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Princess Nokia
Princess Nokia - Press Photo One.jpg
Princess Nokia in 2021
Background information
Birth name Destiny Nicole Frasqueri
Also known as
  • Wavy Spice
  • Destiny Nicole Ortiz
  • Destiny
Born (1992-06-14) June 14, 1992 (age 31)
New York City, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
Years active 2010–present
Labels
  • Arista (current)
  • Platoon (former)

Destiny Nicole Frasqueri (born June 14, 1992), known professionally as Princess Nokia, is an American rapper and songwriter. She released her debut studio album, Metallic Butterfly, in 2014, followed by the 2015 mixtape Honeysuckle. As Princess Nokia, she rose to prominence for her 2017 studio album 1992 Deluxe. She released another mixtape, titled A Girl Cried Red, in 2018, followed by the release of two studio albums, Everything Sucks and Everything Is Beautiful, in 2020.

Early life

Frasqueri identifies as Afro-Indigenous, and is of Puerto Rican descent. When Frasqueri was ten, she lost her mother to AIDS. Between the ages of nine and sixteen, she was in foster care. After Frasqueri left foster care, she went to live with her grandmother. She subsequently started writing rhymes. Frasqueri lived around East Harlem and the Lower East Side of New York City at the time.

Career

2010–2018: Early career and career beginnings

Princess Nokia
Princess Nokia performing in 2014

In 2010, Frasqueri recorded and released her first song, titled "Destiny", under the stage name Wavy Spice on her SoundCloud page, and later released the song on her YouTube channel in mid-2012. ..... She next released "YAYA", a song that chronicles her Taíno ancestry. She later released the singles "Vicki Gotti" and "Versace Hottie". Following the singles, Frasqueri changed her stage name to Princess Nokia, which she claimed was an alter ego, and introduced the character with the song "Nokia". On May 12, 2014, Frasqueri released her debut studio album, titled Metallic Butterfly, which debuted on Vice and SoundCloud. On September 8, 2017, she released her second studio album, 1992 Deluxe, an expanded version of her 2016 mixtape, 1992. It peaked at number 25 on the US Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart. NME listed it as the 32nd best album of 2017.

Nokia debuted a radio show on Apple's Beats 1 Radio on February 18, 2018. Episodes aired every other Sunday and allowed listeners to get acquainted with the inner workings of Nokia's mind. The show has a total of six episodes labeled "The Voices in My Head with Princess Nokia." In September 2018, she was chosen as one of the six ambassadors by Maison Margiela to promote their new fragrance, Mutiny. In December 2018, Nokia released a "remastered and expanded version" of the album Metallic Butterfly, which includes three new bonus tracks. That same year, she released a mixtape titled A Girl Cried Red. Stefanie Fernández of NPR deemed it an expression of Frasqueri's artistic and emotional versatility and praised how she "transcends them."

2019–present: Everything Sucks and Everything Is Beautiful

In 2019, Nokia had her debut performance as an actress in the independent film Angelfish. In September 2019, she released a song titled "Sugar Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T.)". It was described as "a bouncy, empowering bop built around dismissive lyrics about Nokia's enemies." In February 2020, Nokia released two albums: Everything Sucks and Everything Is Beautiful. Pitchfork described Everything Sucks as "locust swarm of angst, restless and frantic" and regarded Everything Is Beautiful as "warm and expansive" in comparison to the former. In March 2021, Nokia released a music video for the song, titled "It's Not My Fault". The single was released through Arista Records and marked the first one Nokia released through a major label.

In 2022, she voiced LaBrea, LaCienega's cousin in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.

Artistry

Nokia's musical style has been described as "experimental" and "eagerly floating between genres such as rap, soul, rock and house." She lists rappers MC Lyte and Queen Latifah, girl group TLC, as well as nu metal bands Korn and Slipknot as musical influences. Nokia also cites hardcore, punk, and rave cultures as influences for her performances.

Personal life

Frasqueri identifies as bisexual and has stated such in a past interview and has also talked about how growing up near the queer community of New York City was an important part of her life. The early stages of Princess Nokia's musical career began through performing at gay clubs, as she gained popularity among the gay nightlife scene. She also identifies as a gender non-conforming person and uses both they/them and she/her pronouns.

