“The allegations are true,” admits Farheen Khan on a Zoom call from her NYC apartment, where Storm Fern has transformed the city into an oppressive ice kingdom fit for a villainous frost witch. She’s referring to rumours that she met her MGNA Crrrta bandmate Ginger Scott on a Minecraft roleplaying server, adding that the pair bonded over their shared love of The Hunger Games. “We have an encyclopedic knowledge of Hunger Games lore,” Scott confesses, a poster for the series visible on the wall behind her. “You could ask what a random District Six side tribute was doing in any chapter, and I would know.”

“The outlet that we used through playing video games is how we make music now,” Scott explains. Although they don’t feel the need to game as much nowadays, they did recently collaborate with The Duper Trooper on YouTube, where they assisted in destroying a pay-to-win Minecraft gambling server that simultaneously doubled as a drop party for their track “Pür Love”. “The games we were playing were all about self-expression,” she explains. “The creative agency that we had and that element of our life happens now through our music, which is fun!”

With their second mixtape, Beautiful Disaster, dropping on February 20, three years after the last, now is not the time to play. Buzzy December release “BFF” features in the tracklisting along with their latest single “4me?” and a treasure trove of euphoric new delights. Girlhood-focused, the project touches on coming of age and acknowledging the nuance between the good aspects and the bad. It’s mountainous and dreamlike, feeling simultaneously extremely real but somehow spiritual, with an ethereal aura. “It feels like this bottle of all of our angst that we’re giving everybody,” Scott describes, with Khan revealing the triple ‘r’ in Crrrta is in reference to riot grrrl.

“I feel like the mixtape being called Beautiful Disaster reflects the way we approach music,” Scott explains. “It’s so unapologetic – you’re either going to completely love it or be totally confused.” Fresh off sold-out December tour dates, a DJ set at The Dare’s Freakquencies night and an invitation to perform at Celine’s Homme summer afterparty, the duo are clearly gaining momentum, with a fanbase spanning everyone from Gen Alpha to Gen X. “We’re definitely leaning into that a little bit,” Scott adds, describing their musical process as “messy vibes”, where everything somehow works out in the end. “We try to be the perfect version of ourselves, but that’s too much work – and it’s also inauthentic to who we are as people.”

Originally meeting online through shared fandom, having the MGNA Crrrta girlies explains some of their internet favourites for Dazed Faves felt like destiny in itself. Let’s unpack the evidence.

FAVE FILM: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA (2005)

Khan: Honestly, the first and the second Narnia were such inspo for Beautiful Disaster; coming into age, exploring a new space and having this greater mission. But it’s also inspo because I’ve probably seen Narnia like 100 times. I had it on the DVR when I was a kid. My parents had to change the name of the movie on the DVR because I was addicted to watching it; it was the only thing I would watch. They thought there was something wrong with me.

Even just like the shiny things I was obsessed with, like the crowns that they would wear. I was obsessed with, like Lucy and Susan and the fantastical realm of Narnia, the lions and tigers and bears, the animals speaking and all coming together to fight for this message of good. When Mr Tumnus is playing the flute and putting Lucy to sleep, the fire is making all those shapes: that’s so MGNA Crrrta. In the second movie, when they go into Narnia through the cave, like, that is so MGNA Crrrta, we literally use that exact shot for a music video. 

FAVE TOY: BUBBLE GUNS 

Scott: Every time we do a show, we always bring up bubble guns during the song Girl Party and it covers the room with so many bubbles.

Khan: Bubbles cause such a reaction in the brain, down to your core, it’s the best ever. Ever since you were like a kid and you could first perceive things, bubbles were the best. It’s been such a staple part of our show now, we’ve been doing it probably since 2022, when we first started doing shows. I feel it’s so exciting to just keep doing the bubbles. 

FAVE CREEPYPASTA: JEFF THE KILLER

Scott: I don't know if this is necessarily favourite or least favourite, but this is just the scariest creepypasta to me. Jeff the Killer is so scary. When I was a kid, I would be so afraid. And it’s one of those creepypasta pictures that you see, and you’re like: “Oh my god, now that I saw that, I’m gonna attract him into my life, he‘s gonna come to my house and kill me!” Now, I’ll randomly see an AI video of him on TikTok and scroll past so quickly. 

FAVE BOOK: THE HUNGER GAMES CATCHING FIRE

Khan: The second book of the Hunger Games series. It’s just the best one, and everything comes together. It’s so intense. It’s so emotional. Everything about it is so big and massive. It literally blew our nine-year-old minds when we read it for the first time. 

FAVE YOUTUBE: @11foot8plus8

Scott: This YouTube channel is connected to cameras at an intersection somewhere in America. Basically, there’s a bridge that has a low clearance, and there are videos of these giant trucks crashing into it. 

Khan: You pick up on the different language associated with the fandom elements, sometimes a truck will go into the bridge, and the whole top will just peel off: that’s the “can opener”. And it’s so satisfying but also so funny. They have traffic angles from all different angles, so you see people’s reactions.

Scott: You just hear the sound of the truck crashing. I love it when they try to back out, it’s so funny. It’s always like rental trucks, too, so that sucks! But also, that is totally something that we would do accidentally.

Khan: They put so many signs up now, but this keeps happening. They put up so many warning things and it’s still happening. After this call, you need to do a deep dive. 

Beautiful Disaster is released on February 20