BABii announces new album ‘DareDeviil2000’

Experimental pop artist BABii is ‘psyched’ to announce the arrival of her third studio album, ‘DareDeviil2000’, set to be released via Boxset Recordings on October 11.

Having already unveiled the album’s first single ‘J0YR1D3’, the announcement comes with the release of a new single ‘Scarface’, produced in collaboration with Pholo, Warpstr and Iglooghost. On the track, BABii continues to push the boat out with leftfield dance stylings that takes cues from grime while retaining the artist’s edgy pop appeal.

The track is not just musically adventurous but narratively too, with the Margate-based producer and multi-disciplinary artist drawing from personal experience to tell the story of her late father’s betrayal of his own father in abandoning a promising career as an ice hockey player and subsequently, in the artist’s own words, “going off the rails.”

“Did I hurt you?” sings BABii above a heavy bassline, as she assumes the role of her father.

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This excavation of her background and use of personas is typical of the artist and the album as a whole. While previously she has explored her nomadic childhood between Kent and Canada and reconnecting with her estranged mother through a fantastical lens, ‘DareDeviil2000’ will bring to life a fictional world resembling Dante’s Inferno. Nevaworld, this imagined hellscape, is filled with monsters, goblins, crooks and hooligans, each attached to a song along with a corresponding sin (‘Scarface’ being about betrayal). As an ensemble, the project aims to pose questions about the societal conditions that push people to transgress.

Describing the album on Instagram, BABii says: “DareDeviil2000 is my reflection on Hell and the villains it engulfs. As I’ve journeyed through this realm, creating this record and embodying these characters, I’ve found myself exploring how villains often emerge from environments akin to a personal hell, where the harsh realities of their existence fracture their moral compass as a means to survive.”

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With many creative strings to her bow, BABii’s previous album ‘MiiRROR’ (2021), was accompanied by a book, an ARG and a live A/V show, while her debut album ‘HiiDE’ (2019) established the artist’s characteristic juxtaposition of sweet-sounding, melodic vocals with dark and emotive lyrics. Although storytelling has always been at the heart of her productions, BABii has become increasingly daring over time, delving deeper into her own vulnerabilities and pushing her concepts further into the abstract.

‘DareDeviil2000’ promises to be another exciting project that delicately places itself at the intersection of fantasy and reality by evoking a world that doesn’t exist, to reflect on the one that does.

Listen to 'Scarface' and check out the album artwork and tracklist below. Pre-order ‘DareDeviil2000’ here.

Meena Sears is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram

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Tracklist: 1. Static 2. J0YR1D3 3. Sweet Tooth 4. Tra$$$her 5. XL Bully ft. Grove 6. Backrooms at 8.55pm 7. Bric-a-Brac 8. The Law of Club & Fang 9. Vyper Pro 10. Theft Act 1968 11. M25 12. Scarface