Arriving at the Drake Underground, which is west of Toronto’s downtown core, you may be quick to think that you’ve been dropped off at the wrong place. Peaking through the massive, squeaky-clean windows, you’d be greeted with neatly lined tables basking in a golden glow, an atmosphere that seems wildly unfitting for an EDM show. Hidden underneath this facade of luxury, tucked behind two double doors and a winding staircase, guarded by a couple of bouncers, is where the real magic happens.
From the moment you finally step into the smaller venue space, one that's no bigger than your local college bar, you’ll finally begin to feel as if you’re in the right place. You can immediately tell that you’ve entered the beginning of a Ninajirachi show.
Doing a once-over across the crowd, you’ll notice right away that half the attendees are sporting various merch pieces from her debut album ‘I Love My Computer’, with the white and blue designs boldly standing out against the darker-toned streetwear outfits, ones that seem to mimic Nina’s own wardrobe. There was also the rich presence of rave culture sneaking through the cracks as well, with people adorned in kandi up to their elbows, covered in neon colours, and fashioning various fun hats- including some light-up bunny ones which somewhat stole the show.
Usually, the swag radiating off of these fans would make me nervous, as they all seem so confident in their own skin, but Ninajirachi’s crowd was quick to integrate me into their little community. Everyone seemed to have a story to share, using that as a way to connect with the people around them. One guy told me that he had been camping out in the venue bathroom for an hour, getting caught by a bouncer only ten minutes before doors opened and paying whatever cash he had to secure himself a spot for the show.
Another person had told me that she had met Nina through a mutual friend years ago on a rooftop in NYC, only getting into her music after the experience. Shockingly, a few people even recognized me from other shows in the city, specifically Porter Robinson’s DJ set from earlier in the summer. All these interactions and anecdotes helped to break the ice of the night, creating this comfortable atmosphere, reminding me that we were all here for the same reason: to enjoy good music.
[ Isla Den Photo via Instagram ]
As you walked down onto the floor, you’d find there was already music pulsating throughout the venue. Usually, I would attribute this to a pre-show playlist, but as I walked closer to the stage, I found we were getting a pre-show DJ set instead. Cloaked in a black baseball cap, the DJ, whom I now recognize as Mira from the Montreal-based opening duo Isla Den, had decided to take the stage earlier than her bandmate, spinning a good mix of tracks to get the crowd instantly engaged rather than having them stand around on their phones for forty-five minutes. A personal highlight from Mira’s mini-set would be her remix of Addison Rae’s ‘Diet Pepsi’, with the song choice inspiring universal unity, with everyone taking the time to pause and sing along.
Around thirty minutes later, Mira was joined on stage by her bandmate Ellie, fully completing the Isla Den line-up. Rather than the two both working the deck Frost Children style, Ellie left the mixing to Mira, choosing to pick up a microphone instead. The two then launched into a set filled with their own songs, each one having this overarching idea of EDM- and no, I don’t mean ‘Electronic Dance Music’, I mean ‘Emotional Dance Music’, a term Isla Den coined to describe their genre. Despite being backed by a digitally charged beat, lyrically, Isla Den’s songs can get vulnerable, as if they’re cracking themselves open for the world to see.
You can check out their latest project, 'Kiss The Light' HERE.
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The following act was Sinela, another Montreal-based artist who’s opened for Ninajirachi before. She classifies herself as a DIY Popstar and EDM Lover, both sentiments being heavily prevalent within her performance. Unlike the other sets from the night, Sinela made sure she was taking centre stage, both physically and metaphorically. Rather than placing herself towards the back, behind the makeshift DJ booth, she pushed herself forward, often being inches away from the crowd. Sinela’s close proximity helped to elevate her performance, as you could feel her energy, emotion, and passion completely radiating off of her. Plus, her closeness gave the first few rows a chance to admire her outfit, a little Y2K number adorned with unique jewelry pieces, such as a chunky resin ring, and a pink bracelet that resembled an iPod nano, very chic.
A decent chunk of her setlist was unreleased tracks, some of which I'm sure we’ll see on her upcoming dance album. My personal favourite of the night was ‘Secret Girlfriend’, which Sinela introduced with a short story about her last relationship with a finance bro. Although he was taking Sinela on these lavish dates, he was also cheating on his girlfriend with her, with Sinela being unaware she even existed until the girlfriend messaged her. Despite the twisted origins behind ‘Secret Girlfriend’, the song is such a fun time, and with the easy to learn chorus, I could start to hear the crowd start to contribute as well, quietly singing along.
