Image Courtesy of Sacred Bull Records.
Los Angeles-born Nigerian-American singer-songwriter and visual artist Annahstasia Enuke is reshaping the landscape of modern music, weaving together genres and diving deep into themes of identity, power, and self-expression. Surrounded since childhood by the eclectic melodies from her uncle’s iPod, her connection to music has always been intimate and profound. Though her artistry has journeyed across many styles, she has now found a clear, authentic voice, unveiling her most honest and focused work yet. Her debut album Tether stands as a luminous, introspective chapter, a liberating expression of self through sound.
To SLEEK, Annahstasia opens up about her artistic evolution, the influence of cinema on her storytelling, and how her Nigerian-American heritage informs her redefinition of folk music.
SLEEK: Let’s start with your beginnings. How did growing up in LA and exploring music through your uncle’s iPod as a young child shape you as an artist?
A: It definitely broadened my musical taste and laid the groundwork for my personal exploration into music. That early exposure to so many genres helped me understand the vast possibilities of sound and expression, which I continue to draw from.
Image Courtesy of Sacred Bull Records.
S: You’ve mentioned approaching your music and life through a “cinematic lens.” Can you explain how that manifests in your songwriting or performance, maybe through specific scenes or films?
A: For me, it’s not about specific references but more about fluency with the language of cinema. I’ve learned how to frame a story, what to draw attention to, and how to guide an audience’s focus, all tools that seeped into my subconscious and now shape how I craft my music.
S: Your sound has evolved notably between Sacred Bull, Revival, and Surface Tension. Can you walk us through that journey?
A: As an artist you are constantly excavating yourself, becoming more and more refined. Closer and closer to what feels true. Until eventually the goal post moves and the truth changes. Sacred Bull was a chaotic mixture of everything I loved at the time, packed into one overwhelming project. It was squishing all my references into one, it was everything all at ones, everywhere, just noise everywhere. With Revival, it started a new approach to the process for me, a process of a song-oriented, live band practice. But a lingering shyness within me still held me back. By Surface Tension, years later, I had refined my approach, my taste. I had pinpointed a genre angle from which to explore the themes of my work. It paved a way into a level of freedom and comfort allowing me to focus on semi-improvisational, one-take recordings. It’s all been leading to Tether, which feels like the truest expression of myself so far.
"When you exist in a body that’s inherently politicized, the personal and political are intertwined."
S: You’ve been described as having a “superhero mode” voice on stage. How do you channel that energy, how does it differ from your day-to-day self?
A: Is that really what people are saying? [laughs] That’s just my natural vocal range! Performing can be draining, though, so I try to stay nourished, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Offstage, I’m much lighter and more nonchalant on the surface, but anyone who knows me well recognizes that I carry a quiet intensity, a gravity that’s hard to ignore. But that profound weight, I try to keep it tucked away while standing in line at a coffee shop. Some things need to stay light.
S: Your song “Power” tackles heavy themes: femininity, sovereignty, and trauma. How do you balance the personal and political in your songwriting?
A: When you exist in a body that’s inherently politicized, the personal and political are intertwined. For me, it’s about navigating the tension between what is authentically “me” and what’s projected onto me. To ignore it would be not only irresponsible as an artist but also very delusional. So I think the balance more so lies in determining what is “you” and what is projected onto the body that carries the “you”. Power is about reclaiming that narrative and finding sovereignty amidst those negotiations.
Image Courtesy of Sacred Bull Records.
S: You’ve spoken about „channeling“ in your creative process. What does that look like for you?Do you have rituals or habits you turn to to invite that energy?
A: Channeling is to me about staying open to inspiration, wherever it comes from. Some call it the muses, others say it’s ancestral or universal. Reaching for that inspiration and grasping it, I just know it’s a force that charges you, feeling like electricity, liquid silk on my skin. Reaching that state requires living fully and avoiding apathy and numbness. It requires staying raw to the world, but also finding time to rest and recharge, to be fully present, it’s very very tiring. Cultivating time to reset, rest, be alone all are very necessary to sort through all the data.
S: In Revival you’ve positioned folk music as a communal and honest expression. How has your Nigerian-American heritage influenced your approach to expand that genre?
A: Growing up as a third-culture kid, I never felt fully at home in any one identity. Always outside of cultural markers. Not quite black, not quite African, definitely not white, barely American. Folk music became a space where I could connect the dots between my West African roots, early American sounds, and even Polish polka rhythms as well as modern political themes. A space where I can be all of me, folk music gave me room to express every nuance of my makeup in a truly rooted sense. It feels honest and authentic. I use it to uncover more parts of myself and my heritage and the global culture we are fostering through the internet.
Image Courtesy of Sacred Bull Records.
S: Finally, with you debut album Tether and your genre-spanning projects behind you, what’s next?
A: I’m thinking a lot about sustainability and justice, how to address hard truths through music without making it a burden. Remaining a sense of freedom in all of it. Joy is a big focus for me now, too, not as escapism but as an act of resistance. I want to explore what joy looks like for me in balance with everything else.
Get your tickets for her upcoming tour here.