Jazmin Bean: “This is all I ever wanted to do. I wanted to escape so badly”

Enter the underworld ruled by Jazmin Bean, and you can’t help but be intrigued by their unpredictable nature. The Yami-kawaii-styled (a Japanese aesthetic) London star performed their dreamy grunge – dressed, they say, in a “conservative yeti but very pink” outfit – at The Pit stage, where all the eccentric rockers love to go nuts.

Bean, who has “never been to a festival before”, absolutely loved the audience at their first ever festival performance: “I think The Pit was a really good crowd. They seemed a bit more passionate.” Still, this show was pared-down compared to their first-ever show, where they rubbed chicken liver all over themselves.

“Honestly, I’ve not played too many proper shows before,” Bean tells NME, “and when I was doing the liver, I was very young at the time. I was underaged as hell in these bars with this chicken liver, and no-one there cared to see me. There was like 10 people there, so this is like a big step. I’ll still love to do stuff like that but the audience is different – there are kids here.”

Aw a rare video of where it all started, a few years ago singing and rubbing chicken liver all over myself to a very small club of people who didn’t really care lol ?, this was so smelly to clean up apologies to @Jessicawinterr who had to clean it up after pic.twitter.com/8aXk7Rcpai

— jazmin bean?☆彡 (@abortjazminbean) November 13, 2020

Jazmin Bean’s style draws on sugary sweet Hello Kitty aesthetic, with frightening monstrous looks inspired by Aswangs, the Filipino folklore of shape-shifting monsters. The musician explains that the Philippines is part of their heritage, and beams: “They love to scare bitches”. Bean’s striking look similarly comes from a place of escapism: “It’s all I ever wanted to do when I was younger. I wanted to escape so badly. What could I do? I would transform into this.”

With Reading Festival now under their belt, the only way is up for Jazmin Bean. Always ready to leave their guts (and animals’ too) on stage, they’re already planning their next demonic show, where nothing will be off-limits. So bring your umbrella in case it’s raining brains at their next set.