Sinela seems to feed off this crowd work, as multiple times she called upon the crowd to boost her energy throughout the night. The first instance was midway through her set, when Sinela asked everyone to join her in a little bit of a dance break. She completely set her microphone off to the side, not allowing any distractions, before she completely let go, dancing around with no care in the world. It was a very freeing moment, allowing the crowd to shake out their jitters and anxiety, so they too could enjoy the rest of the night. Following that was her call and response on ‘Take It Or Leave It’. In all fairness, Toronto fumbled this big time with the crowd not quite understanding the timing until the song was almost over. The situation was met with a lot of giggles, but hey, we tried our best.
Finally, at the end of her set, Sinela asked if we could clear a small space in the crowd for her to come down and dance with us. It seemed as if the crowd was a little starstruck, with a good chunk of the crowd staring in awe, while others struggled with the dilemma of whether to record this special moment or close their eyes and completely lose themselves to the music. Regardless of what you chose, Sinella’s choice to come into the crowd was the perfect way to close off a set, as it effectively brings everyone together for one last hurrah.
As Sinela gave her closing remarks, I wished that she had just a bit more time to spend with us that night, as she really is a magical performer.
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You knew it was time for Australian Producer and DJ, Ninajirachi, the star of the show, to take the stage once the houselights dimmed and the ones on the stage began to flicker. Across the venue, we began to hear this soft electronic hum, one that made you feel as if you were being sucked completely into a computer's motherboard. After a brief moment of anticipation, the hum picked up, and Ninajirachi’s custom introductory track began to play. For a moment, it became easy to believe that you were nothing more than a little digital character within Ninajirachi’s laptop, with us waiting in the crowd starting to feel more like we were waiting for Nina to log into her account with the iconic “4562” passcode. Every aspect of this intro was so fitting considering the title and aesthetics of her newest album, I Love My Computer.
Knowing that Nina was going to open with ‘London Song’, I was patiently waiting for my chance to go “You know where I’ve never been?”, a reference to the song's opening lyric “I’ve never been to London”. However, Ninajirachi beat me to the chase, but with a twist. Before walking out to the stage, she loudly announced, “I’ve never been to Toronto”, putting a sweet spin on the original lyrics to match the city. The crowd, as on cue, went absolutely crazy, both at the mention of their city and at the sight of Ninajirachi now standing only a few feet away from them.
From the second Ninajirachi walked onto the stage, you could sense her bubbling energy. Rather than carrying nonchalance, something I’ve seen with a lot of modern artists, Nina was all smiles, completely geared up and ready for the night. The crowd picked up on this immediately, quickly forming this push and pull of energy. Whatever the crowd was giving out, Nina would return tenfold, and that same cycle was repeated for the rest of the night. Strangely, it made the entire venue feel far more intimate, as if the crowd wasn’t merely bystanders in a larger production, but an equally important piece of the show.
Following ‘London Song’, Ninajirachi moved to playing a string of tracks off her 2024 album girl EDM (disc 1). She kicked off with ‘Ninacamina’, a collaborative track between Ninajirachi herself and Izzy Camina, before transitioning into ‘Undo U’. Unsurprisingly, ‘Undo U’ seemed to light up the entire venue, from the back wall near the bar to where Nina stood behind the DJ booth. Everyone was up off their feet, pointing towards Nina, and Nina back out to us, every single soul in the venue yelling the lyrics “I know something that could undo you!”.
After wrapping up the first girl EDM section with ‘Hand on My Heart’, Ninajirachi launched into ‘iPod Touch’, her most popular track off I Love My Computer, garnering 2.6 million Spotify streams since its release back in August. Instantly, the crowd was locked in, reciting the lyrics “It sounds like I've got a song that nobody knows,
And I heard it in a post when I was twelve years old”, like its modern-day scripture. In all honesty, considering Ninajirachi’s fanbase is filled with the chronically online and those raised on the niche corners of the internet, ‘iPod Touch’ basically is scripture, with the track's lyrics detailing the nostalgic and common experience of discovering EDM as a teenager.
