.
NINAJIRACHI: Yeah, the best crowd in recent memory was probably the Manchester-Brighton-London run. Those three cities in a row. Oh my god. Yeah, the UK was just amazing crowds in general, honestly. It’s so hard to choose between them. I’m going to lock in Manchester.
BROWN: The Brits love their EDM. I feel like they know how to party.
NINAJIRACHI: Yeah, they were definitely partying. But they were also singing along to the songs. It was a very concert feeling in that sense.
BROWN: That’s fun.
NINAJIRACHI: Really good sing-alongs in Manchester and the UK in general. It was amazing.
BROWN: How do they compare to the Aussie crowds?
NINAJIRACHI: I haven’t played a headline show in Oz since August last year, right after my album came out. So I probably won’t be able to give a proper reading until I tour there again in July.
BROWN: Are there any songs that have been surprisingly well received live?
NINAJIRACHI: Maybe CSIRAC. Because CSIRAC is the one that doesn’t have many melodic parts or parts that you can sing or hum along to, I assumed for some reason that it would be less favorable. But yeah, it’s been one of the more popular songs, which is really cool. I love it. Obviously, I wouldn’t put it on that album if I didn’t love it, but I didn’t know it would be received so well. And at the shows, it goes pretty crazy.
BROWN: What are the essentials on the road?
NINAJIRACHI: I’m bringing a lot of vitamins because sometimes there’s not a lot of sleep.
BROWN: Do you bring any Aussie snacks with you? Any reminders of home?
NINAJIRACHI: So, we started the tour in Paris and I brought to Paris a bunch of little Vegemite packets that my mom gave me. And I don’t always have those, but I had just seen her shortly before and she gave me those. And then, in Paris, I had a fabulous bread roll with Vegemite on it and that was awesome.
BROWN: Yum. Reminders of the homeland. Every time I go back home, I try to buy a massive thing of Vegemite and I always forget that they steal it at TSA.
NINAJIRACHI: Oh, do they take it?
BROWN: They take it. They’ve taken it three times. I always forget.
NINAJIRACHI: Oh, you’re joking. I didn’t know that, but that’s really good to know.
BROWN: Note to self.
NINAJIRACHI: You know what we didn’t have in the UK tour was a Bluetooth speaker, and that needs to change.
BROWN: That feels like an essential.
NINAJIRACHI: That was a mistake. It was a mistake not to have one.
BROWN: What are you playing on the bus?
NINAJIRACHI: Well, the last couple weeks at Coachella, we’ve also had a lot of friends with us. So in the car, a lot of Clams Casino, Akriila, J.Stephens. Obviously, all of the new Underscores album—it’s the best. Always listening to PinkPantheress. Love her.
BROWN: She’s the best. So, a nice mix.
NINAJIRACHI: Yeah, DJ Girl album from last year, too. And a lot of the artists on the Coachella lineup as we drive to and from.
BROWN: What does prep look like for your shows?
NINAJIRACHI: I always love to be at the venue early, check everything, settle in. I’m usually on my computer right up until the show, pretty much making edits to songs or making edits to the intro.
BROWN: Staying true to the album title [I Love My Computer].
NINAJIRACHI: Yeah, exactly. The show intro changes city to city. So usually, in the green room, I’m doing a voice note with the city name and swapping that out for whichever city we’re playing in that night. Sometimes I do some stretching. Sometimes I don’t and then I hate myself because my legs get sore really easily. We do ginger shots. That’s show prep and a tour essential because it’s also very ritualistic. Everyone can take part and it’s not, like, alcoholic shots or something.
BROWN: Yeah. Fuck tequila. We’re doing ginger shots.
NINAJIRACHI: And they’re yummy.
BROWN: I tend to not be a fan of a ginger shot, but maybe I’ll have to introduce it. That along with the vitamin C, you’re not getting sick this tour.
NINAJIRACHI: Definitely not. We cannot afford to.
BROWN: I’m curious if you have a memorable show from an artist that you loved growing up?
NINAJIRACHI: The fondest memories I have are maybe seeing the Porter Robinson World Show in Sydney. Well, obviously his music is amazing, but that’s also why he became one of my favorite artists because I went to an underage matinee DJ set of his when I was 13 or 14 and it was the first time I’d heard electronic music on a big system. Obviously it wasn’t like a rave, it was a bunch of teenagers. No one was getting fucked up. I was just with a couple of friends. It was the first time I’d heard music and it felt so monolithic. There’s just this big wall of sound in front of me with the LED and the lights. And I was like, “Wow, this is…”
Up until then, I really loved electronic music, but there was a lot of EDM that I didn’t understand because it’s very functional music in the sense that it’s made for those environments sometimes. So that show really shook my world for that reason. And I love the Enmore Theatre.
