OFTEN
The emerging L.A.-by-way-of-Atlanta R&B artist OFTEN first caught my eye with a press release that landed in my inbox in the summer of 2022. The subject line promised the “queer lovechild of Fiona Apple and Donna Summer," which, having often left my cake out in the rain, really piqued my interest.
When I spoke to OFTEN later, they said, “I [call] myself a sad disco queen, because I’m a really sad little person. But I want to make sad bops for my people,” which is where these spot-on influences really rear their heads. The lyrics are both poetic and melancholy, leaning into Fiona, while the beats are drawn out and unhurried, like Donna. The 2022 record Dirty Saint became a sleeper cell of a listen, something that crept insidiously into my headphones till I found myself turning to it frequently. The irony of this being that sleep is an idea that factors heavily on the album, from my favorite single “Deep Sleep” to the thematic elements the artist describes as “places where you felt like you slept on yourself, [or] feeling like [you aren’t] good enough.”
