"'ICK' is really different from anything I’ve ever written before," explains Anya Alchemy.
Anya Alchemy (Credit: Michelle Grace Hunder)
Naarm/Melbourne singer-songwriter Anya Alchemy has returned with her latest single, the slick alt-pop athem, ICK.
Described as being a slinky and witty ode to empowerment, ICK captures the raw energy and power of Anya as she channels the inspiration and audacious swagger of names like Doechii and Tyler, The Creator while showing off her own singular take on catchy pop with lyrics that speak to knowing your worth.
“ICK is all about not lowering your standards for losers,” she explains. “I work at a pub to help pay for my artist project and I regularly serve the same characters in their 20s and beyond. The types that don’t say please or thank you, the types that complain about the prices of steak. They’re the worst and I think that they deserve their own moment, in song form.”
Having initially made her debut back in 2019 with the track Home. alongside Pez, the nascent ICK sees her working with brother/producer Jay Ferriere (Pez, 360) once again. Though comparisons could be made to the likes of Billie Eilish and brother Finneas, Anya notes that there’s also some differences at play in their creative relationship.
“I feel like Billie and Finneas are probably a lot nicer to each other than we are,” she says. “We’ve been writing together properly for close to three to four years and we work well in that I love words and melodies, and he loves beats and the sonic side of things.
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“We both really want to make stuff that is iconic, either to other people or even just to us – our shared passion for music and creating is the driving force of this project.
“One day we’ll yell about how much we hate each other and threaten to leave the project and then the next day one of us will send the other a house that we’ll buy when we make it big,” she adds. “That’s the charm of working with family.”
On the song’s creation, Anya notes that ICK arrived during one of her sessions working with her brother when a line she’s penned on her phone suddenly came into play.
“Whilst at work I wrote down the line ‘Gap teeth, mean streak’ in my Notes app – thinking nothing of it,” she explains. “Later in the week I went to my brother’s house to work on music, he played me this ridiculous beat and the words just kept pouring out.
“We spent the whole night tweaking the words so that they weren’t so ambiguous and by the end of the night we had our song. ICK is really different from anything I’ve ever written before.”
The release of ICK is the latest accomplishment in a big year for Anya, which has already seen her support names like the Pierce Brothers and Boo Seeka, and has resulted in a spot on the Hello Sunshine festival alongside The Veronicas, Grinspoon, Bliss n Eso, and more.
Anya has also promised the release of new music in the near future, meaning that ICK certainly won’t be the last we hear from her.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body