Electro-singer/songwriter Empress Of recently stopped by Amoeba Hollywood, shopping for records and films by artists that have inspired her. The first thing she showed us when we sat down to talk with her was the Kate Bush LP box set, Remastered In Vinyl I. "I really just wanted to find The Kick Inside, 'cause that's my gateway drug into Kate Bush," she told us, "but this is bomb." "I like how in control of her art she is," she told us when asked why she liked Kate Bush's work, "it's a singular vision; like videos, dancing, music. Everything is the world of Kate Bush."
Empress Of is the stage name of singer, songwriter, and producer Lorely Rodriguez. The name was inspired by the Empress card in the tarot deck. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Empress Of first began attracting attention in 2011, when she anonymously released a series of short YouTube demos called "Colorminutes." Her debut single, "Champagne," was released by No Recordings in 2012. Two years later, she released a bilingual four-song EP called Systems.
In 2015, Empress Of released her debut full-length, Me. Self-produced and recorded in Mexico, the album addresses what she felt to be the negative aspects of living in Brooklyn at the time. Me charted in the top ten on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and placed on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Her followup, Us, was released in fall 2018. She has worked with DJDS and Khalid on their Billboard-charting "Why Don't You Come On" and on the DJDS Lana Del Rey cover "Love." She collaborated with Khalid on his Suncity release. Empress Of's 2018 Spanish-language double single "Trust Me Baby / In Dreams" premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show.