GALXARA
Biography
Galxara (pronounced "Gal-ex-ara") shot into the pop stratosphere just a few months ago in September 2019, but her introduction revealed a space-age, glimmering pop star fed a steady diet of glossy electro-pop and immense vocals. She’s not interested so much in building a character, but the person she truly wants to be inside — hence, the story behind her celestial moniker.
"I knew from the start that I'd have to come up with a stage name," Galxara told MTV News. "I wanted a one-name thing. I wanted something feminine and grand. Obviously, with Galxara, it speaks to the whole 'space vibe,' which is very big in my world. People were like, 'Pick a name, just pick a name.' But it's a big deal. If this is who I'm going to be for the rest of my life, I need to love it." She made the decision early on not to use her real name, opting instead for the perfect moniker that she would need to "love" to hear people say and, ultimately, "live with."
"I just have to feel like I'm that person," she explained of her process. "I went through a lot of names to figure out what fit me. I got to Galxara and I was like, 'I can do this. I feel like this is me.'"
After selecting a name and signing with Atlantic Records, Galxara saw "Waste My Youth" land a spot on Apple Music’s Today’s Hits playlist, reaching listeners eager to hear the next wave in pop. The song's star was born as a project created in tandem with songwriters Michael Pollack and Oak Felder.
"I immediately went in and professed my love for Freddie Mercury, Queen, Gaga, and big, thick, huge vocals. We were like, 'Alright, we want to do something that plays to that,'" she said of the creation process behind her first single.
"We just started banging on the keys and we came up with some melodies for the verses and stuff. When it came to the chorus, we kind of just came up with that melody," she explained about the track’s in-your-face hook. "Somewhere in there, I was just like, 'What about waste my youth?' That was just something I connected to." With the major concepts down, she set about laying down vocals, which are characterized by a sonic landscape of in-your-face belting, reminiscent of a classic Queen song.
"One thing throughout the entire song and throughout a lot of my music that kind of makes my sound is having these big vocals and harmonious, multidimensional sound. It's just big and grand and I love it," Galxara said of the track.
"I love the fact that I sing all my vocals, and all of that is me. We had the idea of putting that in the beginning of the song. Then we had the idea of, 'Well, why don't we strip everything out?' 'Why don't we not have any music and have it be a cappella, because how do you not get hit in the face with that?' Honestly, the intro is one of my favorite parts of the song."
The accompanying music video is a sleek, modern take on classic sci-fi, right down to the masked backup dancers and Technicolor visuals laced throughout. It’s a colorful, spacey take interspersed with the type of retrofuturism you’d see on shows like The Black Hole or Lost in Space. It’s all on purpose, of course, a part of the image Galxara has carefully cultivated.
"One of my favorite movies of all time is the original Planet of the Apes. I love Interstellar and The Matrix. They've had a big impact on my artwork, colors, and graphics. I'm a big sci-fi lover."
In the clip, we see Galxara fitted with an ominous flashing helmet, hooked up to presumably some sort of virtual conduit. She's likely controlling a type of avatar for herself as she appears throughout several far out landscapes. The visuals are pleasingly pulpy, with dancers clad in masks that would give Styx's "Mr. Roboto" video a run for its money.
Later in the video, Galxara is fitted in a shimmery outfit as she relaxes on a classic car reminiscent of a DeLorean, cruising through space. The out-there experience further solidifies the burgeoning pop star’s fascination with stellar style.
"The initial route would have been me laying on the beach, just a typical video that a million people have done. I said, 'No, like I want to do something different,' and I wanted to have a story. I want there to be like a narrative to it," Galxara said of the video, which certainly does have a story but also seems to be quite open to personal interpretation. "I wanted to take my fans and people who want to listen to my fans on this journey and take the to a different world. It's awesome I get to create that."
Galxara has another official single out now as well, a reworked version of an earlier demo she released called "Killa Killa." Thematically, it’s a much different beast than "Waste My Youth," but the swagger heard throughout the galaxy heard on that record is very much present. Her full-length album release is still on the way, on which she'll get to showcase her powerhouse vocals on even further.
"I want to do something different and that's not out there right now," she said. "That's in my music, every time I write, it's in my visuals, and just who I am, the way I dress and everything. I don't want to be like everybody else, you know?"