Erika de Casier

Erika de Casier was born on 21 March 1999[1] in Portugal[2] to a Belgian mother and Cape Verdean father. She attended Catholic school as a child, and at age eight, she and her family moved to Aarhus, Denmark. Due to her and her brother being the only Black students at her school, she was a target of bullying. She spent time painting throughout her adolescence. At age 16, she spent a year living with a host family in the United States. Upon returning to Denmark, she joined her school's choir and band and began producing her own beats. After graduating from school, she moved to Copenhagen.[3] Before performing as a solo artist, she worked at a kindergarten.[4]

Starting in 2014, Casier performed with Andreas Vasegaard as part of the R&B duo Saint Cava. The duo performed at the Roskilde Festival in 2015 and released a string of singles through Danish record label Forbandet Ungdom before eventually disbanding.[4] During this time, she also worked with the Danish electronic collective Regelbau.[3]

In 2017, Casier released her debut single as an independent artist, "What U Wanna Do?", and released her second single, "Intimate", the following year.[3] She released her debut studio album, Essentials, on May 16, 2019, through her own label, Independent Jeep Records, which spawned the two prior singles as well as the singles "Good Time" and "Do My Thing".[5][6][7] Essentials was well received by critics, and appeared on several lists of the best albums of the year from publications including Vice,[8] Crack Magazine,[9] and Gorilla vs. Bear,[10] which also named Essentials as one of the best albums of the 2010s.[11]

Her April 2020 remix of English singer Dua Lipa's single "Physical" appeared on the remix EP for the song.[12] She performed a set for Boiler Room's Streaming from Isolation series in May 2020.[13] In October 2020, she signed to American record label 4AD and released her first single with the label, "No Butterflies, No Nothing", with a music video.[14][2] The Fader named the single as one of the best songs of 2020.[15] As of 2020, she is in the process of making a second studio album.[4]

Casier's music is mostly pop, R&B,[3] and experimental pop,[16] and has taken inspiration from music of the 1990s and early 2000s, incorporating genres such as g-funk, bossa nova, and breakbeat.[7][4] She has listed Canadian singer Avril Lavigne's 2002 album Let Go and American singers Brandy and Monica's 1998 song "The Boy Is Mine" as influences on her music.[17] She sings, writes, and produces much of her music.[18]

As of 2020, Casier is studying to earn a master's degree in Music Creation at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory. She has described herself as "not a spiritual person at all".[4]