In conversation with HASZNAT

HASZNAT is a force to be reckoned with – meet an audiovisual mastermind who refuses to be confined by labels. Tying their sweat-drenched electronic sounds with punk elements imbued into a visual world of future-forward ferocity, she is a true shapeshifter. Building on their Bengali roots and London’s vibrant Queer club culture, HASZNAT is both a mirror and a vessel for the identities she encounters and carries within herself – all while transforming them into something altogether revolutionary. Within this, HASZNAT is not here to fulfill a diversity quota; their very existence is defined by raw, uncompromising expression of authenticity. In front of the camera and in our conversation, yet many more facets of HASZNAT unfold.

Hey HASZNAT! I am happy to be talking to you.  I think we should get right to it – how would you introduce the world of HASZNAT?

Hey! I would say the HASZNAT experience is about provoking your mind – I’ve always had an eye for the avant-garde. Nothing is original, first of all, but when it comes to my world – it being multi-genre, multi-dimensional, and multi-disciplinary – I can provide initially visual and later sonic pleasure that intertwine and engage the senses, for both listeners who know me and those who are entering my world for the first time. Sensory pleasure, that’s how I’d describe my world. 

That checks out! Within all these multitudes, what brought you to what you do today?

To start with my artist name, it’s specifically my birth name and always in full capitals because, coming from a Bengali South Asian background, there was never any representation of ME growing up. I knew from the moment I became a director to now the fully realised artist, my name had to reflect every essence of who I am. I grew up in the underground fashion and queer rave scene. I knew from the moment I picked up a mic two years ago, that my work is not about the budget or the label, it’s a fruition of my mind and my story. My first project, called ‘HASZNATONLINE’ , was actually named after my styling tag to brand my work as a creative director and stylist for other musicians and editorials, my first ever published piece being for ‘ELLE Arabia’ at the age of 19. The second project that I’ve just released is an eight track, multi-genre LP titled ‘HASZNAT 2.0’

I was just listening back to ‘HASZNAT 2.0′ this morning (an insane way to start off a Monday)! The LP feels very energetic, head-pounding, electronic and nocturnal – what informs your sound and energy you transmute?

The first four tracks start off with a more trademarked sound for mine – the club, sweaty, around a lot of energies and a lot of vices. I never claim I need a scene to feel seen, but this community is imbued with reflections of myself, and they look up to authenticity – that’s also another aspect that this project conveys. I don’t have to cosplay, because I identify as trans-femme, but I’m non-conforming – I’m just not complying to the rat race in any aspects. I don’t want a niche. I want to provoke minds. I don’t want a certain label to my sound or image, just an essence and MY electronic world. 

So, that’s why within all eight tracks, it’s multi-genre, but still in this electronic world of club culture and its derivatives. For example, ‘PHASE’ and ‘PUSH + PULL’  are more intimate songs about my transformative experiences. It literally is ‘HASZNAT 2.0’ to the core. When I dropped the lead single ‘VIXEN’ back in January 2024, it had such a hard impact and great feedback that I felt ready to explore another side of my sound. Right before the release, I came up with ‘BACK OF THE CLUB’, my take on electronic pop / PC music. That’s what the ethos of this current project is: don’t expect what you’ve heard, but expect a new take on it through my outlook.. In my two-year music career, every single song, every lyric has been an affirmation. I specifically don’t put the lyrics up sometimes, because I want people to hear it and try to figure out what I’m saying. It’s not all on the nose, it’s more like subliminal messages. All about self affirming and empowering oneself. While still shaking ass. Haha! 

It feels like a lot of your practice is about reimagining something familiar into something completely future-forward. What are some influences in and beyond music that you bounce your vision off from?

Growing up, punk for me was M.I.A., Death Grips, Kanye West and all the artists in a similar vein; I’ve listened to  Frank Ocean and Odd Future on top of that, so I always had a clash of different cultures and music around me. I’m now two years into music but there’s also the experiences of styling, creative direction, artist liaison, modelling, performing, DJing that I accumulated from ages 19 to 25 – it’s all about me bringing my own facets to the spotlight. I started out as a stylist, running around London with my suitcase, working for other artists and magazines like Glamcult. I didn’t know I was creating myself – now, I’ve become my own muse. I always thought there is protection in fashion, but when it comes to me, it’s fashion and music intertwining, it’s audiovisual –  you’re seeing a look, you’re seeing a performance. It’s about self admiration, community, raging, releasing and healing. Shout out to all my Vixens.  

I love that! How would you say you’ve grown into yourself throughout your journey?

Even when I was a teenager starting out freelance as a stylist, especially opting not to pursue university, coming from a first gen immigrant household , coming into my gender identity – I decided to keep showing up in my most authentic form. I do that every day.I told myself  “if you don’t speak on your story, no one’s gonna know”. I just know that my imprint is bigger than myself now. I’m already getting to reach out to other Bengali people, who may have not seen that representation – without me having to say I’m representation, that just authentically is me. Name me another Bengali electronic audio-visual artist right now?

