Destiny Nicole Frasqueri[13](born June 14, 1992),[14]known professionally asPrincess Nokia, is an American rapper and songwriter. She[a]released her debut studio album,Metallic Butterfly,[15]in 2014, followed by the 2015 mixtapeHoneysuckle.[16]As Princess Nokia, she rose to prominence for her 2017 studio album1992 Deluxe.[17]She released another mixtape, titledA Girl Cried Red,[18]in 2018, followed by the release of two studio albums,Everything SucksandEverything Is Beautiful, in 2020.[19]
Frasqueri identifies as Afro-Indigenous[20] and is of Puerto Rican descent.[21][22] When Frasqueri was ten, she lost her mother to AIDS.[23] Between the ages of nine and sixteen, she was in foster care, during which her foster mother was physically abusive.[23] After Frasqueri left foster care, she went to live with her grandmother.[24][23] She subsequently started writing rhymes.[25]Frasqueri lived around East Harlem and the Lower East Side of New York City at the time.[25]
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. Subsequently, she released her second song, titled "Bitch I'm Posh".[26][25][27] She next released "YAYA", a song that chronicles her Taínoancestry.[28] She later released the singles "Vicki Gotti" and "Versace Hottie".[28] Following the singles, Frasqueri changed her stage name to Princess Nokia, which she claimed was an alter ego,[29] and introduced the character with the song "Nokia".[26] The name was inspired by the brand of the Obama phone she was eligible for as a low-income earner under the Lifeline Program.[30] On May 12, 2014, Frasqueri released her debut studio album, titled Metallic Butterfly, which debuted on Vice and SoundCloud.[31] On September 8, 2017, she released her second studio album, 1992 Deluxe,[32][33] an expanded version of her 2016 mixtape, 1992.[34] It peaked at number 25 on the US Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart.[35]NME listed it as the 32nd best album of 2017.[36]
Nokia debuted a radio show on Apple's Beats 1 Radio on February 18, 2018.[37] 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."[38]In September 2018, she was chosen as one of the six ambassadors by Maison Margiela to promote their new fragrance, Mutiny.[39] In December 2018, Nokia released a "remastered and expanded version" of the album Metallic Butterfly, which includes three new bonus tracks.[9] That same year, she released a mixtape titled A Girl Cried Red.[40] Stefanie Fernández of NPR deemed it an expression of Frasqueri's artistic and emotional versatility and praised how she "transcends them."[41]
2019-present: Everything Sucks And Everything is Beautiful
In 2019, Nokia had her debut performance as an actress in the independent film Angelfish.[42][43]In September 2019, she released a song titled "Sugar Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T.)".[44] It was described as "a bouncy, empowering bop built around dismissive lyrics about Nokia's enemies."[45] In February 2020, Nokia released two albums: Everything Sucks and Everything Is Beautiful.[46]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.[47] 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.[48]
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