photo by stolenbesos
Kiki Kramer proudly calls herself a “Wannabe Pop Star”, a title steeped in irony and cheeky self-deprecation. “I think the only way to originality is to be an amalgamation of your influences,” she says, as if being a human mood board is a high art form (it kind of is). Growing up in the quietude of Palo Alto, California, Kiki was one of those Tumblr girls with starry eyes and a mouse-click addiction. Her world was drenched in early 2010s digital aesthetics—Melanie Martinez’s eerie lullabies, Lana Del Rey’s melancholic glamour, Marina and the Diamonds’ DIY sparkle. But Kiki’s not just regurgitating internet nostalgia, her vision is filtered through her own weird and wonderful lens.
The lens? Shaped by her mom, artist Sarah Delson, whose “creepy-cute” oeuvre often included baby dolls and new-age imagery seen through an unapologetically feminine lens. Kiki was set to follow in her footsteps. After leaving New York City as a child, she began writing music in high school while studying acting. She returned to the city in 2018 and the club scene became her real-life Tumblr dashboard, a place where glittering socialites and sweaty DJ sets made existence feel irresistibly performative and she fit right in. Like many New Yorkers, Kiki’s influences are eclectic: anime, kawaii fashion, BDSM, horror films, astrology, and a playlist that swings wildly between Philip Glass and Fiona Apple. It’s a mixture that could easily be messy, but in her hands, it became magnetic. In her music, she leans into the hyper-referential nature of the internet generation, treating artistry like a remix competition that she happens to be a natural at.
photo by Bousso Diop
During COVID, Kiki hit pause on her NYU education and hit play on her music career. She started organizing and hosting parties, hustling her way into the nightlife scene, and eventually caught the attention of Suretone Entertainment. This gave her the opportunity to leap into her pop star fantasy with full force. Her debut single, “Relevant,” dropped on October 25th. The pop track playfully critiques social media fame while secretly wanting a little of it. Lyrically, she creates a dizzying tension between sincerity and irony. The song’s dark, infectious vibe is matched by a music video that’s perfectly Kiki: a pink rococo fever dream with pentagrams, tarot cards, and an albino goat. Directed by Marc Klasfield (who has collaborated with Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, and Katy Perry), it’s like Marie Antoinette if she discovered Hot Topic and a Ouija board.
With 18k monthly Spotify listeners and 133k YouTube views, Kiki is carving out her place in a swirling new era of pop music. Her sound and aesthetic feel like a wink and a nudge to a generation glued to the infinite scroll. For Kiki, success isn’t just standing out—it’s about building a world so compelling, you can’t help but dive in, goat and all.
Kiki Kramer’s first EP is set to be released in 2025. You can watch the music video for “Relevant” here: