Behind the Mask of horsegiirL: How Sita Messer Built One of Music’s Most Unhinged Universes

The term “Horse Girl” (noun), according to Urban Dictionary, is defined as “a very annoying female that loves horses and talks about horses all the f*cking time.” But according to electronic music acolytes and chronically online club kids, it has an entirely different meaning.

Since 2022, a horse has been taking over electronic music. horsegiirL, the anonymous Berlin-based DJ and half-horse/half-human pop provocateur, has become one of dance music’s most delightfully unhinged success stories: a stable superstar of Eurodance euphoria, internet absurdism, and enough lore to fuel a Reddit deepdive.

Helping build that universe from behind the curtains — including crafting her now-iconic hyperreal equine mask — is Sita Messer, the artist, creative consultant, and multidisciplinary mastermind who has been with the project since day one. Messer, who got his start in Germany’s theater world as a costume and stage designer before expanding into sound design, music, writing, and performance art, describes himself simply as “an artist that does everything.” Which tracks. Trying to pin down exactly what Messer does feels a little like tracing the boundaries of the horsegiirL universe itself: every time you think you’ve pinned it down, it mutates into something bigger, stranger, and more elaborate.

Messer stays relatively mum about the exact inception of the performance-art-meets-pop-project, cheekily recalling that he first heard “a horse just moved to Berlin, and she wanted to become a superstar and needed a little makeover.” Naturally, he was in. “I was gagged by the whole idea,” he says. “It was actually the music that really got me.” What followed was an instant creative chemistry built on humor, maximalism, and a shared desire to make art fun again. “It all started as a joke actually,” Messer explains. “It was just a fun thing in a really harsh, horrible world.”

Still, don’t mistake absurdity for lack of intention. As horsegiirL prepares to enter a new era on June 5 with the release of her debut album, Nature Is Healing, Messer is helping steer the project into more expansive territory. Alongside Stella Stallion herself, he has been shaping a sonic and visual world he describes as “more worldly and spiritual” with flashes of ‘90s pop, techno peaks, and “really good lyrics,” continuing to blur the line between performance art experiment and bona fide pop stardom. “I’m 100% certain she’s going to be a massive pop star,” he says plainly.

Dialing in between horsegiirL’s headlining performances and an international music video shoot for “only the best”, Messer caught up with NYLON’s Sam Tracy to unpack his early days in German theater, connecting with Stella in the Berlin club scene, and how the duo continue to build lore and looks in real time.

You really do a bit of everything. How would you describe yourself creatively?

I always saw myself as an artist that does performing arts, and also branches out into music. I love music, everything that deals with language and expresses through visuals. That has always always been my thing. But I initially studied costume design. For the first years of my career, I was just doing that, then branched out to stage design as well.

But the German-speaking theater world is quite conservative and not really forward-thinking. I always had this drive to go big. I wanted people all over the world to know what I do. That’s the little flame I’ve always had inside me.

How did you first connect with Stella Stallion to create the horsegiirL project?

I’ve been there since day one. We had a mutual friend who asked me if I wanted to do a little work on Stella when she was just starting. I had heard a horse just moved to Berlin, and she wanted to become a superstar and needed a little makeover. It was my first attempt at being a plastic surgeon.

We met up, she explained her vision, and I was immediately down for it. I listened to the music before I had even met her and I was like, ‘F*ck, this is literally 100% of what I’m listening to and I want to be part of this project.’ I was gagged by the whole idea, but it was actually the music that really got me.

We bonded immediately through humor — she’s hilarious. It all started as a joke actually. It was just a fun thing that gave me light in a really harsh, horrible world. I could put together all of my inspiration, all of my thoughts, share it with her, and then we made something of it. It’s our little refuge.

It’s quite a look! Had you ever worked on a horse before?

I had never worked on a horse before. As a matter of fact, she was the first horse-human that I’d ever met in my life. I don’t know if there’s any other half horse-half human people out there, but I haven’t seen one yet.

What’s your creative dynamic with Stella like behind the scenes?

She finds a lot of inspiration herself, though we are definitely a team. We come up with a random idea and then it snowballs. We add new stuff all the f*cking time and it feels so natural.

We have a very strong connection when it comes to art. We think the same almost — it’s like we have the same brain. It’s very hard to track down whose ideas are whose. It doesn’t even matter. It’s our thing.

She has a complete vision of the whole thing, and I’m her creative consultant. I define it a little bit more, visualize the idea, come up with new storylines, and add more stuff to it. There’s so much more in the pipeline that we’re going to bring out at some point. It’s hard to hold ourselves back from just spilling it everywhere already.

How do you and Stella build the lore and storylines around horsegiirL?

It’s a blurry line because we’re also best friends. Whenever we sit down with a glass of wine or whatever, we just jump into it and come up with the craziest ideas. First we laugh about it, then we actually take it seriously and we spin it further and further. If she feels right about one path, then obviously we’re going to jump into that and then it’s the lore and we just go all in. We don’t sit down and say, ‘We have to come up with a new storyline.’ It’s all natural. Inspiration is there all of the time.

People compare horsegiirL’s theatricality to artists like Lady Gaga. Do you see those parallels? Who do you look to for inspiration?

Obviously, Lady Gaga did some extra shit back in the day, and I used to be a massive Monster because that was just great, but we are really not copying anyone.

The inspiration comes from everywhere — everything we see and hear. This project is for us to finally go all-in with what’s in our head, rather than trying to copy some path of artistry.

I think the fact that she’s not just a human being is already “extra” to most people. And because we’re from Europe, we still carry some Europeanness and especially Berlin-ness to it somehow. Before, her looks were very punk-y Berlin. The fashion she wore, the hairstyles, the music — it was all very Berlin-coded. But now we’re entering a new era that’s a little bit more worldly and spiritual.

What excites you most about this next horsegiirL era?

I’m excited about the music and really excited about the response to it because we do dive into a new era. It’s more pop, but it still has techno peaks and dancey tracks. It’s world-musicky, and it shows much more of who she actually is.

I’m excited because this is the first time she’s really going to place herself as a pop star. I’m 100% certain she’s going to be a massive pop star. She came from DJing and doing happy, easygoing music into doing something very deep now, with really good and intelligent lyrics. I hope people understand who Stella actually is and how she’s a diamond. She’s not a one-hit wonder, she’s here for the long-term.

Do you see a deeper message in the horsegiirL project?

Don’t take life too seriously.

We’ve never had a political message or anything but this project has a message because it triggers a lot in people. There’s as much hate as there is love. Everyone has an opinion about it. It became controversial somehow, even though it’s literally just supposed to be fun and it doesn’t hurt anyone. It’s literally just the way she looks and the fun of it all that doesn’t sit right with some people. It’s crazy.

For me, this project is so much fun, and I can tell by how much fun the Farmies have, it’s become a refuge in this terrible world and really terrible times. I’d like to see more of this. Humor is everything. If I don’t get the chance to laugh all the time, or laugh about really bad things, then what am I going to do?