Year in Pop: 2016

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ONA

Enter the pop world of Ona; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Enter the pop world of Ona; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Ona burst into the universal pop conscious at the beginning of 2016 with her Sex Rock EP where her blueprint of boudoir bedroom pop was laid out to take over the future of what chamber rock should be. With news abounding that the vocal pop star/model/heroine has been working on her ambitious album debut Lullabies for Daddy, ONA proudly presents her self-created video for her new single “In Your Life” that couples together future synth-waves with early 70s glam rhythm & blues sensibilities & prestige. A mover & shaker & mensch in her own right; Ona’s work has been displayed in the Johannes Vogt Gallery, noted for her pro-sex approach to fourth-wave feminism as she evolves the idea of the pin-up as ruler & matriarchal overlord of a sound style, aesthetic class that is all her own and belonging to no one else.

A Brooklyn pop star that is on the rapid high rise, Ona’s addictive approach to the pop song convention exceeds even her own self-styled extreme selfie model facet of expression by way of veiled, teased & alluded exhibitionism. Ona disarms with lyrics like “you can’t hold on if you’re holding a gun” that instantly has her captivated audiences laying down their arms as the entire production of endearing & eagle soaring vocals erupts into a blitzkrieg of hand claps and cascading synths that heighten all levels of involved sensory mechanics. Ona takes the conversations held over from evening phone chats the spill into the confrontation IRL spheres of discourse where requests for earnest & intimate acceptance are the requirement for joining the artist along her own designed voyage. This exchange is done by Ona throwing every big pop hook trope-trick-in-the-book at the audience with a recording session arranged like something out of a Russ Meyer classic for the future age.

Ona described the inspirations behind the song “In Your Life” & her debut album Lullabies For Daddy with the following insights:

In Your Life is the first song I wrote for my first EP, so it’s pretty seminal. It talks of meeting someone online, being curious, investigating further, then running into some snags because what attracted him at first is something he wants me to tame down now that we’re close, so at the end of the song I riff into an appeal that what I do with my body is still beautiful and it’s okay to share it with the world online, and if he can love me for it, then I can love him back and we can not only be free and in each other’s lives but maybe we can help the world be free too and let them into our life.

Ona's world; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Ona’s world; press photo courtesy of the artist.

I just actually finished my last day of a 10 day selfie tour, my Big Sky Selfie Tour 2016. I’m in Idaho right now, winding down after 8 hours of shooting a video for a song on Lullabies for Daddy, my upcoming first album, called “A-List Ass”. This is my third Selfie Tour, my first was Southwest, my second was Summer Camp. I see these tours as a chance to create a lot of photo and video content, to share pics and vids immediately with my fans on IG and Snapchat, to play my already released songs and preview some of my new ones, and to create a travel diary that I will share on my website, OnaMania.com. My next tour is called Ghost Town Selfie Tour, and it’s in October. Then in December it’s the Art Basel Miami Selfie Tour. So far all my tours have been around America, just exploring beautiful natural spaces, amazing towns, and secret by-ways, and sharing my experiences with my followers.

Ona, icon; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Ona, icon; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Lullabies for Daddy is in progress. We are in the studio constantly. It’s looking like it will be ready around the first of the new year. I’m super excited about it as it’s a real expansion on many of the sounds and ideas I played with in Sex Rock, my EP, but it’s much tighter and more elaborately produced. The themes of the album are my faves: sex, love, and the lit rock lifestyle. The plan is to release some videos to some early preview tracks as early as October 2016.

Ona’s Lullabies for Daddy will be available in early 2017, with previews of songs being released during her “Selfie Tours”.