What’s good Fesssi?! How did your 2026 start off?
Hey yalll<3 it’s been wonderful! Spent the first day of the new year playing a fun show with some friends at Hawthorne (St. Pete), so an ideal start for sure.
How long have you been singing and playing instruments?
I started producing beats and singing in 2019 after hanging around the scene a little bit and really getting into live music. That same year I picked up the bass guitar after seeing Japanese Breakfasts’ bassist at The Orpheum, and in 2023 I started taking lessons from Spoiled Rat’s lead guitarist Cassidy Altieri, which lead to my current sound.
How was your first time playing Punk Black last year in Tampa?
Oh man…it was so sick, everyone ripped! I’ve looked up to a lot of them (Pilot Jonez + Dea & Saint) musically for a minute so it was sweet getting to play alongside them. Everyone—show goers and performers alike—was so supportive and present.
Where is a city you would love to play and why?
Chicago for sure. I love the indie rock out of there (Horsegirl and Lifeguard) and all the footwork too, the scenes out there just seem so sick!
You released 3 projects in 2025, tender i, tender ii, and tender iii. How long did that process take, and what was on your mind?
That took me a few weeks towards the end of 2024. I started writing during the onset of Hurricane Helene and kept on through Milton until the end of October. At the time I was just super bored, scared, lonely and hot—I had no power for like a week and some change and my laptop was broken so I couldn’t make beats like usual. I’d recently hit a year of guitar lessons and was like, what the hell, let me just try and write some songs on the guitar before I lose my mind. Up until that point i’d never done that but I had nothing but time so I just went for it.
Which artists are you listening to right now?
Samba Jean-Baptiste has realllyyyy been blowing my mind. I heard him on NTS Radio at the beginning of the year and have been listening religiously everyday since. I got back into some Minnie Riperton this month too—one of my favorite voices ever, and Wednesday is kind of never not in rotation haha Karly’s pen is just too good.
What is your main goal personally or musically in 2026?
Personally it’s to not be afraid of letting go, and musically it’s to play a wholeee bunch of shows.
If you had to choose one song from your entire catalog introducing someone to your music, which song would it be?
Ooooo that’s tough…right now i think for sure that sounds better…but that answer may change in the coming months.
Any advice to young black women coming up in the alternative scenes?
The only way that this doesn’t work or go in your favor is if you stop, so don’t ever stop. You belong here, you’re needed here. And like, do it as you. Like for me, my go-to kinda uniform is beauty supply gloss, bamboos, a band tee and a sally4 hat. You don’t have to adopt a particular look or an affect to exist in an alternative music scene. We’re actually sooo fly, and being us in that space is sooo fly.
