Artist Selects: flora
All photography by Quinn Guy
TRASH MAG’s readers may know Flynn Namala as the creator of Do Over Fest, an online BIPOC/trans/GNC/intersex art and music festival, which we covered not once, but twice. It’s hard for me to pinpoint when, exactly, I met Flynn. I’ve been seeing them at shows and seeing them play in The Blank Minds for as long as I could remember (including several Trash Mag events).
Now, I’m so honored to witness Flynn taking on a new musical project as “flora.” This past Valentine’s Day, flora released “Something,” a somber, bedroom pop tune full of emo feelings and soothing, yearning vocals. I’ve had the single on repeat in my car on my morning commute to work since. I’d like to introduce y’all to flora’s amazing talent through this edition of TRASH MAG’s Artist Selects!
Listen here to “flora Selects” while you read the Q&A.
Hi again! TRASH MAG has done some coverage of you before based on your work for Do Over Fest and it’s good to chat with you again, but this time it’s about your own music. You have so generously built a platform based on giving other people a platform, so I think it's in due time that we put you in the spotlight, too.
Here’s a fun little icebreaker for the readers to get to know you: What would be the Jeopardy clue for the answer “Who is Flora?”
Oh, Jesus. I have no idea. Gay trans nonbinary pop emo music icon or someone who tries to be a kind person.
Flora is such a concisely beautiful name to represent you as a musician. You’ve shared the meaning behind this name before on your Instagram, but could you reiterate your thoughts and feelings behind the name again for the Trash Mag audience?
Yeah! So, I was originally named Flora after my grandma on my dad’s side. I never got the chance to actually meet her because she died when my dad was super young, but I've always felt this connection to her and the name. I take a lot of pride in that name and kind of carrying on her legacy. I didn't always love the name, though. When I came out as trans a few years ago, I legally changed my name to Flynn. I was really excited about it at the moment, but looking back, I'm sad I erased that name from my history. I know a lot of trans people hate to talk about their name/identity before transitioning, but my journey has brought me to a place where I want to love and hold all these different parts of myself, especially the ones I used to want to hide away.
Using the name “flora” as my artist name/online persona, helps me feel reconnected to those parts of myself. I'm giving my grandma's name and my name the love it deserves. Kinda sucks though, because there are one million other artists named flora.
When and how did your musical journey begin?
This is really funny or maybe a little triggering, but it really started at church. I used to be a super avid churchgoer until it turned out to be extremely homophobic and fucked up in general. We had a youth worship band, and I thought it was so cool. I wanted to do it so badly. My friends and I got together and we started a "back up" youth worship band. When the original guy graduated high school, I got the spotlight of church youth worship. I would bring my high school girlfriends to youth group so they could see me play and I would sing the Jesus-y lyrics as if they were love songs.
At some point the youth pastor came up to me and told me he thought I should start a band because I was clearly more into music than God. That's kind of how it started. I never thought I was that good at singing or anything, but that experience really gave me a lot of confidence and experience!
How’s your cat, Tandoori? Do you have any other pets?
He's good—being very naughty. And, yes! I have another kitty Olive. She's black and white and 3 years old. She's so cute and puts up with Tandoori 24/7. In extremely cute moments, they clean each other and snuggle. They are both obsessed with food and I'm sure they'd eat 24/7 if they could. Olive's favorite food is pizza and Tandoori's is literally sugar or oil. He has drunk straight oil out of a pan.
Speaking of animals, what creature—real or not—do you think best reflects you?
Umm. Probably a dog. I think I radiate dog energy.
What’s the next color/style you want to do with your hair?
I want to go back to my shoulder-length normal hair color, like brown. I felt like Harry Styles when my hair was like that. I was so happy. I love him. I just want to go to my regular hair color for a minute.
When you’re not making music, uplifting BIPOC/queer artists, practicing mutual aid, and being an overall amazing soul, what are you doing?
D’aww. You're so sweet. I walk my neighbor's dog, Henny, around the park down the street from my house. It’s a massive park. I feel so lucky to have it. I like to go drive to the beach to watch the sunset. I watch A LOT of TV and movies. Lately, I've been super into Tuca and Bertie and iCarly. Oh, I also LOVE to cook! I've been cooking A LOT during quarantine. Some of my favorite things I've made are crunchy spicy tofu, fried rice, some of my dad's Indian recipes, plantains, and I baked this delicious triple chocolate bundt cake (like the old ones they had at Trader Joes! IYKYK)
You used to front a band called The Blank Minds that I was a big fan of. What inspired you to go solo? What aspects of the process are you enjoying?
I think I had been wanting to explore solo music for a long time, but I was scared. I poured everything I had into TBM and it was super exhausting. I was feeling really drained, unhappy, and frustrated a lot. When quarantine came around, I was really forced to work on stuff on my own and I ended up having so much fun. I'd never worked on music by myself before and I think it's been super important for me to figure out what I actually like in music. I've been able to collaborate with so many new people too which has been amazing.
Could you tell us about the inspiration behind your latest single, “Something”?
The chords are actually based off of “Drew Barrymore” by SZA. I listened to the song and tried to cover it and ended up loving the chords. I was messing around with it and figured out that it's the same chords as “Bottom Bitch” by Doja Cat. Then I was like, “Screw it. Let me make my own version!” Then, I was sitting outside on my balcony and the first verse just came to me. I had been trying to grow a bunch of plants and flowers and things. I kept overwatering them hoping they'd grow but they'd just turn yellow and wilt.
Who are some dream collaborators that you’d like to work with such as other artists, collectives, organizations, etc.?
Ooh. Oh my gosh. What a good question. Working with Amindi would be super cool. I’d love to work on something visually with my friend Laneya. Their visual work is stunning. I’d love to collaborate on something with For Our Sibs Collective. I think Maliyah and Cienna are so cool and doing amazing work. Oh, Queer As Punk is so rad. I’d love to be a part of that. A dream would be to work with Orion Sun or Hope Tala; I think we could make something really beautiful together. Hopefully I’ll get to work on something with my friend Tommi Phoenix and Britta from It’s Butter soon! Yeah, I mean honestly, anyone that’s down with the cause and wants to work together I’m always up for! Building friendships is the best dream.
What are your next goals regarding your musical endeavor?
Ultimate dream goal is to go on a global tour in a way that's not harmful to the places that I'd be playing at. Having artists I really admire listen to my music because they like it would be so cool. Getting to a place where I can financially survive off of my music is really the ultimate dream. I don't really need more than that. But as for actual next goals, I wanna do a livestream show or maybe an open mic night on Zoom!
I see so much potential in you and I can’t wait for you to release more music! I’m so glad that you’ve given me a preview of your unreleased stuff. When can everyone expect these tracks to come out?
I'm planning on dropping an EP sometime in the next month just so that people can get a more rounded out idea of the stuff I make. I think I'm pretty all over the place.
Last but not least, can you explain some of the picks that you’ve chosen for this playlist?
To be honest, most of these songs come from my best friend Quinn. They show me a shit ton of music that I really like. We listen to music a lot together in the car, and I'm always asking them to send me the songs. These songs just really connect with me and they make me feel good. I wanna make music that sounds like them!
Stream Flora’s latest single, “Something”, here and follow them on Instagram!
