CHIKA

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Thank you for watching Shirley's Temple. Please subscribe and turn on your notifications to find out when I'm dropping my next interview.

Shirley Ju (0:06)

Welcome to Shirley's Temple, y'all. I am so excited, guys. We have a Grammy nominated recording artist whose pen game is unmatched. She's also hilarious. Y'all need to follow her threads because I was crying earlier. Welcome Chika to Shirley's Temple.

CHIKA (0:22)

Thank you so much.

Literally, I haven't seen you in so long. It's been a minute. It's what, like five years?

SPEAKER_4 (0:30)

Oh my God, that's crazy. It is wild.

Shirley Ju (0:31)

You like moved and came back?

SPEAKER_4 (0:33)

Yeah.

CHIKA (0:33)

I just kind of like dipped off. Like the past two years, I've been spending a lot of time like back home, just like bouncing back and forth, but I had to get off the radar for a second.

Shirley Ju (0:42)

I feel you sis, life is crazy.

SPEAKER_4 (0:44)

It's nice.

CHIKA (0:45)

It's actually kind of annoying. Right. But no, I'm back now.

I'm having a time.

Shirley Ju (0:52)

I love that.

CHIKA (0:53)

A renaissance if you will.

Shirley Ju (0:54)

Yes, Purr. I literally was telling my team, I was like, yo, Chika is fucking hilarious. I think the first time I met you, I walked into Warner Records, and you were doing some type of showcase, and I just thought you were so funny.

CHIKA (1:08)

Thank you so much.

Shirley Ju (1:09)

I was like, I just want to be your friend, bro.

CHIKA (1:10)

I'm just a deeply un-serious person. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_4 (1:14)

Is that what it is?

CHIKA (1:15)

Yeah, like don't get it twisted. I do love humor, so I do be making jokes. But for the most part, life is already so serious, and we can't control most of life. So I don't like to lead with being a stickler about anything.

SPEAKER_4 (1:30)

I feel you.

CHIKA (1:30)

So I'm going to crack a joke. I'm going to break the tension in the room. I have to.

Shirley Ju (1:34)

Did the bullying affect you in any type of way, other than turning it into motivation?

CHIKA (1:40)

No, because jinx.

We copped at the same time. Oh my god. Soul sisters.

Shirley Ju (1:48)

I love it.

CHIKA (1:49)

No, it didn't affect me. In hindsight, what I'm realizing is it didn't affect me because I'm autistic. I didn't know that at the time though. So I'll give you the analysis I have for it.

Shirley Ju (2:01)

Please.

CHIKA (2:01)

It didn't affect me because to me, whatever was being said about me either was a known fact, didn't make sense or I wasn't ashamed of. And you can only bully somebody about something that they feel bad about.

Shirley Ju (2:15)

You ever get in fights, Chika? I can see it in you.

CHIKA (2:20)

So here's the thing.

Shirley Ju (2:22)

Don't fuck with me. No, no, no.

CHIKA (2:23)

The only fights that I've almost, because I've never actually had to come to blows with nobody, but almost gotten it has always been me defending somebody else.

Shirley Ju (2:31)

And so like- She's a good friend.

CHIKA (2:33)

No, I'm autistic and I have a strong sense for justice. Like no, I swear to God that's what it is.

Shirley Ju (2:38)

When did you find out you were autistic?

CHIKA (2:40)

I'm 27 and I'm only 29 now.

Shirley Ju (2:43)

How did you find out?

CHIKA (2:44)

Testing.

SPEAKER_1 (2:46)

Oh my God.

CHIKA (2:47)

Testing, also like beginning self-diagnosis because when you start reading about what the spectrum actually is and you start seeing little things in yourself, you're like, wait a minute.

Hold on. And then like I also said that for me growing up, I always felt fundamentally different than everybody around me.

SPEAKER_1 (3:03)

Interesting.

CHIKA (3:04)

And so I already knew there was something wrong. But for most of my adult life, I thought it was like mental illness specifically. I was like, oh, it's just depression or maybe I'm bipolar or whatever. Blah, blah, blah. And I think I've narrowed it down to what I am and who I am. But like, all of the misdiagnoses always circle back around to certain stimuli. And I realized like, oh, like, as I was reading up, these are things that heavily I identify with. Right. And my older sister has Down syndrome. Right. So it's not uncommon for there to be multiple children with either like developmental or like, yeah, you know, other things going on. And yet it just clicked. And when I like understood that that's what was happening, and they're like, I'm a highly sensitive person. Girl.