Ninajirachi on ARIA wins and upcoming tour

Pet Dingos, Pokemon and more ARIAS than you know what to do with. The common thread for those who find themselves confused is Ninajirachi.

Pet Dingos, Pokemon Diamond and more ARIAS than you know what to do with.

The common thread for those who find themselves confused is Australia’s Nina Wilson, better known as musician Ninajirachi.

After a crazy award season that included three ARIA wins for Best Solo Artist, Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist, and Best independent Release, the most nominations for anyone on the night (eight), and the inaugural NSW Music Awards Breakthrough Artist, Ninajirachi said being the position she is in right now has come as a total surprise.

“It wasn’t even in my realm of thought that I was that kind of artist who wins awards,” she told news.com.au.

Ninajirachi was the winner of the Breakthrough artist award at the NSW Music Prize. Picture: Supplied

“I wasn’t mad about it, that just wasn’t my goal or aim. I just thought, ‘Okay, my music lives in this other section of the music world’ and that’s awesome, that’s fine.

“People don’t need to know this necessarily, I just want people to enjoy the music, but I do make it by myself mostly. There’s collaborators involved, but it’s always me finishing the songs and doing the vast majority of the work, like recording and stuff.

“It was cool to win (best solo artist) for kind of wearing all the hats.”

Ninajirachi hails from the NSW Central Coast and despite only being a short drive north of Sydney, she has country tendencies, including her family pet: Sky the dingo.

“She’s definitely a dingo,” Nina said.

“She needs to run around a lot. We take her to the beach a lot or my family does. But she’s not one bit dangerous, so gorgeous and loving, cuddly, she’s just a dream. Everyone who meets her just loves her.”

Sky the Dingo enjoying the view. Picture: Instagram

Ninajirachi’s recent award accolades have come off the back of her debut album I Love My Computer, released in August.

Exploring the digital in sonic form throughout the project, it’s reminiscent of an artist Nina credits in no small part to her success – the late British producer Sophie, who died in 2021 aged just 34.

“Oh, my God, Sophie’s music completely changed my life … In 2015 I first heard (her) music, the song Hard was on FBI radio.
It was just on the cusp of listenable in terms of where my taste was at, (but) it was just the coolest thing I’d ever heard.

The artwork for Nina’s debut album 'I Love My Computer'.

“So I just was like, what is this artist? And realised when I looked her up that a lot of my favourite artists were following her and had talked about her, so I thought, okay, I need to tap into this and got into all of her other music and started playing it.

“It was a similar experience when I first heard Electro House, when I was like 12, because I was just like, ‘I need to understand how this is made or what’s making this,’ because it doesn’t sound like an instrument that I’m familiar with.”

The name Ninajirachi is a combination of Nina’s name with her favourite Pokemon ‘Jirachi’ and it’s a topic she speaks passionately about.

“I have to actually say (Pokemon) platinum is like, maybe a little bit better (than Diamond and Pearl) because it just has a little bit of extra stuff.

“Black and white, the ones that came after, I think, have the best plot ever of any of the main line games to date, and the best one overall … Maybe Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time and Darkness made me cry when I was eight years old, but it’s like a spin-off. Oh, so good.”

Pokemon Jirachi takes the top spot. Picture: Supplied

Those who are lucky enough to have seen Ninajirachi live may have noticed some of that video game energy in the flesh, however it’s something Nina says is a natural reaction to the enthusiasm of the crowd.

“I just can’t really stand still if the crowd is good and the crowd is having a good time,” she said.

“I feel like I feed off them and then that feeds them more as well and it becomes very symbiotic. So I just find that I’m bouncing the whole set pretty much.”

Ninajirachi has just announced her 2026 tour ‘Dark Crystal 5’ which opens at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, a venue which holds a special meaning to the artist.

“I saw my first probably five or ten concerts at Enmore. In The Central Coast, at least when I was growing up, I didn’t feel like I was part of a music scene there. I was just making laptop music and wasn’t going out to anything.

“So if I went and saw live music, it would be in Sydney and it was like often at the Enmore Theatre. To be honest, it’s always been a really dream bucket list venue of mine to headline one day, lots to do between now and then, but I’m so excited.”

Check out Ninajirachi’s upcoming tour dates here.

Originally published as Ninajirachi on ARIA wins and upcoming tour