Queens-bred singer and songwriter Liana Bank$ has a knack for making things appear effortless. There’s her sound, a lush wave of hypnotic beats; some call it trap, others call it R&B, she’s described it as an “ice cream sundae . . . a bunch of yummy, savory, flavorful stuff.” There’s her voice, which is raspy and low, spitting out the kind of wordplay you’d expect from an expert lyricist who has worked with the likes of Lily Allen and PnB Rock and is still 26 years young. “Now your pants are hanging at your ankles / Took a selfie had to catch the angle / Oh you know I love it when we tango / Then we ghost yeah, we ghost,” she sings about fleeting relationships on her single “Ghost” off her upcoming sophomore project, Apt. 210.
And then there is her hair, which is a grown-out neon green, a color she adopted six years ago from a drugstore bottle of vegan hair dye. “I was really emo’d out,” says the college dropout, recalling her mood during a sudden hair session that took place in the studio. “I just felt like I looked really dark, and I was like, ‘I can’t be this dark.’ ” The radiant emerald shade represented exactly what she wanted: “Vitality, growth, and money—all things I loved,” she says. “So I did it.”
To maintain the brilliant color, Bank$ uses a dye by Manic Panic called Electric Lizard as her base, plus “a few other secret hues to get the perfect shade,” she says, repping L’Oréal’s Quick Blue Powder Bleach as her favorite lightener. And while the repetitive, harsh process leaves her to rely on routine haircuts, not to mention a shelf full of strengtheners, moisturizers, and preventative sprays—as well as bi-monthly hair masks made of fresh avocado, olive oil, and organic honey—it’s worth it. “I feel like a lot of people may not know my name yet,” says Bank$, “but they know the girl with the green hair.” And if you don’t, now you do.
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