The New Generation in Music

This year, girl power is on full volume. Our Generation V: Volume II sounds off.

As the Discovery Issue, V117 features our cast of the latest and greatest ahead, as nominated by the cultural forces of now. This feature appears in the pages of V117, our Spring Preview 2019 issue, on newsstands today!

Poppy wears jacket and dress CELINE by Hedi Slimane; Donna Missal wears dress and belt Versace; Doja Cat wears jumpsuit Julia Clancey, necklace Eddie Borgo; Kari Faux wears dress and necklace Versace

POPPY NOMINATED BY DIPLO

No shortage of ink has been spilled in pursuit of figuring out Poppy. Her hatched-from-an-egg, Glenda the Good Witch vibes have inspired labels from “human ASMR” to a one-woman “digital rabbit hole,” none of which seem to stick. “I don’t think people get it,” she says. And while we don’t know much more than we did in 2014, when a video of her slowly eating cotton candy went viral, her Diplo endorsement and upcoming 2019 tour prove that in today’s landscape, authenticity is overrated.

DONNA MISSAL NOMINATED BY LEON BRIDGES

New Jersey native Donna Missal comes from a long line of hardworking musicians. Literally born into music (her parents ran a New York City recording studio and the family lived above it), Missal’s first musical role model was her grandmother, who wrote jingles for living. By contrast, she and her five homeschooled siblings flexed their creativity across genres. But, says Missal, “I continue to struggle with not being as far along as I [would be] if I were a man.”

DOJA CAT NOMINATED BY ERIC ANDRE

After breakdancing in the Valley, dropping out of high school to become a self-trained singer, and kicking drugs and alcohol last year, the 21-year-old Doja Cat’s nine lives are only multiplying. After her cult smash “Moo” and its video’s bovine cosplay and gonzo sex-appeal went viral, she’s hitting a sophomore-slump–defying stride. “I’m writing one or two songs a day,” she says. “I’ve also been considering standup, but my friends always talk me out of it.”

KARI FAUX NOMINATED BY SANTIGOLD

Faux’s laconic flow has earned her the nickname “Rap-game Daria,” an even more apt moniker considering her hometown of Little Rock—a real-life “Sick Sad World” of rocky racial integration and the Clinton dynasty. While briefly treated for mental health at 12, music became her preferred form of self-care: “I didn’t want to be a zombie. And I am a Gemini, so you can’t tell a Gemini what to do.”

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