In a turn of events, the artists themselves and not just the fans have begun to talk about Khia Asylum, which in internet slang refers to a kind of “virtual prison” where female artists (and male artists, but there would be fewer) who have “flopped” -note the quotes- for a long time live; That is, artists who had success and relevance in the past, but who cannot match that impact in the present, even if they try.
Zara Larsson recently expressed leaving Khia Asylum in an interview with Dazed, and Charli XCX even mentioned it in a promotional interview for her new film ‘The Moment’. He says that “maybe one day he will return to Khia Asylum” and “see all his friends who are still there.” There he would meet, for example, Bebe Rexha, one of the veteran tenants. Bebe Rexha recently begged X for help to get out of there, and she gave the go-ahead for Taylor Swift to help her out. Swift has been crucial in getting artists who lived at Khia Asylum to leave the center, as was the case with her Eras Tour opening act, Sabrina Carpenter.
@tomasmier Charli XCX jokes about the Khia asylum during fan screening of The Moment at the Grove in Los Angeles #charlixcx #bratcharlixcx #brat #charlixcxbrat @Charli
Bebe Rexha shares audio from inside the “Khia asylum”:
“I heard Sabrina got out. Zara, Charli, they left. They never looked back. And my fat a**, flop a** is still in here.” pic.twitter.com/XwAz1GbZnV
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 10, 2026
Artists like Charli, Sabrina, Ava Max, and now to a lesser extent Zara Larsson, as well as Chappell Roan, Tinashe, Madison Beer or Kehlani, have in common having managed to exponentially raise their level of notoriety in recent times, through singles that have transcended the “alternative” barrier and have reached the mainstream, after many years of trying very hard. For example, Tinashe made ‘Nasty’ viral in 2024, but afterward, the success of the ‘No Broke Boys’ remix has been enormous and continues to this day. ‘Brat’ by Charli We love Charli xcx, but most of us didn’t know her before ‘brat’ nor did we know that she had more albums.
All of these artists also have in common that they are women, and the implicit sexism of Khia Asylum has been much commented on. It’s inherent in her name, in fact: it comes from rapper Khia, who hit it big with ‘My Neck My Back (Lick It)’ in 2002 and then disappeared from the mainstream scene. Khia is a recent example of an artist who once had success and then failed to replicate it: the irony is that his name is more present than ever thanks to the concept of Khia Asylum, one of many occurrences on Stan Twitter, that X space where music fans debate their favorite artists, especially women.
(The link between Khia Asylum and female figures has been reinforced with the use of the video of Hannah Montana saying goodbye through a window, which has been “meme-fied” and is associated with Khia Asylum when an artist leaves that space after a long time. Miley Cyrus says goodbye excitedly: sad, but happy to finally be able to get out of there.)
It is evident that men do not arouse the same interest or fascination among pop stans, and their presence in the Khia Asylum is practically invisible, so much so that someone might think that there are no boys there. But yes there are. The most obvious example, although for some reason it is usually overlooked, is Lil Nas X, currently out of action following his arrest last year. Shawn Mendes has also entered the “asylum”, along with his ex Camila Cabello, and Khalid was accepted just when he said that he is homosexual (after suffering an “outing”). By the way, Sam Smith – who is non-binary – leaves and enters there frequently, while his friend Kim Petras has a record of staying there.
But what makes some artists enter Khia Asylum and others not? Obviously, there are artists who have never set foot in that place in their lives, like Taylor Swift, Drake or Bruno Mars, because they have never known a “flop” that was too long in time. Artists who have been at the top access this virtual purgatory (we always talk about mainstream, I insist) and, suddenly, they have fallen miserably, often for having transmitted too intense a “cringe” that the public does not forgive.
There we should mention Katy Perry, who although she sells out tickets all over the world, her commercial strength is not even remotely what it once was; Justin Timberlake, who has gone from being considered practically a genius to being reduced to memes; or, of course, the couple formed by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, who when they sealed their kisses in that fateful video, they also sealed their fate.
The crucial factor that keeps an artist away from asylum, as diagnosed by influencer Zachary Hourihane – known as Swiftologist for being a Taylor Swift specialist – in a recent interview, is “coolness”: being “cool.” Due to an embarrassing episode – like the one Perry starred in in the ‘Witness’ era – many artists lose the mystery and become figures that arouse more shame in others than admiration. The cringe, without a doubt, is a great run-killer.
It is worth clarifying that Khia Asylum does not include artists permanently installed in a niche or alternative field, such as Carly Rae Jepsen or Marina Diamandis, since although both had commercial successes in the past, it cannot be said that right now they are piloting their careers in that direction. Not to mention just women, Troye Sivan is another artist who looks like he should sign in at the asylum, but hasn’t gotten the credentials yet; perhaps because its commercial impact has not been so high, for now.
The concept of Khia Asylum is a product of the networks as it is based on a distorted idea of success, according to which certain artists are “failing.” Some time ago, Guille Galván from Vetusta Morla criticized in A narrative, by the way, that dehumanizes artists and ignores their own circumstances and contexts, reducing their careers to an exercise in mockery rather than analysis.
There are precedents that help us understand the Khia Asylum. No fall from the past should have hurt as much as that of Christopher Cross, who went from winning the four most important Grammys in a single night with his debut in 1981 (a milestone that would not be repeated until 2020 with Billie Eilish’s “big four”), and from winning an Oscar, to disappearing from the conversation completely. Cross laid the first brick in the construction of this building of artists installed in their “flop era” with no exit on the horizon. But, as Zara Larsson, Tinashe and Sabrina Carpenter demonstrate, tenacity can get you out of there. You just have to wait for the public to make the final decision.
