Miss Monique to Debut Nature-Centric Biorhythm Show in the U.S. This Weekend, With Bigger Plans for America to Follow

Miss Monique’s upcoming headlining show at Brooklyn Pacha has sold out, the Ukrainian producer learned recently while working in her Lisbon studio.

Known for her progressive house productions and green hair, she has played U.S. festivals including Ultra and EDC Las Vegas. A sold-out show of her own carries a different significance, she told Billboard over Zoom from her home in Lisbon.

“I’m very appreciative of the U.S. crowd for the support,” said the artist, born Alesia Arkusha. “To bring your own show, that’s a completely different thing… you have more responsibility. But we’re sold out, so I think it’s another great sign of our relationship with the U.S. market.”

Miss Monique, who is known in the European club scene, said raising her U.S. profile is a major goal for 2027. “I would say I’m at the very beginning,” she said of breaking in the U.S. “For me, the U.S. crowd and market is completely different from everything I’ve done before.”

Of the sold-out show, she added: “I feel like my relationship with the U.S. is having an amazing start.”

She will bring Biorhythm, an immersive audiovisual show she debuted at Tomorrowland’s Freedom Stage in July, to Brooklyn. She took it to Argentina last month and plans to bring it to France later this month. Its imagery combines jellyfish and forests with iron structures, reflecting on what can be lost when technology crowds out nature.

“I started understanding that maybe I have a small power to remind people to be protective of nature,” she said. “I don’t want to give people a lesson, but Biorhythm is that reminder that we shouldn’t forget about nature.”

Miss Monique grew up in Ukraine surrounded by parks and open land. She said nature has felt more distant during 15 years of touring and career growth. Biorhythm is an attempt to hold onto it alongside the music she finds equally meaningful.

“I love to live next to nature,” she said, turning her camera to show the forest outside her window. “Even here, I try to find places where I can sit and see something peaceful.”

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, she said, she “woke up in bed at 4:00 a.m., because of the explosions.”

After the war began, she moved from Ukraine to Portugal and continued producing progressive house and touring while her friends and family lived amid the war. “My heart is broken,” she said. “Until the war is over in Ukraine, I cannot fully enjoy this life. I have amazing people around me; I’m based in a fantastic country. But I know my home is going through hell.”

In the war’s early days, she often cried when audience members held up Ukrainian flags or offered support. She has since “learned how to keep my emotions inside,” she said. “I still always have that mark on my heart. It’s the same for every Ukrainian.”

Music “is also medicine for me,” she said, as well as for the people who see her play. “Music saved my life so many times. It saved me emotionally in the hardest moments. Music has always been there for me.”

Her latest single, “Undertone,” with Belgian producer Paradoks, is out today. It follows “Beauty in Us,” her September collaboration with English pop artist Robbie Williams. They first connected in 2023, when Miss Monique remixed a song by Williams’ electronic trio Lufthaus. Working with him again on a full track “was an absolute honor,” she said.

This spring, Miss Monique plans to spend one or two months living in the U.S. as she works to raise her profile there. “When we travel, we are huge fans of exploring, not just coming in and out,” she said of herself and her partner. “I want to feel how people live, the culture, the mentality. I want to understand what it’s like to be based there.”

In 2024, she traveled to the Grand Canyon to record an outdoor livestream. Standing at the canyon’s edge as the sun set, she was moved to tears. “I never even dreamed that I would be there one day,” she said. “That stream was one of the best of my life.”

Her signature green hair began as an experiment in her teens. When she later tried returning to her natural color, fans objected. “They were fighting with me,” she said with a laugh. She called her stylist the next morning, and her hair has stayed green ever since. The color also appears in her visuals and in the green heart emojis fans post on her social media.

“Step by step,” she said, “I realized green is my color.”

Source: Billboard