ICON: INDIE WOMEN TALENT

Today, March 8th, International Women’s Day, we would like to celebrate a few women-identifying artists leaving their mark on the indie music scene ❤️

1. Dora Jar 

Dora Jar has a really unique style. She blends indie rock with folk songwriting and electronic elements with hip-hop beats, creating her own trademark sound. In a world full of distractions, she talks about the importance of being present. “That’s a huge truth in creation, is leaving a lot of the connections to be made later and just trusting,” she says.

Born in New York and based in California since 4, she improved her vocal skills on road trips between Northern and Southern California with her mother, a theater actress. She didn’t study music or go to the conservatory.

 

2. Luna Li

Luna Li was born in Toronto. She started to play piano at 5 years of age, and violin at 7. She is inspired by nature and is particularly drawn to the moon. “The moon is so powerful, and it has a feminine energy which resonates with me,” she says. “I think the imagery of the light shining through the dark is also just really beautiful.” In March 2020, after COVID-19 first hit, she started posting “jam videos” to her social media and gained a lot of recognition. After this, she released her EP “Jams”

3. Ruru

Denice Quimbo is the artist puppeteering Ruru, having begun the solo project in 2014. When asked to describe herself as an artist, Quimbo says in an interview, “As an artist? Hmm… I’m a dot amongst the sea of dots; screaming at the top of my lungs trying to make a relevant sound.” Homeschooled from grade school to her formative teen years, Quimbo was able to surround herself with a lush variety of music growing up.

 

 

 

4. Mei Semones

Mei Semones is an artist creating jazz-influenced indie-pop songs with lyrics in both Japanese and English, currently based in Boston, MA. Mei’s influences include John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk, João Gilberto, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana, with a sprinkle of folk. With these different influences, she creates her own sound.

 

 

5. Fake Dad

Andrea de Varona and Josh Ford, aka Fake Dad, make music in their tiny Brooklyn studio/apartment. Since the beginning of 2018, they have been inseparable, sharing a love for music at the center of their relationship long before they started writing together. With a signature production sound and distinct vocal style, they create a consistent and engaging framework for their unique perspectives. Although Andrea and Josh come from different musical backgrounds, they share a common goal: to create something that you can relate to. Fake Dad is always there to give you a friendly pat on the back and a warm cup of cocoa after a long, hard day. They want you to know that everything is going to be okay.

 

6. spill tab

Claire Chicha has her unique lo-fi alternative pop sound sung mostly in English and sometimes in French. Working with chief collaborator and production partner marinelli, they started spill tab on 2018.

spill tab’s two EP’s ‘Oatmilk’ (Dec 2020) and ‘Bonnie’ (Dec 2021) have amassed over 30 million streams to date.

7. Pecas

Brooklyn-based artist Sandy Davis (pecas) was born in Madrid, Spain. Davis’ soulful voice is at the forefront of the ever-evolving sound of pecas, drawing from the worlds of R&B, jazz, and electronic. Her songs are intimate and warm and touch often on the themes of longing and the complexity of belonging.

8. KiNG MALA

Areli Castro is behind KiNG MALA, an emergent artist that has a distinctive dark-pop sound. She speaks about themes such as lust, recklessness, and badass femininity. Castro shares, “That’s really the inspiration for the name KiNG MALA, king cuz fuck being someone’s queen, and mala literally means “bad bitch” in Spanish.”  KiNG MALA hopes her music may allow others to feel confident and cool. “I hope it helps people feel okay with what they feel, I’m a person with very intense feelings and it took me a long time to realize that that’s a gift, not a weakness.”

 

 

9. Emmrose

Emmrose is a seventeen-year-old singer-songwriter living in New York City. She has been writing, recording, and performing her original music since the age of fourteen.

Born and raised in lower Manhattan, Emmrose began playing piano at the age of eight.  “I was at Sunday School when I came across a brown, upright piano sitting alone in a room. I remember sitting alone and playing an A-minor chord. I didn’t know what that was yet. I played some other chords and before I knew it, I had written my first instrumental song.”  

10. Snail Mail

Snail Mail is the American indie rock solo project of guitarist and singer-songwriter Lindsey Jordan. She first performed as Snail Mail live in 2015 at the age of 15 and attracted attention with the EP Habit in 2016. Jordan considers Hayley Williams of Paramore, Liz Phair and Avril Lavigne her idols and musical inspirations.

 

Thank you very much for reading us. Please check out these artists and don’t hesitate to recommend us more music in the comments.