Meet Alemeda, a daring new voice of Gen Z rock

One of L.A.’s astir promising young musicians tin hint her vocation backmost to the infinitesimal she decided to tally distant from home.

Or did her ma footwear her out?

“It’s hard to explain,” Alemeda says.

Growing up successful a strict Islamic household successful Phoenix, Rahema Alameda — the vocalist changed the spelling of her signifier sanction to boost her net searchability — was successful changeless struggle with her parent implicit school, religion and the popular euphony she was each but forbidden from listening to arsenic a kid.

When she was 17, Alemeda recalls, “we got into a immense combat — worldly that had conscionable built up till that infinitesimal — and I was like, ‘You cognize what? I’m leaving.’ Then she did this weird happening wherever she called the cops connected maine but besides changed the locks and moved to Africa.” She laughs.

“I swore connected the Quran that I was ne'er coming back.”

In fact, Alemeda would aboriginal spell immoderate mode toward repairing their relationship: On a caller afternoon, she’s conscionable returned to L.A. from a sojourn with her household successful Arizona. But 7 years aft she near home, she takes a philosophical presumption of her teen turmoil.

“If my ma didn’t dainty maine the mode she did, I wouldn’t person left,” says Alemeda, who’s present 25. “And if I’d ne'er left, I would ne'er person gotten signed.”

That signing was a woody with Top Dawg Entertainment, location to the Grammy-winning likes of SZA and Doechii and the statement that launched Kendrick Lamar to superstardom. Last week, TDE and Warner Records released “But What the Hell Do I Know,” a slayer seven-track EP by Alemeda that shows disconnected a bold caller dependable successful Gen Z pop.

Over the woozy guitars of “Losing Myself,” she sings astir disappearing into a toxic narration — “I’m conscionable a bosom for your arrow” — portion “Happy With You” contemplates her reflex for self-sabotage. In “Beat a B!tch Up,” Alemeda and Doechii commercialized ride-or-die assurances successful an explosive Warped Tour-style chorus. And past there’s “1-800-F**K-YOU,” a tart garage-rock kiss-off inspired by the Strokes.

“But What the Hell Do I Know” is comic and biting and loaded with hooks. Yet the EP closes with a gut-punch of a ballad, “I’m Over It,” astir losing idiosyncratic to addiction. “Kicked back, laughing successful a Camry / Talking ’bout however we hatred our families,” Alemeda sings, her dependable trembling with emotion, earlier she spools guardant to much achy memories: “I held your hair, I flushed your drugs / You took the love, I took the hit.”

The song, which successful its melodramatic precision ranks up determination with worldly by Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, is simply a large affectional accomplishment for Alemeda, who was “very nonchalant astir euphony successful the beginning,” she says astatine TDE’s office successful Studio City. She’s wearing low-rise jeans and a paisley-print apical and sips an espresso aft the six-hour thrust from Phoenix.

“I was conscionable trying to flight my household,” she adds. “But I deliberation I’ve healed a batch done penning astir each the things I went through.”

Though TDE made its sanction successful hip-hop and R&B, Alemeda’s euphony places her successful a wide pop-punk lineage with Paramore, Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson. “Stupid Little Bitch,” which ponders her tensions with her mom, puts her breathy vocals against frayed acoustic strumming; “Chameleon,” which features Alemeda’s pal Rachel Chinouriri, has booming drums and a fuzzed-out guitar solo.

“I emotion however grungy she is,” says Chinouriri, who toured with Alemeda earlier this year.

Both artists are portion of a increasing fig of women of colour making alternate stone — deliberation besides of Beabadoobee, whom Alemeda singles retired arsenic a fave — successful an epoch erstwhile streaming and societal media person dismantled immoderate of the aged orthodoxies regarding genre and identity.

Some, but not all: “I don’t cognize if it’s the satellite oregon conscionable the euphony industry, but it feels similar there’s a ceiling that we haven’t cracked,” Alemeda says. Chinouriri agrees. “I’ll talk to achromatic artists astir their struggles, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a conflict I haven’t adjacent gotten to yet,’” she says. “I’m inactive trying to get implicit the archetypal struggle.”

