From Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill to Elaine Kraft’s The Princess of West 72nd Street: South London artist BINA. reveals the film and literary works that have helped her turn her own words into stories worth singing about.

For South London singer-songwriter BINA., the freedom that comes from no longer feeling the need to people-please or get the cosign is a philosophy that has found its way into both her life and her music; one she’s consistently chasing, beckoning listeners to engage in the practice also. The 26-year-old has never particularly been interested in staying in one lane, nor does she seem keen on making herself easier to digest. In fact, to understand her and the world she’s curating a bit more, you might have to chew on some poetry, some literature or simply, watch your TV. 

Having spent much of the past few years developing her sound, BINA. enters a new flame-blazed, unapologetic chapter with “Soft Rage”, out today (6th November) via Platoon. First conceived in 2023, the phrase-turned-album-title began as a way of describing the music she was making at the time. From “Send Help” to “Money Sexy” and its penultimate track, “Anyone”, the project mirrored the head-banging, hair-tossing tracks like “Dopamine”, “Self Assured” and “Pendulum” from her previous EP, “Chaos Is Her Name”. And actually, this mixtape came almost immediately after. “I define it [‘Soft Rage’] as the act of letting out negative emotions to make room for peace and softness, and as the boundless expression of myself and my sound as a form of catharsis,” she reveals. Since then, “Soft Rage” has become a personal manifesto of sorts. For BINA., the eight-track EP is her way of allowing negative emotions to surface and giving them the space required before ultimately letting them go. 

Sonically, the project sees her turn towards indie, rock and punk influences she’s been drawn to since her early teens. Between grungy textures, visceral lyricism and husky vocals, it’s a direction she’s wanted to explore musically for some time, though finding the confidence to fully inhabit these spaces hasn’t always come easily. With the lack of Black female representation across the indie, rock and punk scenes, particularly in the UK, it’s something that’s taken time to make a home within the worlds that haven’t always reflected – or welcomed – her. But she’s done awaiting an invitation and embraced the act of being the trailblazer. 

Of course, BINA.’s creative universe extends well beyond the confines of a recording studio. An “art lover to the core”, she’s informed as much by literature and cinema as she is by music. She approaches songwriting like how a filmmaker would that “million dollar shot” or a poet with the perfectly-flowing Haiku at first go. The intertwining of literature and cinema aren’t simply supplementary interests; they’re integral to how she sees the world and, subsequently, how she writes about it. In the same way the tales and stories she grew up turning the pages of have helped expand her perspective, she hopes her music can do the same. 

With Soft Rage, BINA. cares not for reinventing herself so much as she does give herself permission to become herself wholly. “My mission as an artist is to be free, never be boxed in by expectations, but always be recognised as me from the first note I sing, the first word I say in my songs,” she says. In a Wonderland exclusive, here are her five top reads, rhymes and watches that played a key role in the makings of her third mixtape.

Listen to “Soft Rage”…

Severance (2022)

This show inspired the more dystopian songs like Zombies and Upside Down because of the surreal depiction of characters split into work selves, hiding from trauma and stress and guilt their outside, “real life” selves carry. And the work-selves; “innies” are unaware of their affliction for most of the series, which makes it even more terrifying. 

Kill Bill (2003-4)

“Anyone” was inspired in part by Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. The menacing persona, ready to avenge a version of myself whose love and devotion was taken for granted mirrors The Bride in some ways. But I was also writing from a place of having the ick for people who’d made me feel less than the woman I know I am. 

The Princess of West 72nd Street by Elaine Kraft

[This book] inspired part of the visuals for “R U OK?”, specifically the scene where I’m planting the flowers in mounds of soil inside the house, then lying in between them. It’s a direct interpolation of a scene in the book where Ellen (who becomes Princess Esmarelda during manic highs she calls “radiances”) does a similar thing. 

Memory by Dorothy Lasky and Mulholland Drive, directed by David Lynch

[These two] inspired my play with soundscapes that explore the thin veil between reality, dreams and mind tricks, as well as the phenomenon of becoming unaware of when one state ends and the other begins. These themes get explored in some of the production and sound design on “Anyone” (where it sounds like I’m waking up from a nightmare at the beginning) and “Upside Down” (this whole song is kinda like a fever dream) 

What We Want by Charlotte Fox Weber

This book just inspired me to explore what I really want: in life, in my music, within my self expression. It was interesting to investigate through the book where shame or lack of exploration had stifled my voice.

Words – Aswan Magumbe