LA BOULE NOIRE & VEDETTES
17
crenoka isn’t a newcomer; she’s a former runaway returning with a plan.
After hitting the road, playing in bands (Thé Vanille, Boys in Lilies), and working on hybrid, DIY projects, Nastasia Paccagnini has carved her own path—with a machete. Since 2019, she’s been crafting a sound that isn’t afraid to spill over: alternative pop for hearts on the brink, ’90s synths, soft autotune, sharp beats, and raw confessions. Her songwriting sounds like rhythmic journaling: not to look pretty, but to survive. She speaks of loneliness, mental load, battered femininity, gentle anger, desires too big for the body she inhabits. And she does so with a sincerity that grates, a melancholy that dances. crenoka is a DIY sonic entity that might have read Haraway, loved Avril Lavigne, cried to Madonna, and laughed while stubbing her big toe on the dresser. It speaks to those who cry under the strobe lights, to those who meditate while hating their meditation app, to those who no longer have the strength to be strong.
Don’t be fooled by the title of her new mixtape (released April 22, 2026): *small eclipse of the heart* isn’t a romantic drama. It’s a 10-track guide to emotional survival, for those who haven’t found the emergency exit in their own lives. We journey through the post-breakup loneliness of “roller coaster” (and its slam-style mental lists set to a drum machine beat), the hotline-style gadget-lovers of “the business crew is there for u,” the emotional clubbing excesses of “i’m sad (and dusty),” all the way to the passive-aggressive therapy session of “sort it out,” where crenoka finally throws the ball back at the lost boys. The production is eclectic without being muddled: a clear patchwork.
Unfun 90s dance, hazy ballads, minimalist electro that snaps under your fingers, and always that voice at an intimate pitch. Neither diva-like nor broken: a voice that owns up to not knowing, but says it with style. This mixtape isn’t here to please. It’s here to keep warm those who are sick of being told how to feel better.
And that’s precisely what makes it precious.