onoola-sama

It’s hard to put your finger on the kind of music onoola-sama makes. In her Spotify bio, she describes her music as “super cool fun hot sexy music” – and while that’s fairly accurate, it does not adequately capture the breadth of her hugely imaginative sound. The Toronto-based artist is a genre-agnostic shapeshifter who tinkers with some of the decade’s most prevalent and obscure subgenres like Vapor Trap, Alt-R&B, Shoegaze and even blown-out Bedroom rap to create a kinetic fusion with a foot in almost every corner of today’s internet. While her earlier releases like “tangie’reen,” “magenta” and her 4-track debut ‘ode2me’ were all characterized by ethereal, dreamlike production and delivery, 2022’s boisterous “B1TCH3S!” quickly dispelled any notions that onoola-sama could be tied down to a specific genre or sound. If her initial releases showcased her wispy vocals and melodies, “B1TCH3S!,” which came in late 2022, proved she is just as compelling spitting cutthroat bars over animated beats as she is singing emotionally-charged tunes. Her varying styles all came together on ‘i want what i want,’ her second official project which came in 2023. While the project is also buoyed by eerie production, onoola-sama swaps out some of the melancholic autotuned singing that defined ‘ode2me’ for raging growls about convoluted relationships, drugs and designer clothing, highlighting her versatility and willingness to experiment. In 2024, onoola-sama’s desire to constantly play with sounds has not diminished in the slightest. After releasing a few successive singles – “myheartbreakparty,” “BRASH,” and “onoola-chan” – through the year that further explored her “super cool fun hot sexy” sound, she released the Soca-inspired ‘fujiBouyon*’ in September. The 3-track pack that takes huge influence from Dominica’s Bouyon music melds frenzied dancefloor energy with some innovative rapping and singing. “fêteRock*,” the standout track on the single pack is an incredibly infectious banger that features a brilliant and fun verse from rising rap star DEELA and begs for the meanest waist whine. “tequila, gin & rum,” onoola’s latest release sees her take another sonic excursion, this time experimenting with other alternative Hip-hop sounds and proving time and time again that she’s not one to be boxed in. -B.A