CIFIKA is on the rise

“HEX”, the lead single of CIFIKA’s new EP, Old Fantasy, feels like a glimpse into the Korean producer’s mind. It starts clean, led by a soft vocal melody, then gradually builds through an echo of strings and thundering piano chords. The repeat of the lyric “old fantasy” adds tension as the chords grow punchier, before the track abruptly breaks into itself, paving way for a riddle of piano keys cut with the chant of the titular HEX colour: “#e0115f”, again and again.“Simply it’s a love song, but it’s not a lovey-dovey story,” explains CIFIKA from her immaculate Seoul-based studio. “It’s about the past relationships throughout my life. I look back and I had very toxic relationships.. and I want to embrace those memories, as that’s also part of my life.” She took all her experiences - the good, the bad - and polished them until they became something of value, symbolised in the ruby; the colour of the aforementioned HEX: “I'm ready to accept the fact of all the events that happened to me before, even though it's a bad memory. I wanted to keep it, and those are my accessories now. That’s the story of the song,” she explains.It’s telling that “HEX” marks the central thesis of Old Fantasy...