Frasqueri is a strong supporter of intersectional feminism, founding the Smart Girl Club with Milah Libin, a podcast where she discusses healthy living and urban feminism. She is a practitioner of Santería, and has shared her own experience with clairvoyance and spirituality that she infuses her music with.

In 2017, Frasqueri punched a male concertgoer at the University of Cambridge, who she accused of mouthing "dirty obscenities" at her. She later told the crowd that "that's what you do when a white boy disrespects you". Later that year, a video of a woman throwing hot soup in a man's face who was calling "a group of teenage boys" a racial slur whilst on a subway journey to Brooklyn surfaced. Frasqueri took responsibility for the incident, saying that "everybody on the train backed [her] up".

.....

Discography

Studio albums

Title Details Peak chart positions
US
Heat
Metallic Butterfly
  • Released: May 12, 2014
  • Label: Vice
  • Formats: Digital download, streaming
1992 Deluxe
  • Released: September 8, 2017
  • Label: Rough Trade
  • Formats: Digital download, streaming, vinyl
27
Everything Sucks
  • Released: February 26, 2020
  • Label: Platoon
  • Formats: Digital download, streaming
Everything Is Beautiful
  • Released: February 26, 2020
  • Label: Platoon
  • Formats: Digital download, streaming

Extended plays

Title Details
I Love You but This Is Goodbye
  • Released: March 14, 2023
  • Label: Arista
  • Formats: Digital download, streaming

Mixtapes

  • Honeysuckle (2015, as Destiny)
  • 1992 (2016)
  • A Girl Cried Red (2018)

Singles

As lead artist

Title Year Album
"G.O.A.T." 2017 1992 Deluxe
"Tomboy"
"Brujas"
"Kitana"
"Sugar Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T.)" 2019 Everything Is Beautiful
"Balenciaga" Everything Sucks
"Green Eggs & Ham" Everything Is Beautiful
"Practice" 2020 Everything Sucks
"I Like Him"
"It's Not My Fault" 2021 Non-album singles
"Boys Are From Mars"
(featuring Yung Baby Tate)
"No Effort" 2022
"Diva"
"Closure" 2023 I Love You but This Is Goodbye
"Complicated"
"Lo Siento"

As featured artist

Title Year Peak chart positions Certification Album
US CAN IRE NZ Hot UK WW
"Puerto Rican Judo"
(with Ratking)
2014 So It Goes
"Wish You Would"
(with Mykki Blanco)
Spring/Summer 2014
"Steep Tech"
(with Ratking)
2015 700-Fill
"Take Off"
(with Branko)
ATLAS
"The Last of the Real Ones"
(with Fall Out Boy)
2017 Mania
"Outro"
(with K. Michelle)
Kimberly: The People I Used to Know
"Spit"
(with Show Me the Body)
Corpus I
"Fanta"
(with Josh Forehead)
Summer 2014
"Lmk_What's Really Good Remix_ feat_Princess Nokia_Junglepussy_Cupcakke_Ms. Boogie_100 Bpm"
(with Kelela, Junglepussy, cupcakKe, and Ms. Boogie)
2018 Take Me A_Part, The Remixes
"Dame Aquí"
(with Wiki)
2019 Oofie
"Get Paid"
(with Aluna and Jada Kingdom)
2020 Renaissance
"Cynthia"
(with Tony Seltzer and A. Lau)
Avenues
"Madness"
(with Silverstein)
A Beautiful Place to Drown
"Slumber Party"
(with Ashnikko)
2021 91 57 30 70 174
  • MC: Gold
Demidevil

Other certified songs

Title Year Certification Album
"I Like Him" 2020 Everything Sucks

Awards and nominations

Award Year Category Work Result Ref.
Sweden GAFFA Awards 2018 Best Foreign New Act Herself Nominated
The A2IM Libera Awards Breakthrough Artist Won

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Princess Nokia para niños

  • LGBT culture in New York City
  • List of LGBT people from New York City
  • Nuyorican
  • Puerto Ricans in New York City
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