Ninajirachi then took some time to play some of her collaborative tracks, those being ones she’s been featured on or remixed. ‘Somebody Pay Nina’ came first, and shockingly had at least the front part of the crowd somewhat quiet, which was shocking considering the simple lyrics within the chorus. Personally, I thought this little addition was so fun, especially as the beat falls on the groovier side, allowing for more swaying compared to jumping. Directly beside me, a girl was luckily picking up the crowd's slack, screaming along and hyping up Nina throughout the entirety of the song (and throughout the entire set). Nina seemed extra appreciative of this, pointing towards the girl in the crowd and dancing along with her in this sweet moment of recognition.
‘perfect self’, a far more electrically charged song, brought the energy back to the crowd, everyone returning to their bouncing and cheering, with the chant of “Nina, Nina, Nina!” slowly picking up between every other instrumental break, replacing the usual “Aye, Aye, Aye!” I see used more often in male-dominated crowds. To close off the collaborative track section, Nina played her remix of ‘Shoninyokkyu’, coming down towards the crowd to wave to us, give a couple of highfives, and even take a trading card of sorts that she would wind up signing later on during the set, before moving back behind the booth to bring us into ‘CSIRAC’. Named after the first computer to play music, ‘CSIRAC’ captures that concept through its production, reimagining how that would play out in an EDM format.
There’s a specific moment in ‘CSIRAC’ right before the drop where everything pauses for a moment, and I was thoroughly curious about how it would translate live. Safe to say, my expectations were far exceeded. It seemed as if everyone was on the same wavelength, falling nearly silent before coming together to say “Then came the noise”, before going absolutely berserk on the drop. I’m sure if we hadn’t been in the basement, we would have felt the floor shaking from the sheer amount of chaos we were bringing.
‘girl EDM’ came next, allowing for this overwhelming energy to keep flowing. It was during this track that the crowd picked up the silly habit of singing along to the production, making the beeps and boops into lyrics. This behaviour continued throughout the night, sending Nina into fits of giggles multiple times over how absurd it must have sounded. Personally, I’d say there’s a little bit of pride that comes from knowing your fans are so engrossed with your music that they can sing your production, which goes to show how popular your song really is.
‘It’s You’ off I Love My Computer brought us right to ‘Fuck My Computer’, a track I consider to be the thesis of the album, and Ninajirachi’s approach to her music in general. Even though the lyrics are rather crude and would probably be off-putting to the average person, nothing was stopping the entire crowd from screaming “I want to fuck my computer, ‘cuz no one in the world knows me better” loud and proud. Honestly, I don’t think anything will ever come close to replicating that experience. As someone who is deeply attached to my current laptop, so much so that she’s duct-taped together, I understand Nina’s sentiment completely.
‘Fuck My Computer’ seemed to blare through the speakers for what felt like a lifetime. It seemed as if the chorus kept coming around with Nina continuously giving us a “pick it up” hand motion, drawing more and more from the crowd each time. Just when I thought we were about to continue, as the track was getting remixed and further removed from its original production, I heard a familiar producer tag. “Frost Children Bitch” rang out throughout the venue, and my jaw, quite literally, fell to the floor. It was only after the fact that I realized that Nina was not mixing a Frost Children track into her setlist on a whim, but instead was playing a Frost Children remix of ‘Fuck My Computer’. For some people, this meant nothing, but for me and the guy in front of me who shared equal excitement, this was worlds colliding. I cannot wait for this remix to hit SoundCloud.
Ninajirachi then briefly played ‘Wayside’ before moving into ‘Infohazard,’ where again, the crowd was desperate to land those high “Oh’s” that made us all sound like chipmunks. Outside of that, everyone was completely ready for what ‘Infohazard’ was about to bring, so much so that I’m so close to calling it the most anticipated song of the night, though I believe a song later in the setlist holds that title. Moving away from ‘Infohazard’s theatrical and near-dramatic atmosphere, Nina threw on ‘Ice u out’, a track that sonically feels less like a statement piece. From this song, I can vividly remember Nina doing these wildly dramatic on-beat claps during “I want to be with you”. She did this style of claps multiple times throughout the night, but it was here where the memory really stuck, and I’ll never be able to listen to ‘Ice u out’ without thinking of those darn claps.
