Queer pop chaos-agent Ashnikko is back with her second studio album, Smoochies, and this time, she's teaching fans how to survive an apocalypse.Smoochies is an ovaries-to-the-wall, full-throttle thrill ride through sexy hookups, wild nights out, and reflective nights in. In her most personal album to date, the pansexual singer explores her life post-breakup, navigating a world that wants women to shrink themselves and fit into boxes. Ashnikko is having none of that."I think now more than ever, it's so important to deeply root yourself in your beliefs and to build community and advocate for other people. And I think now more than ever, it's important to share stories," she says. "And I think storytelling and making music and making art is the great vessel of social change and has been since forever."As a pansexual woman, she knows all too well how difficult it is to feel powerful and proud in America right now. Ashnikko's personal life also went through an upheaval, with her years-long relationship to fellow singer Arlo Parks coming to an end. But with Smoochies, she's being her boldest and brashest self, and she's healing. AshnikkoVasso VuSongs like "Skin Cleared" and "Itty Bitty" serve as sigils of strength and growth post-breakup. And there's plenty of power there."I think that the itty bitty skirt is my fuck-me outfit, but I also think one's fuck-me outfit is really important for healing," she says of the slutty empowering anthem "Itty Bitty." "I think that conflating fashion and beauty with something shallow and vacuous is very, very misguided. And I think within that there's also misogyny.""Dressing for the day you want to have, dressing for the beauty that you see in the world, dressing for the beauty you see in yourself, dressing for how you want to feel, I think is really important and something that can be ritualistic and quite beautiful," she adds. "It's so beautiful that humans like beautiful things that we like adorning our bodies with jewelry, belts, and scarves. I think that's so pure if you actually really think about it. And I think us adorning ourselves with beautiful things is worship and it is protection. And I think of my jewelry and my little bottle caps and little things that I pin into my hair. I think of them as little talismans, little protectors on my body, protecting my inner child, protecting my whimsy and my awe."The 29-year-old singer is finding strength and joy wherever she can, including in the beautiful things she sees every day and in the hilarity of sex, which she explores in detail in songs like "Liquid," "Microplastics," "Full Frontal," and "Wet Like."Ashnikko says she believes "at the heart of eroticism is play," and she loves games."I mean, I think objectively [sex] is funny. I think human bodies are funny. I think eroticism is it makes me laugh, it makes me squeal!" she says. "I feel like it's all within the same universe of heightened feeling of gleefulness." AshnikkoVasso VuIn all the songs, whether silly, sexy, both, or neither, Ashnikko finds her power by centering herself above all."I guess I don't really think about other people when I'm writing my lyrics," she says. "I think thinking about the audience is kind of... You're setting yourself up for failure when you're thinking about the audience as you're making music." "I think first and foremost, it's about me and my experiences, and then being able to relate that to other people's experiences is an incredible thing that happens after the fact and into something that I'm so grateful, I'm so grateful for," she adds. "But yeah, at the forefront of my music-making is just being able to tell my own stories."She hopes that fans who might be struggling in their own lives to find joy and power can start seeing it in the world around them."I think that people should go on more walks and just journal beautiful things that they see every day. Write gratitude lists, pick up things that they find on the street, pretend that you're a little crow looking at shiny objects," she encourages. "I think that there are little altars that you can build for yourself privately. There are little talismans you can put in your car, in the bottom of your purse, secret private places that no one else has to see that are just for you. Because I think beauty that's just for you is also amazing."Next year, she's heading out on a wide-spanning North American tour, which she says will be like "a musical and a concert gig had a love child," and she's working with some "amazing collaborators" to get remixes done for a deluxe edition of Smoochies.She's excited to see how people dress for the tour and is most excited about "the community aspect" of her shows."I just think it goes back to ritual," she says. "Music is ritual, and it's important to be joyful in this fascist hellscape."Smoochies is out now.