Pornceptual meets NEO 10Y

Alongside an interview with himself, Pornceptual presents an exclusive editorial with recording artist and creative, NEO 10Y aka Nik Thakkar. 
In line with the release of his new singles “Stan Yourself” and “Feedback Loop” and photographed in London by Xander Cruz, we experience an in-depth and intimate look inside the mind of NEO 10Y when it comes to sex, the role it plays in his songs, censorship and his queer identity. 
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Photos: Xander Cruz | Instagram

Interview: NEO 10Y | Instagram | Music | Videos

NT: Tell me more about the shoot, what’s the inspiration?
NEO 10Y: This editorial was created with Xander Cruz from Barcelona, but we shot it in London. It’s in line with two songs that I’ve just released “Stan Yourself” and “Feedback Loop” (which just came out on 11/11) which are both about self-realisation, enhancing consciousness and coming to terms with yourself. I wanted to showcase a little more raw intimacy because they’re both really personal tracks but also I’ve been on a path of human optimisation and wanted to show the physical world results! The editorial is shot on film, so doesn’t have the luxury of digital editing which I love. It’s really me in my rawest form. 

NT: What does sexuality mean to you?
NEO 10Y: There’s been a definite evolution with owning my oneness. Like most queer people, I systemically once identified as heterosexual and had girlfriends as a teenager, even though I knew there was more to me. I “came out” as bisexual at university and then pretty much exclusively dated men for a few years before realising my true pansexual nature for the last few years. I’m not a massive fan of labels but as a being the terms terms I am most comfortable with are queer, non-binary and pansexual. I believe in openness and connect with individuals on a spiritual level regardless of how they “perform” in the physical world. 

NT: Tell me a little more about how sex plays a role in your music and visuals?
NEO 10Y: Since the first NEO 10Y visual that I made back in 2016, you see me playing a drug forlorn Mickey Mouse impersonator in Times Square in NYC, who has a sexual relationship with me in a Donald Trump mask. We fuck during the film, which is quite a jarring scene and has a juxtaposition which is partially hot and partially terrifying. It’s mean to symbolise Amerikkka being fucked over. The video was pulled down a few times and banned on Facebook and censored on YouTube which is an ongoing challenge.  People say that my delivery is sexy during a lot of my tracks but it’s also balanced out with a sense of bipolar insanity. I think you really get that vibe from Feedback Loop. My video for Dopamine also sees a sort of Lars Von Trier esque love relationship with a mannequin and then I guess there’s a lot of overall nudity in my art which for me is post-materialism but I guess to the general public can be perceived as sexual. I get messages from people saying they have sex to my songs, which is really inspiring to me. Oh and I also have a song called Poems To Fuck To, so I guess yeah my music is sexy. Sexy and psychotic but consciousness evolving at the same time. It’s what you get from a bipolar human I suppose. 

NT: What is your perspective on the censorship of queer art online?
NEO 10Y: It’s really frustrating and it seems to be getting worse. I don’t quite understand why they’re doing this. I thought the world was becoming more “free”, and in a sense it is, but the conservative people are all trying to claw it back and reclaim their power. I think it is horrifically appalling that femme bodies are censored and nipples are not allowed on platforms like Instagram and Facebook which literally makes them misogynistic and oppressive platforms. It’s the worst. Zuckerberg should be fully ashamed of himself for this gross inequality. It’s why I censored my nipples in a lot of my live shows and the Stan Yourself music video, in solidarity with the femmes. I don’t get it and if it frustrates me this much, I can only imagine how frustrated the girls are. 

NT: What is your perspective on the censorship of queer art online?
NEO 10Y: It’s really frustrating and it seems to be getting worse. I don’t quite understand why they’re doing this. I thought the world was becoming more “free”, and in a sense it is, but the conservative people are all trying to claw it back and reclaim their power. I think it is horrifically appalling that femme bodies are censored and nipples are not allowed on platforms like Instagram and Facebook which literally makes them misogynistic and oppressive platforms. It’s the worst. Zuckerberg should be fully ashamed of himself for this gross inequality. It’s why I censored my nipples in a lot of my live shows and the Stan Yourself music video, in solidarity with the femmes. I don’t get it and if it frustrates me this much, I can only imagine how frustrated the girls are. 

NT: From a music perspective, what is it like being a queer artist in an industry that has roots in homophobia? 
NEO 10Y: I think it’s getting better to an extent, for example, Billboard magazine really makes an effort to uplift queer artists, and we’re able to build and develop our own platforms and support each other but at the same time what I have found is that we’re kinda being siloed and a lot of traditional music outlets are almost less supportive because they see us being supported by our own community. I’ve had my own personal dramatic run-ins as well, there are people in the industry on power trips that abuse their positions of authority and that happened to me last year and early this year but we just have to be honest and transparent and filter out what type of predatory and abusive behaviour collectively.