Biography

Singer and songwriter Abra earned acclaim for her shadowy, lo-fi R&B songs before going on to work with several major pop, rap, and dance artists. Nicknamed the "darkwave duchess," she became an underground sensation with the release of her bedroom-recorded 2015 full-length, Rose, and earned further accolades for 2016's Princess EP. She guested on tracks by Charli XCX, Gorillaz, Solange, Bad Bunny, and several others, then reunited with past collaborator Playboi Carti on the 2021 single "Unlock It" in advance of her first major-label album. Born in New York and raised in London, she moved near Atlanta, Georgia when she was eight and felt like a misfit, a situation that inspired her to learn to play guitar and write. She later connected with Father (of rap label Awful Records), who remixed her track "Needsumbody." Its video was uploaded in September 2014. The following year, as a full-fledged Awful artist, she released an EP, Blq Velvet, and quickly followed it with an album, Rose. Princess, a six-song EP with a more defined sound highlighted by the yearning neo-freestyle track "Crybaby," arrived in July 2016. It was issued through a partnership between Awful and Matador subsidiary True Panther Sounds. In 2017, Ninja Tune issued Rose on vinyl. Abra occasionally posted solo songs and demos online, and she made her acting debut in 2018, appearing in the black comedy thriller Assassination Nation. She also sang on releases by Gorillaz, Toro y Moi, Tiga & Hudson Mohawke, and Bad Bunny, among many others. In 2021, a Los Angeles-based Abra signed to Polo Grounds/RCA Records and released the Boys Noize-produced single "Unlock It," which featured a guest verse by fellow Awful alumni Playboi Carti. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson, Rovi