As the brand-new song from the unmatched Ashnikko, “Cheerleader” contrasts graphic, violent visuals with the clichéd idea of the ideal attractive, popular, and picture-perfect cheerleader to highlight the absurdity of contemporary beauty standards. The song is a siren song that transforms the famous cheer from Bring It On’s opening sequence in the early 2000s into a critique of our society’s fixation with perfection. A sense of danger and malevolence is added to the brief but devastating music by the single’s eerie opening mix of warped vocalizations, synths, and percussion. Ashnikko doesn’t take long to describe her situation of having to get back up after being knocked down in order to maintain a facade.
The instrumentation takes an unpleasant turn in the pre-chorus when she confesses that she must “Feed the beast unbroken dreams.” The ridiculously catchy chorus takes aim at the sneering, judgmental entities that comprise the status quo and the products they promote in both society and the industry. Ashnikko puts a stop to those who wish to minimize her and her abilities with lyrics such as “Honey, I’m the lead role, you don’t even feature” and “Hate me ’cause I’m beautiful, bitch, I don’t like you either.” This flawless cheerleader is being twisted into a horror. I truly do feel that pressure to be fuckable in order to be commercially successful, and that’s what it’s commenting on,” says Ashnikko. It’s really worn out and predictable. The carnal portion of my brain still shouts, ‘You have to be fuckable to sell this music, bitch!’ no matter how much reasoning I’ve built up in my head. I feel like I have actual automobile exhaust in my brain, and it’s depleting my spirit.”
English