“I don’t care at all if someone thinks I’m vulgar because they see my butthole on stage. It’s usually an invitation.”
Charlie le Mindu insists his musical project Muchas Problemas is not about provocation. And sure – seeing himself reflected in a kiss, reimagined as a semen-covered, sunburnt, swollen pig (an ex’s honest interpretation, for the record), while lamenting his love for fisting over dissident club beats and sheets of industrial abrasion, might raise a few eyebrows. But Charlie genuinely doesn’t care for shock value. He’s literally just doing his thing.
When a non-musical artist suddenly announces a pivot into music, it’s really hard to contain our skepticism. But if anyone in the industry could pull that move and leave us actually curious, it would be him. After years of weaponising hair into couture spectacle, engineering the radical pop iconography of everyone from Lady Gaga to Doja Cat, you’d think we’d be ready for whatever came next. We were not.
Still recovering from his debut release, we caught up with Charlie to talk creative liberation, his darkroom chronicles, and the video for Take Me In — which feels like accidentally opening Omegle on humanity’s most diabolical freak night.
Let’s start from the beginning – what’s the origin story of Muchas Problemas?
It’s easy. I have tons of problems to solve, like my orthography to start with.
What does the name represent to you?
It represents happenings and the inspirations and the street we get from our traumas. We make them stronger by accepting them and showing them. It can be shocking to some individuals. To me, they make me laugh.
After years of shaping other people’s worlds from behind the scenes, how does your creativity transform when the project is no longer in service of someone else, but fully exposes you?
It has actually changed a lot the way I work on set with people. I was always laughing, being a clown, even if I’m a very professional person. It was hard not to make jokes on set or restrain myself from laughing. Tons of assholes in fashion will judge me for speaking about racy subjects, when they actually go home themselves and hide to take meth and are the biggest perverts ever.
Call them out! You’ve shaped pop culture through hair and fashion. What made you switch to music?
It’s all the same really. It’s just rhythm and movement to me. But music is new to me as I do it all for myself, not for others. I actually don’t care at all if someone thinks I’m vulgar because they see my butthole on stage. It’s usually an invitation.
Do you ever feel like people have a biased judgment — either positively or negatively — of your music because you come from hairstyling and fashion?
Of course, people judge. Same when I do my catwalk, they’re like, “aww, he is a hairstylist, not a fashion designer.” And now same with music. You know, as long as I have fun, it’s the most important. I do it for myself only, not for them.
Where do the lines between music and performance lie in this project?
I don’t do lines before music or performance! Maybe a bootybump if we speak about some sort of performance.
It would be easy to read this project as shock for shock’s sake.
That’s the thing — I don’t want to provoke. I don’t want to shock. I want to feel free. It’s the only place where I’m free, and no one tells me what to do. This project is freedom for myself.
The video for “Take Me In” feels deliberately ugly, sweaty, and uncomfortable. What freedom did that ugliness give you? What was the creative and conceptual process behind the face-morphing and pig references?
My ex-boyfriend MU KEPZO did the video, and I think it’s exactly how he sees me, as a disgusting pig. I’m sure he is so proud and happy about the result. I like to give people a voice.
Lol! Love the commitment to freedom of speech. You’ve spent years creating beauty, even if it was at times unconventional. Why embrace filth now?
I have been spending years building trust with my clients and showing how professional I am. It’s the same with fisting — it is a beautiful exchange and trust. Filth is beauty to me.
Do you think it’s still possible to genuinely shock an audience in 2026?
I don’t think what I do is shocking. I’m not insulting anyone. I’m not against anyone. I’m having the most fun and trying to dance. If people feel uncomfortable because of certain things I do, I get it. I’m a religious person and a member of the Church of Euthanasia from KRIS KORDA. I’m here to save the planet, not the people.
The project is inspired by nightlife landscapes from Berlin, Mexico, Paris, New York, London, and LA. How do club and kink scenes differ?
It depends on the chemistry!
What’s your most memorable darkroom story?
I always remember in Bordeaux I fisted a 75-year-old man when I was a teenager. That’s the day I knew I was a hoe.
In ten years, how do you want this project to be remembered?
I wanna do halftime Super Bowls.
Photography by Lily Burgess
Words by Evita Shrestha
