Words by Lucy Young
This week we hone in on SPIDER, a Nigerian-Catholic producer, songwriter and creator from Dublin, edging closer and closer towards her first big break.
SPIDER is the new remorselessly unfiltered creator crashing onto the urban grunge-pop scene. Previously performing under the alias of Jenn, SPIDER is a self-taught producer and songwriter, originally from the heart of Tallaght, Dublin. While a lot of commentary writers have compared her tracks to mid-2010 pop icons, like Halsey and Lorde, we’d compare her sound to the likes of the noughties group Lash and contemporary band Nasty Cherry.
SPIDER has made her metaphors intentional, but the underlying rhetoric remains semantically blurred. Growing up in a Nigerian-Catholic household, there is mention of ‘original sin’ on ‘Water Sign’, a track from her 2021 debut EP, C.O.A. It’s this song that indicates the contradiction of homegrown religious influence and worship, against her own beliefs in astrology and the universe. This is something she discussed in a 2019 interview: “I was always so intrigued by the thought that you can’t control the universe, or the stars and how it affects you just like you can’t control other people, your feelings about them or even how they feel about you”.
It is her upbringing and personal direction that provides her music with layers of depth to dig through if the listener chooses to take the time. With lyrics like, “Age of Aquarius get with it”, “He’s forgetting I’m a Scorpio”, and “Do I move like a water sign?”, her writing draws upon obvious influences that are definitely still relevant in online discourse, but it is the silent backlash against predetermined divinity that makes her sound that much more empowered.
SPIDER’s sound is new age grunge – something that online communities have been craving since the revival of The 1975 and the reemergence of some 2000’s icons – Alexis Chung, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Whilst we initially hear murky electric riffs and a hearty 4/4 drum beat, Spider is also laying down a layer of electric synths to tie the final product together, synthesising varying sounds of the ages into something that listeners love.
SPIDER is clearly on the rise towards becoming an archetype for courage and intelligence amongst her young female audience, as the name suggests in West African culture. We’re excited to see how she moves with the ebbs and flows of the music industry, and we’re hoping she gets her big break at the next few gigs she has lined up back in Dublin, with an appearance at The Great Escape festival also pencilled in for May 2023.