Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter Iniko knows who they are, and they’re unconcerned with those who refuse to accept their freethinking musical expression.

Just a few short years after making it big on TikTok, the non-binary artist, who uses they/them pronouns, raises the vibes higher on their debut album “The Awakening,” released on January 31. The 13-song LP features their previous viral singles, “The King’s Affirmation” and “Jericho,” but in totality, the introduction shows Iniko at their most spiritually and metaphysically liberated.

On “The King’s Affirmation,” Iniko manifests their career with a lyrical promise to be “the greatest,” withstanding naysayers who shall remain “nameless.” It’s public adversity that Iniko chooses to ignore and instead enters a celestial dimension through their nonconformist sound.

“You have to have some kind of mental fortitude and still show up as who you are because a lot of the time you just end up being eaten up by fame,” Iniko tells BET.com. “I think it's all about how you use it and how you choose to navigate it.”

“I'm really intentional with the words that I use because words are powerful; they hold so much weight,” they continue. “Fame has a tendency to turn people dark. If you’re put into the limelight, you're put in front of billions of people; it's hard to continue being yourself when you're being scrutinized on a mass level.”

Iniko had a crash course in facing scrutiny through their heavy-handed upbringing, where they were indoctrinated within the Independent Fundamental Baptist religion at an early age. However, through this hardship, Iniko ultimately left the religion to find their voice.

“I grew up super religious. I had been going to church literally since I started talking up until I was 17, 18 years old,” Iniko, now 28, recalls. “They're evangelical; they're the ones that are very extremist. It was actually really hard to be myself.” 

They continue, “The way that the religion was practiced, the way it was pushed on to me made it hard for me to be myself, I wasn't me. I was existing as someone else to appease everybody else outside of me.”

To mentally free themselves from the organization's weight, along with the day-to-day stress that the music industry can bring, Iniko makes it a daily practice to cry, as they were discouraged from showing their emotions as a child.

“I experience emotion very deeply and really intensely. I have to be really present when I’m experiencing these emotions so I don’t get lost in it,” they express. “I think music is a really, really big reason as to why I know why I feel, why I know why I'm here to do things in general. I wasn't allowed to experience those emotions as a kid.”

On “The Awakening,” Iniko shapeshifts through pop, Afrobeats, R&B, and soul sonics, but partly cites having autism and ADHD as reasons why they can’t focus on a singular genre. Considering the 1970s and 1980s eras as their favorite periods in music, artists like SZA, Imagine Dragons, Doechii, Paramore, and Nina Simone can also be found on Iniko’s “cry playlist.” But where some of these artists lean towards a specific genre, Iniko considers themselves on a different wavelength.

“I think that it is important to know and to know and bring forth like the creator of something, especially if that thing has really helped shape a culture, a community of people,” they share. “However, when it comes to marginalized individuals bending genre and bending music and and and creating new sounds out of old sounds, f**k genre.”

Despite Iniko’s stance, if you skim the comments on their TikToks, you may stumble upon viewers who think that the singer should define themselves or completely misunderstand their artistry.

“There’s nothing I can do for them. As much as I would love for them to understand it, the times that we are in, I cannot expel energy on people who are not open. And that’s okay,” Iniko admits. “With neurodivergent people, rejection can hit a little bit harder.”

However, “Jericho” and “The King’s Affirmation” took social media by storm, and due to their popularity, Iniko bravely found their lane. They invite fans to champion their innermost unconventional nature and shed what’s expected of them.

“That's how those two songs came to be because I needed the reminder in that moment of who I wanted to be and who I knew I was,” Iniko explains. “Sometimes it is the people who are not open to you that will help you open up yourself and then you'll find other people who are open to you.”

“You're never going to stop having anxiety; it's always going to be there,” they continue. “What matters is doing the things, not in fear, but despite it.”