‘Angel Music’ was up next, another clear crowd favourite from how loud they were. This track was one of the first Ninajirachi songs I stumbled across after hearing I Love My Computer in full. Maybe it’s the partnership with MGNA Crrrta, another electropop duo, or the fact that the entire song reminds me of blurry digicam flash photos taken in the bathroom of a club, but ‘Angel Music’ is a song that screams “For the girls” to me. It appears as if I'm not the only one who holds this opinion, either, as when I did a quick sweep of the crowd, it was all the femme presenting people in their stunning outfits that were giving their all to Nina, ensuring that not a drop of their adrenaline was going to waste.
The three-track run of ‘Battery Death’, ‘SHYPOP’, and ‘Prosperity’ is a complete blur to me. I cannot remember much outside of flashing lights, feeling the drums pound in my chest, and dancing so hard to the point I knew my body would be aching the next morning. It’s not often that I lose all inhibitions like this, as it’s a state that needs to be drawn out of me, but Nina’s performance managed to do it. Not just to me, though, I could see and feel other people experiencing varying levels of the same emotion I was. With modern-day concerts becoming more and more competitive, with everyone shoving each other for barricades to the point of crowd crush, or trying so hard to get an artist's attention just to share the five-second clip on social media, it’s refreshing to enter a space where it's clear everyone is there to dance and actually enjoy the music being performed.
I thank Ninajirachi herself for cultivating a space like this as well. As I mentioned earlier, she has this grand push and pull with her fans, feeding off each other's energy. With her being so receptive to every last soul in the venue, whether that be waving, pointing to those even far in the back, or remembering faces from those in Montreal the night before, to parting with us as if she’s her own biggest fan, it helps to remove the ‘competitive’ barrier, building this healthy environment. Her own enjoyment in performing encourages those to let go, be unashamed, and get groovy with it.
The penultimate song on the setlist was ‘Delete’. I had no clue the absolute chokehold that this track had on Ninajirachi fans, and I was completely blown away by how quickly everyone tuned in to the lyrics, the crowd being the loudest it had been all night. Earlier, Nina had already thanked us for being the city that knew the most lyrics, but Toronto really doubled down here, proving that we were deserving of that title. With ‘Delete’ being in my personal top three on I Love My Computer, my heart was warmed by the passion the crowd was putting into their performance, and it isn’t even my song! Apparently, all 200 people in the sold-out venue can resonate with Nina’s lyrics of crushing in the digital age, with everyone having posted that perfectly curated story in a moment of online desperation, just in the hopes that a specific person would see it.
To finish off the night, Ninajirachi played ‘All I Am’, which to me is the perfect set closer. It’s difficult to put into words everything that happened within those last three minutes, as ‘All I Am’ is such a powerful song. The crowd has their opportunity for participation through the “Eh’s” within the song, something that we had been practicing before Nina even stepped on stage that night. Ninajirachi herself also gets to have this main character moment. I know that term usually has a negative connotation behind it, but when you’re the writer, producer, and performer of such a legendary track, I could not imagine describing you in any other way. Matching the crowd one last time, Nina gave her all to us, leaving nothing out on the stage.
If I had the opportunity to transfer my memories directly to this document, I’m sure I could articulate the cinematic experience that is ‘All I Am’ Live, but I guess you’ll just need to see Ninajirachi live for yourselves.
As all artists do, Ninajirachi left the stage for just under two minutes before entering back for an encore. Unlike other artists, however, Nina admitted that she didn’t have a real encore planned for this tour, so she would just be replaying one of the previous tracks. To officially close her set, Nina brought back ‘iPod Touch’, which felt so fitting for the encore. With ‘iPod Touch’ coming to an end, Ninajirachi moved to the front of the stage to give her final goodbyes, telling Toronto how special the show had been. You could see her hesitating to walk off the stage as the crowd adorned her with cheers and chants, sending all their love her way.
It didn’t take long for the venue to clear out, with nobody having a reason to stay after Ninajirachi was finished. Spilling out onto the street, small pockets of people began to form, some friends, some strangers, but everyone simply wanting to discuss the show they had just seen. People passed around cigarettes, joints, and traded the last of their kandi while waiting for streetcars and Ubers, the groups dwindling by the second. This wasn’t a goodbye, however, more like a see you later, or catch you at the next show, as I find it hard to believe anyone could leave a Ninajirachi show without immediately getting the itch to see her live again.
GET THE REMAINING TICKETS FOR NINAJIRACHI’S “I LOVE MY COMPUTER” TOUR HERE.
STREAM I LOVE MY COMPUTER HERE.
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