Chances are if you are involved with queer internet culture to any extent you have heard of terms such as “oomf”, “reheating nachos” and “onika burgers.” All these terms have come mostly from X, formerly known as Twitter, and are constantly evolving as new pop culture moments arise.
Chronically online queer people create more terminology every day that can be hard to keep up with. Of these is a fictional location known as “The Khia Asylum”, named after the rapper behind the song “My Neck, My Back (Lick It).” The term has gained traction as multiple musicians have referenced it in recent interviews and album rollouts, such as Charli xcx, Zara Larsson and Bebe Rexha.
But what exactly is The Khia Asylum and why is Bebe Rexha posting TikToks about how she is so desperate to escape it?
The commonly agreed on definition of The Khia Asylum is a fictional prison in which irrelevant music artists have been sentenced to live out their days. The term was initially coined in a May 2024 in a post on X by user @impxrfectforyou with a tier list of female pop stars ranked in terms of relevance. The bottom tier was listed as The Khia Asylum with Zara Larsson, Ava Max, Charli xcx, Bebe Rexha and Kim Petras listed as the inmates.
Demi Lovato and Camila Cabello were both listed as buying their tickets into The Khia Asylum with Sabrina Carpenter depicted as just escaping with the success of her song “Espresso.”
Since then, the term has grown in popularity and has been co-opted into an adjective to describe any irrelevant or unsuccessful artist as a Khia.
There are some artists with little room to debate if they belong under the title, an example being Rita Ora.
Ora has a seemingly diverse career between music, acting roles in films such as the “Descendants” and the “Fifty Shades” franchise and reality TV judge appearances. Despite all of this she does not hold a strong presence in pop culture or has any hit songs.
A more infamous “Khia Moment” of Ora’s career is a 2014 Tweet stating “Dropping my new song Monday if this gets 100,000 retweets”. The post gained very little traction and the following Monday Ora posted “By the way my Twitter got hacked someone is threatening to release new music I’ve worked really hard on. Nothing comes out until I’m ready”.
Most of the posts around the Khia Asylum tend to be from women and queer men who mostly listen to female artists leading to the inmates also being a majority female artists which questions if male artists are also allowed to be a Khia. Other factors such as musicians with major fall offs in the case of Katy Perry, having popular songs but little chart success in the case of Lorde or controversies in the case of Nicki Minaj and her recent associations with the Trump Administration also lead to grey areas on what it truly means to be a Khia.
There’s also a category of newer artists such as Gracie Abrams and Sombr who have achieved commercial success and Grammy nominations for their work but equally amassed very divisive opinions that make their role as a Khia disputed. Coming from a social media term with no true definition, it can truly be up to individuals to decide who they classify as Khia or not.
Some artists have escaped the imagined prison, though. Two of the members listed in the original Tweet: Charli xcx and Zara Larsson have recently been considered by many to escape with the release of “brat” in 2024 for Charli and “Midnight Sun” in 2025 for Larsson.
Playing a major role in the success of both albums was the branding that came with them. The marketing of “brat” revolved around the lime green background with Arial Narrow writing used by many companies, including the presidential campaign for Kamala Harris, and ended with summer 2024 being dubbed by many as “brat summer”.
“Midnight Sun” took advantage of the popular dolphin meme used with Larsson’s 2018 hit “Symphony” in 2024 with the album’s aesthetic being based around the same neon colored summer used with the meme. An alternate cover of the album was made featuring the work of Lisa Frank, known for her vibrant imagery, reminiscent of the meme. The Recording Academy even deemed “brat” the 2024 winner of the Best Recording Package award.
There is some debate over whether The Khia Asylum is a genius term to tier pop artists, a degrading term to put down mostly female artists trying their best or just a regurgitation of already existing terms, such as one-hit wonder. Despite your personal opinion, The Khia Asylum is not going anywhere. Now, social media users just need to wait until June 12 to see if Bebe Rexha’s new album “Dirty Blonde: The Visual Album” is the escape she has been teasing.