Before Ikkimel’s success: Now previously unknown song snippets are appearing – soft pop instead of hard rap.
Ikkimel has become an integral part of the German rap scene. It has now become known that she had been releasing songs under pseudonyms a few years before her success with her chosen stage name.
Even before he was a well-known artist name in the business
For many people, Ikkimel came out of nowhere and shook up the German rap and pop world. Her lyrics are raw, provocative and more honest than is socially acceptable. So it was obvious that she would hit the scene straight away. In the meantime, more and more songs, snippets and videos are being published, which make it clear that her first single under her stage name Ikkimel was not her first work.
A few years before that, she had released music under various pseudonyms that, on the one hand, reflected today’s Ikkimel and, on the other hand, revealed a completely different version that was also softer.
Pseudonyms and other style
The now 28-year-old had to find herself first before the unmistakable Ikkimel style of today developed: direct, provocative and unadorned. And as we all know, the only way to do that is to try it out. Her initial works sound quieter, more melodic and lean more towards pop ballads. This also applies to the track “One Last Summer”, which seems to be about depression.
Editorial recommendations
Recently, more and more snippets of previously unknown songs from her early creative phase have been appearing – for this the Berliner used, among other things, the pseudonyms “Gaby” and “IK Mail”, which even back then allowed conclusions to be drawn about her real name Melina Gaby Strauß – as well as her currently chosen stage name. But she has also used abbreviations in the past that at first glance have nothing to do with her name: “MCS (DEU)” for the song “Kokoloko”.
Listen to the song snippets here:
That’s how she came to Ikkimel
In an interview she revealed what her unusual stage name is all about. Dialect and your first first name probably play a crucial role.
A good friend of the artist says “ikke” or “ikki” instead of “ich” – based on the Berlin dialect with “ick(e)”. Ikkimel goes by the nickname Mel. Her artist name came from these two counterparts.