BROWN: The Enmore, I love it. I grew up in Sydney, so I grew up going to shows there.
NINAJIRACHI: Oh, true. It’s the best. It’s so beautiful inside as well.
BROWN: Yeah, it is. Who’s an artist that you’d want to groupie for now and be on the road with?
NINAJIRACHI: I just jumped up for PinkPantheress in her set.
BROWN: I saw that.
NINAJIRACHI: It would be my honor to DJ for PinkPantheress every night, but I know she has Joe who’s a fabulous DJ. But that was so much fun.
BROWN: She’s so cool.
NINAJIRACHI: Maybe also if Rihanna made her return to music. I would be there.
BROWN: Yeah, I’d groupie for her too.
NINAJIRACHI: Oh my god, yeah.
BROWN: What are your post-show rituals? Are you amped up or are you just dead? Your legs are sore, you just want to sleep.
NINAJIRACHI: Oh, I’m such a grandma. I don’t go to afterparties. I’ve just never been a big party girl ever, really. I don’t want to either.
BROWN: That’s so interesting. I wouldn’t have thought that.
NINAJIRACHI: Really?
BROWN: Yeah.
NINAJIRACHI: Well, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily an introvert or antisocial or anything like that, but yeah. I’ve never been a massive party girl. I did love being the DJ at the house parties when I was in school because it’s like I was there and I could talk to everyone, but I also had a task I could just go back to.
BROWN: The perfect balance.
NINAJIRACHI: Yeah, it’s really a set and setting and who I’m with kind of thing. It has to be a really perfect opportunity to want to push beyond my energy limits. In the UK, we had five shows in four days in four cities in a row. So yeah, a lot of energy conservation was necessary. But if the right opportunity presents itself, I’ll be there.
BROWN: And you’re touring with Tame Impala later this year. Are you and Kevin friends?
NINAJIRACHI: We have never met.
BROWN: Really?
NINAJIRACHI: No, never.
BROWN: You don’t even have to do a vibe check, like a chemistry call?
NINAJIRACHI: We have some mutual friends, but we’ve never met ourselves.
BROWN: Oh, so you’ve been vetted.
NINAJIRACHI: I’ve been vetted. Yeah. I think it’ll be awesome. When I made my album, I had no idea that Tame Impala would hear it and want to have me on tour. That was not a goalpost that I set for myself at all. So it was a really awesome surprise. I’m so grateful. I’m a big fan of his music, obviously, and especially being Australian, they were so huge in Oz way before everyone…You know what I mean?
BROWN: Yeah. OGs.
NINAJIRACHI: They’re such legends and iconic, and I’m super gassed to be on that tour. And I’ve never played arenas, so I can’t wait.
BROWN: That’ll be massive. So fun. I wanted to chat through a couple of the pics that you sent over to us as well.
NINAJIRACHI: Oh, yeah.
BROWN: Is this fan art?
NINAJIRACHI: That one was in Paris. There’s this meme of a woman, I don’t know where it’s from it’s like a stock photo or something, and it’s a woman holding a gun at her computer. And a lot of people love to post it with the caption “Evil Ninajirachi.” So at the show, someone printed it out and gave it to me.
BROWN: And in this pic, who are you with?
NINAJIRACHI: Oh, that’s me and some of my crew. Me, Stacy, and Aria. That was before the tour started. We went to see Rosalía in an arena and that was a little selfie we took when we were in our seats ready to watch the show.
BROWN: Was the show good?
NINAJIRACHI: Oh my god, it was amazing. And it was also really early in the tour. It was one of the first shows so it was all a surprise. You know when there’s a big famous tour and you see a lot of videos of it. Yeah. Nothing had been leaked on to TikTok or wherever.
BROWN: Yeah. It’s hard to avoid now. It’s hard to go into a show fully blind.
NINAJIRACHI: That is me and that was after the last show of the UK tour in Brighton. That was the end of the five shows in a four-day sprint. And it was kind of like, “Lay back, we’re done.” A “We did it” moment.
BROWN: Awesome. Well that feels like a good place to end. Enjoy the rest of Palm Springs, and I hope you get some relaxation before you are on the road again.
NINAJIRACHI: Thank you so much. Have an amazing day.