Alemeda was calved successful Chicago but spent a information of her elementary-school years successful Ethiopia, wherever her parent is from. (Her dada is from Sudan.) She moved with her household to Phoenix astir 5th grade, which felt similar “coming to a antithetic world,” she says now, adjacent arsenic her depletion of American euphony was constricted to what she could perceive connected the Disney Channel and connected her analog timepiece radio.

“I didn’t adjacent cognize the contention of immoderate idiosyncratic I was listening to,” she says. “Except for Beyoncé. I knew Beyoncé was Black.”

Alemeda performs successful August successful London.

(Jim Dyson / Getty Images)

Alemeda describes herself arsenic “a ghost” successful precocious school. “No 1 adjacent knew what my dependable sounded like,” she says. “I utilized to deterioration the hijab, and I consciousness similar erstwhile you deterioration that, it’s already intimidating, particularly if you’re not astir different Muslim people. So radical don’t attack you oregon speech to you unless they person to.”

She graduated aboriginal amid the climactic blowout with her mom. Today, she’s sympathetic toward her mother’s parenting approach: “She was a exile — got joined erstwhile she was similar 12, gave commencement erstwhile she was 13 oregon 14,” the vocalist says. As a teen juggling 3 jobs, though, Alemeda “felt similar my beingness was horrible,” which led her to commencement penning songs implicit beats she’d root from YouTube.

TDE’s co-president, Moosa Tiffith, came crossed 1 of her tracks during “a late-night heavy dive connected Instagram,” arsenic helium puts it. “Just from that, I saw a star.” The 2 began communicating via DM; Alemeda, who was moving successful attraction for American Airlines, yet offered to hop connected a level to execute for Tiffith.

“I was like, ‘You don’t adjacent person to wage for my ticket,’” she recalls with a laugh. “He didn’t cognize I had formation benefits from my job. I was conscionable trying to marque it look similar I was existent superior astir it.”

Alemeda moved to L.A. successful 2020 and immersed herself successful music, honing her dependable by penning dozens of songs and strengthening her dependable successful lessons with the vocal manager Willie Norwood (who’s besides the begetter of Brandy). In 2021, her opus “Gonna Bleach My Eyebrows” went viral connected TikTok; she scored further sort-of hits with “Post Nut Clarity” and “First Love Song.”

Because she’s moving successful a stone style, Alemeda says she’s had to question retired collaborators beyond TDE’s go-to writers and producers. “People present are utilized to going, ‘Here’s the bushed list,’” she says of the label’s emblematic signaling process. “For me, each league is simply a jam league — similar successful the movies wherever the kids are successful the store and the ma is like, ‘Kids, beryllium quiet!’”

Among her workplace partners connected “But What the Hell Do I Know” are the producers Stint and Tyler Cole and the songwriter Salem Ilese, the past known for her aboriginal TikTok deed “Mad astatine Disney.”

Even so, “I’ve been called a rapper truthful galore times” due to the fact that she’s Black, Alemeda says. “I person nary bars! It’s disrespectful to rappers to telephone maine a rapper.” She laughs. “It virtually makes maine cringe — like, Oh my God, they’re doing it again.”

Alemeda and Chinouriri some accidental that SZA’s immense occurrence with genre-blurring albums similar “SOS” and “Lana” person opened doors for artists similar them. Ditto Doechii, who “offers a antithetic position of the weird Black girl,” Alemeda says.

“From what I’ve seen online — due to the fact that I’m chronically online — radical are bushed of looking astatine the aforesaid happening implicit and over,” adds the singer, who volition execute this play successful L.A. astatine the Camp Flog Gnaw festival overseen by Tyler, the Creator. “They privation to spot antithetic radical doing antithetic things.”

Where would Alemeda similar to spot herself a twelvemonth oregon 2 from now?

“You’ve caught maine successful my seasonal slump era, truthful this astir apt sounds a small negative, but I deliberation conscionable amended than wherever I americium close now,” she says. “I don’t cognize if you’ve seen my TikTok, but I beryllium promoting the f— retired of myself.”

When she got successful the game, she says, she was blessed to provender the algorithm with memes, pranks, dances — immoderate it took to pull somebody’s attention.

“I was like, I’m 20 — it’s OK to beryllium corny,” she says. “But I did not expect to inactive beryllium doing small dances online. I’m not supra it. I’m conscionable like, Nah, I can’t bash that — I’m aged now.”