I Ya Toyah releases Nine Inch Nails cover ‘Closer’ on Femme Fatale Records
Chicago industrial artist I Ya Toyah released a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” on 21 August 2026 via Femme Fatale Records, with a video by Alex Zarek.
Chicago industrial and darkwave artist I Ya Toyah released “Closer”, a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song, on 21 August 2026 through her own label Femme Fatale Records. It is a digital single, and it arrives with a video the same week. On Bandcamp the artist describes the release in a single line: “This is the cover of Nine Inch Nail’s song.”
The original was written by Michael Trent Reznor and appeared on Nine Inch Nails‘ 1994 album “The Downward Spiral”. I Ya Toyah produced this version with Johnny K, who also mixed it. Howie Weinberg mastered the track and Angelica Dulany supplied the artwork. Publishing runs through Leaving Hope Music and TVT Music, with the cover licensed through Easy Song Licensing.
“Closer” is the third single I Ya Toyah has issued through Femme Fatale Records this year, after the two-track “Feelings” on 1 May and “Apology” on 26 June. Johnny K mixed and produced all three, and Howie Weinberg mastered them. Her press release describes the run as a completed trilogy about the forces that shape identity.
The ‘Closer’ video
The video was filmed and directed by Alex Zarek, who edited it with I Ya Toyah. The concept is hers. Angelica Dulany handled production assistance and additional direction, Janet Debris did makeup and Allison Ciletti managed the location. It went up on her own YouTube channel on 21 August 2026.
The single is on Bandcamp and on the usual streaming services through a single smart link.
About I Ya Toyah
I Ya Toyah is the solo project of Ania Tarnowska, a Polish-born musician, producer and engineer based in the Chicago area. The name comes from Polish, where the spoken phrase reads as “it’s just me”. She trained on classical guitar, piano and voice as a child, studied music business and audio engineering at the SAE Institute in 2016, and started the project in 2017 with the single “Funeral For Love”. The debut album “Code Blue” followed on 26 October 2018, self-released, with the single “Farewell – Mirrors Don’t Lie” alongside it.
The catalogue after that ran quickly. “Code Blue Reloaded” and “Code Blue Revelations” both landed in 2020, the five-part EP “Out of Order” in 2021 and the acoustic EP “Ghosts” in 2022. “Panic Room” arrived in 2023, produced with Walter Flakus of Stabbing Westward, whose US dates she opened that year. Flakus also worked on the “I am the Fire” EP and the album “DRAMA”, both 2024, the year Side-Line covered her video for ‘Fraud’ and talked to her about the new album.
She has been a member of The Joy Thieves since 2019 and toured with Pigface the same year. Remixers and collaborators across the catalogue include Rhys Fulber, who remixed “Flashback” in 2019, Tim Skold, who remixed “Motion” in 2020, and Julian Beeston of Nitzer Ebb, whose “We The People”, “Higher Than The Sun” and “Crazy Horses” all feature her. She has also remixed PIG’s “The New Disorder”. In 2024 she toured the United States with Orgy and Cold and played her first European dates supporting Front Line Assembly, and she returned to Europe in February and March 2026 as direct support on KMFDM’s tour. Femme Fatale Records, her own imprint, has carried her releases since 2024 and now issues “Closer”.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
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