Yeah, I think representation has become such a complicated topic. It’s so amazing that marginalised communities are finally starting to get the visibility they deserve, but at the same time, current marketing techniques may often flatten an artist’s whole world down to a singular identity marker.

Exactly. I don’t want to come across as uncouth saying this, but I’m not a stereotypical story of these labels society wants to place on me. . It’s not about the bracketing. I was also never camp growing up, not even to this day.  I’m Queer and I’m South Asian but I don’t need to use that as a crutch. My aura speaks for itself. 

Your art speaks for itself – it feels like Queerness is a part of you that blossoms so much more beyond just a label.

Yeah, shout out to my fake ID and underground queer raves! It was such a beautiful thing at that age, being 17 or 18, with hundreds of Black and Brown Queer people around you who were just embracing you. It’s so important, as an artist, to see those reflections of yourself and reflect back. Everything I grew up around, I’m reflecting that now. As long as someone is hearing my message and feeling like they can express themselves, I feel like I’m doing my job. Even in my early career, people would trust me with my vision because I’ve been so unapologetically myself. And if you’re not able to live authentically, you can have the space to live vicariously through me.

I feel like it’s almost a rite of passage – you find an artist who you can live vicariously through until you grow into your own identity. It makes sense that you focus on making genre-less music, because you find different facets of yourself through it – and I think it also ties with what styling and fashion are for, too. It’s beautiful that you could soak it up when you were younger, reinvent it, and pour it out for a new generation.

There you go, you’ve literally uncovered one of the subliminals. This is a form of protection. Everything we do is to find a sense of fulfillment – the messages in my music that you can define as electronic infused with my own take on rap, pop, punk, etc. It all makes sense as if you’re in this world of my own. 

Totally! Speaking of broader subliminal influences, how does your heritage inform your work and attitude?

I don’t know if you know any Bengalis, babe, but, we’re very direct people. I grew up around very opinionated, yet loving people. I’m especially proud of my parents. I felt like they really understood what was going on in my soul, and there was a perpetual sense of mutual learning about each other, experiencing each other for the first time. Their approach was sort of punk. And, at the end of the day, my parents were also children once, so I also grew into finding out their story and like, [pauses] I have to show you something. So, this is my dad’s poetry book.

Omg, no way!

This is like the first ever book. So you can see it’s kind of distraught. I didn’t know about this for the longest time. When you have immigrant parents, you don’t really get a chance to have these conversations. But the day before I finally left home, he handed me this book. I’ve been getting to translate this, and it’s about him being a man writing about freedom and love. I always thought my mother  was who I got all my creativity from. I was always surrounded by that feminine yet strong energy. My music does reflect that in the way I speak in my songs, the energy I give, the presence. And that’s what my culture taught me. I didn’t have many South Asian friends growing up, because I grew up predominantly in a black and white  community. And that’s what I’m trying to reincorporate in the present time – PROVOKE MINDS, INVOKE EMOTIONS. It’s letting my audience know and my supporters know, hey, you have everything you need in your hands, just like I was taught.

Amazing! And how do you feel about the scene in London now, with so many collectives such as Daytimers finally putting South Asian talent on the map?

It’s a really beautiful thing, to also see so many different identities across those collectives and events as well. Playing for ‘Daytimers’ was amazing, and also for ‘Keep Hush’ recently. They had a full Bengali line up and it felt so empowering. In my journey, as soon as I grew up and left West London, I automatically attracted other alternative South Asians. That’s the thing – even with, say, a predominantly white-centered or white-led event, or something like Daytimers, it’s not just about who’s there, whether it’s South Asians, white people, or whoever. It’s about how you find yourself in those spaces. That’s what my audiovisual journey is about. It’s an open invitation – everyone’s welcome. But you find your place through the messages and take what resonates.

This is such a beautiful and intentional approach!

I just had an amazing debut live performance in Amsterdam, and that solidified that this is what I’m meant to do. I’m truly here just to leave my point of view on this world, because we need more point of views, we need more conversations, through storytelling, through visuals, through audio. This isn’t just about a medium – my art is my armour. Fashion was my start-up, but buckle up! I’m so grateful, I just can’t wait to share and include more lives within my vision. I wish I had someone like me growing up, and I know eight-year-old me would be so proud. And I’m just so excited to see what’s next, to see how my culture, my identity, my background, my future come together.

And it sounds like there is a lot to be excited about! Anything on the horizon you can share with us

‘HASZNAT 2.0’ era has just kick-started. I wanted to specifically release the audio before the visuals instead of both at the same time, which is not a thing that many artists do, especially new artists out of fear of reach and all of that. But this year before the debut album, I want to release some exclusive visuals for my Vixens and make something that’s like an homage to those eight tracks. And then carrying into the debut album, I don’t want to say too much, but the three words I’ll leave are cinematic, imprint, and… I want to say chrome.

Chrome? 

Yeah, that’s like the texture I feel from this debut album. 

Hitting every sensory experience!

Exactly, it’s all thought through. I’m about to let it all speak for itself. The new generation of Electronic music is here.