“Blak excellence,” Miss Kaninna’s bio on social media reads, which is a pretty good summation of the fledgling artist.
The proud Yorta Yorta, Kalkadoon, and Yirendali woman is one of the artists making Australian R&B one of the most exciting scenes in the country right now.
She’s been impressing on the festival circuit, including at Party In The Paddock, MONA FOMA, and A Festival Called PANAMA, and her performance at the latter even led creative director Tim Carroll to claim, “I have never heard the crowd scream so loud in adoration for an artist.”
And that was all done with no official music to her name; talk about preternatural talent.
Her debut single, the excellently-titled “Blak Britney”, finally dropped at the beginning of the month, and its captivating energy is all the proof anyone needs that those electric festival slots were no fluke.
The self-described “anti-establishment anthem” is all fire and ferocious energy, effortlessly blending pop, rap and R&B together into Miss Kaninna’s stylised concoction.
She recalls the sleek power of Angel Haze on the track, although Miss Kaninna was more enamoured by the concept of the “Black Barbie” character in rap, like Nicki Minaj, while she was making her debut.
“”Blak Britney” is a fuck you to the government – a call of empowerment to Blak women. I’m so sick of not being represented in the music scene here in so-called “Australia”. Fuck the government and fuck the police,” she says of the track, not mincing her words.
Already a festival favourite who counts Barkaa among her admirers, Miss Kaninna is going nowhere. It feels like Blak women in this country are about to be represented at the very highest level, and it’ll be fascinating to hear what she can achieve on a full-length release.
If you want to see what all the fuss is about Miss Kaninna’s live performances, she’ll be performing at Treaty Day Out in Naarm/Melbourne on June 3rd (more information here).
Miss Kaninna’s “Blak Britney” is out now via Soul Has No Tempo.
