Interview with Annahstasia, the new star of folk

An artist following in the footsteps of Sade and Tracy Chapman

American singer Annahstasia keeps her distance from labels. Still, the artist can be placed somewhere between Tracy Chapman‘s narrative solemnity and Sade‘s nocturnal velvet. But the comparison ends there. She now asserts her own sound, with her signature dizzying crescendos. Meanwhile, her album cover recalls the early records of Björk or Fiona Apple. The latter appeared in front of the camera with a steady gaze and no artifacts. Annahstasia was looking for the same clarity. A frontal gesture that said, “Hi, it’s me. I have nothing left to hide.”

She grew up in Koreatown, a Los Angeles neighbourhood still haunted by the memory of the 1992 riots. At night, the city writes itself through the piercing wail of sirens, the screech of tires and the sharp crack of gunshots ricocheting between walls. At dawn, the world takes a fresh shape to the rhythm of street vendors’ carts, schoolchildren’s laughter and blasting radios switched on a little too early.

From this cacophony, Annahstasia draws an essential lesson… Sound, assembled from fragments, creates images. You can grasp what is unfolding outside without ever seeing a thing. Her music follows the same logic. It shines a light on what we would rather leave unsaid.

A standout show at the Pitchfork Festival

This is how she stands at the crossroads of folk and soul music. Tether was recorded instinctively, entirely in live takes. A way of breaking free from an industry that, for a time, tried to force her into a pop mould that was never truly hers.

Annahstasia surrounded herself with demanding producers, like Jason Lader (Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey), Andrew Lappin (L’Rain), and Aaron Liao (Moses Sumney). Her record is shaped with the same precision, through carefully chosen collaborations, from poet Aja Monet to Obongjayar. Love, grief and resilience permeate the album.

In November 2025, she performed at Café de la Danse in Paris as part of the Pitchfork Music Festival. During her show, a large part of the audience was moved to tears. Annahstasia’s music possesses something tactile, almost palpable. It conjures up the taste of the earth you bring to your mouth despite yourself, the light filtering through trees before a busy day, the soft embrace of someone you had deeply missed.

Interview with singer Annahstasia

Numéro: Do you consider your album Tether to be a minimalist record?

Annahstasia: In my world, one of a lower middle-class girl, there are always things everywhere. Objects are piling up, each one telling a different story. So I prefer to speak of “articulated opulence,” because I’ve always found the very idea of minimalism somewhat oppressive. It’s often those with means who can afford to be minimal. Everything exists in contrast to silence. Against total silence, even the smallest addition becomes a form of opulence. Then, that richness highlights the luxury of silence itself.

The frequent use of guitar arpeggios seems to structure the narrative of your album. Are they essential to translate your emotions into music?

The arpeggio allows me to lay down a musical foundation, a ground on which the story can be built. It’s a technique rooted in West African culture. There’s often a rhythm or a repeated motif, a kind of steady pulse over which a story is told, always returning to that base note, that “drone.” Most of my favorite songs feature a single guitar note that I keep strumming, resisting any chord changes. It’s my way of creating a sonic palette on which I can build everything else…

“At 18, it’s easy for people to tell you what to do. I was writing, they were producing.” — Annahstasia

Do you feel like your music evolved from your EP Revival (2023) to your new record?

Let’s say I’ve gone from a solitary flame to a collective fire. I’m now fueled by the support and collaboration of everyone who has gravitated toward my music. I never collaborate with strangers. Most of the time, I work with people I’ve known for years, and when the right moment comes, everything falls into place. Revival was my rebirth. That’s when I stepped into my role as a producer, a project leader and guardian of my own sound. I realised that I could do it, that I could create music from the songs I’d written on guitar in my bedroom.

It seemed that, early on, people tried to force a pop R’n’B image onto you that didn’t quite fit you…

That’s true. I signed with a major label very young. At the time, I had only written a handful of songs. I knew nothing about production or how the industry really worked. At 18, it’s easy for people to tell you what to do. I was writing, they were producing. And since asking a teenage girl to talk more about sex in her lyrics is frowned upon, the suggestion came in a more subtle way… “You should write about this person. Let’s explore that aesthetic! Don’t you have a love story to tell?” What felt most uncomfortable was the disconnect. I had been sold the promise of being myself, and once I got in, everything about me seemed to become a flaw, as though I were somehow inadequate.

“You never really ‘lose’ people. You meet them, and you share a part of your life with them.” — Annahstasia

The main topic of the album is love. Do you think that breakups are necessarily failures?

That’s what I believed for a long time. But one day, the person sitting across from me said, “We didn’t fail, you know? We had beautiful moments, we tried, we learned.” As a matter of fact, you never really “lose” people. You meet them, and you share a part of your life with them. You learn how to love better and how to be loved better in return.

If a movie about your life were to be made, which director would you entrust it to?

Probably Gaspar Noé, for the way he plays with time. He bends and stretches it. His vision aligns with how I perceive my own life – non-linear and outside of time.

What is the most beautiful word you know?

“Petrichor.” It refers to the scent that rises from the earth when rain begins to fall after a period of drought. You can almost touch the word itself, don’t you think?

Tether (2025) by Annahstasia, available now.