Maybe you remember last week's Stalking Heads interview with Niko Da Ikon, the Cali-based 20-year-old obsessed with styling himself via some mad axis where millennial online poker champion meets hood teen, and all sorts of 90s cliches of aesthetic upscaleness. Right after we did that, he sent us this video of him acting out his own video to Tevin Campbell's super-slushy R&B hit "Can We Talk". It's mind-blowing, especially if, like us, you had never heard the song until now, and your brain is now programmed only to match the tune and singing to Niko's insane look and mind.
Niko Da Ikon: Hmm, well, I enjoy doing any look from any era, but I made this video for this song because I haven't been able to stop listening to or performing it since my friend Napoleon introduced me to Can We Talk two years ago – I just really feel and identify with the song.Where's this video thing leading?
Hopefully it leads to me making some massive budget Hype William's-style amazing music videos. Right now I do some styling jobs here and there to cover expenses and that's it.Who's the girl? And why are you a cowboy in the video?
The girl in the video is my good friend Tierney and I wanted her in it as my love interest because she looks beautiful and she gives an amazing performance. We have a lot of on and off-screen chemistry. My character is more of a mountain crooner, his style is based on how I imagine a ski-lodge bar guy in Aspen trying to hit on all the snow bunnies would be.Do you see the video and your aesthetic as ironic, difficult or do you see it as beautiful?
We did it with humor, but it's really no joke. I think it is beautiful. Give us your top three other examples of this sort of funny beautiful.
Funny things would be tumblr, Harald Glööckler and Karl Lagerfeld.OMG, what a mess that Harald Glööckler guy is.
What a legend.Tumblr and Lagerfeld, why?
Tumblr is funny to me because of its influence on fashion and trends. I think it's funny how tumblr affected the fashion world – people can just look to tumblr now instead of paying trend-forecasters. I think Karl Lagerfeld is a funny character. And, because he has created this iconic persona for himself, it seems subconsciously people don't give a shit what he designs, they are just sold on the character.
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VICE: Your style references are usually more recent. Why 1993's "Can We Talk" for your first video?
Niko Da Ikon: Hmm, well, I enjoy doing any look from any era, but I made this video for this song because I haven't been able to stop listening to or performing it since my friend Napoleon introduced me to Can We Talk two years ago – I just really feel and identify with the song.Where's this video thing leading?
Hopefully it leads to me making some massive budget Hype William's-style amazing music videos. Right now I do some styling jobs here and there to cover expenses and that's it.Who's the girl? And why are you a cowboy in the video?
The girl in the video is my good friend Tierney and I wanted her in it as my love interest because she looks beautiful and she gives an amazing performance. We have a lot of on and off-screen chemistry. My character is more of a mountain crooner, his style is based on how I imagine a ski-lodge bar guy in Aspen trying to hit on all the snow bunnies would be.Do you see the video and your aesthetic as ironic, difficult or do you see it as beautiful?
We did it with humor, but it's really no joke. I think it is beautiful. Give us your top three other examples of this sort of funny beautiful.
Funny things would be tumblr, Harald Glööckler and Karl Lagerfeld.OMG, what a mess that Harald Glööckler guy is.
What a legend.Tumblr and Lagerfeld, why?
Tumblr is funny to me because of its influence on fashion and trends. I think it's funny how tumblr affected the fashion world – people can just look to tumblr now instead of paying trend-forecasters. I think Karl Lagerfeld is a funny character. And, because he has created this iconic persona for himself, it seems subconsciously people don't give a shit what he designs, they are just sold on the character.