The French director, recently signed to Blinkink in London, dissects the strange universe of her video for the controversial American alt-pop star. 

That Ashton Nicole Casey, better known by her monicker Ashnikko, has an astute sense for the visually extreme, has been evident since the video for her breakthrough hit Stupid came with a sensational video with her covered in blood, and followed up with videos for the likes of Daisy and Working Bitch, where she reinvents well-worn characters in her own distinctive image.

Then the campaign for her 2023 album Weedkiller, was kicked off by the genuinely transgressive visuals in You Make Me Sick and went on to produce the deliriously imaginative and complex sci-fi fantasy for Worms, mixing live action and CGI.

Now, for Trinkets - the lead-off single for her latest project - Ashnikko has reinvented her visual universe once again, collaborating with a director who has her own highly individual, iconoclastic aesthetic. 

Léa Esmaili is a multi-media artist, director and photographer who is highly versatile in the way she approaches her subjects. The styles vary, but each of her commercials and videos - including for Nike's Muse Labs, Arsenal FC and Yvnnis - have a common theme of using a multiplicity of techniques leading to work oozing in imagination and visual wit.

Which brings us to the extraordinary visual explosion that is the promo for Trinkets, where Ashnikko announces at least two new personas that show she is following no-one's lead but her own - including the trinket-laden 'buck-toothed' girl, who combines early 20th with early 21st century fashion, with a love of knick-knacks, and a rabbit-like front teeth.

We asked Léa about the creative process in making this utterly unique, undeniably bizarre music video. BTS photography: Radheya Jegatheva and Noah Chulu Chinn

Above: Léa Esmaili (right) on the set of the video shoot of Ashnikko's Trinkets, with 'rocking horse' cast members.

PROMONEWS: How did this project start? Was there a clear idea in the brief of what Ashnikko wanted?

LEA ESMAILI: It started with the artist’s reference to stop motion and detached doll parts, and from there I built an entire world around it.

I wanted the looks she has created for the album to be as present as possible

P: What were the important things in your treatment that appealed to Ashnikko? Was your treatment a fair approximation of what you achieved in the final video?

LEA: She liked the fact that I have no limits when it comes to the absurd - the stranger it was, the more she loved it.

The inspirations come from the lyrics - which is important for a music video - and also from Ashnikko's world, which I really explored so we could immerse ourselves in her. And it's also from my own world and the inspirations I keep tucked away in the back of my drawer.

The final result looks very close to the initial idea. So for me that means we succeeded!

P: What was the inspiration for buck-toothed girl’s extraordinary, spooky ‘china doll’ look? And how did you achieve this? And what was the inspiration for the shop?

LEA: We directly used the looks she has for her album, which I love. I wanted them to be as present as possible because, to me, they are the most original and the craziest.

We used stop motion by making some of her features larger than others, and we applied a glossy effect in post with two 3D artists, who came up with this idea that I loved and ended up including in several parts of the video.

The inspiration for the shop is a mix between old candy stores and little shops filled with accessories, as well as costume stores.

Q: What was the inspiration for 'rocking horse' girl? And why is she riding to beefy men in swimming caps?

A: I had seen a photo of a girl with a creepy smile who was on a wooden horse, and then I thought about transforming that into two men. I don’t really know how it came to me, haha.

I think that's how inspiration works. We absorb so much of what we see that we end up creating something that’s truly our own. 

Above: Léa Esmaili (right) with Ashnikko (centre) and DoP Joe Gainsborough, shooting 'buck-toothed girl' in the Trinkets video. 

The men's riding caps are similar to the Sonny Angels - those little men we see everywhere now that became very famous trinkets over the years. I wanted to include this phenomenon in this video. 

And I wanted super-muscular guys with looks that made them seem scrawny… The wings were done in post-production.

I’m a trinket girl too - I collect figurines, jewelry, keychains, plush toys…

P: What do the trinkets represent (if anything)?

LEA: I don’t know why, but trinkets are for all the girls who love having these little objects in their everyday lives… I’m a trinket girl too - I collect figurines, jewelry, keychains, plush toys…

I also feel that, as very young women, we’re often told to push our passions aside to focus on the aspects we’re expected to. So trinkets, for me, are little objects that reveal a part of our personality, and I love that.

P: How did you choose what you wanted and where did you source them? And what are your favourite trinkets – and why?

LEA: We really took everything we had [in our own collections] ha ha… She also had a list of trinkets she liked, and we had to make sure they weren’t too childish or too feminine either.

I love the billiard ball — it’s satisfying in every way; the toy car because my brother was crazy about it haha; the prank items because I once bought them in Paris, and I never thought they’d end up here; and the buttons because they immediately remind me of Coraline!!

• Léa Esmaili is represented by Blinkink in the UK and Dependent in France; watch more of her work here.