DESSA

Spanning genres and disciplines, Dessa’s style is defined by tenderness, ferocity, candor, and wit. As a musician, she’s co-composed for large choirs; crowd-surfed at rock clubs; recorded a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; and contributed a track to the #1 album The Hamilton Mixtape. Her TED Talk, which recounts her science experiment on how to fall out of love, has notched more than 5 million views. She’s written for The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler; hosted two seasons of a podcast for the BBC; and published several poetry books and literary collections including the memoir-in-essays My Own Devices (Penguin Random House).

Dessa’s musical career began in earnest when she was asked to join Minneapolis’ Doomtree collective, the hip-hop crew known for bold production, charismatic lyricists, and explosive live shows. She started touring hard as a solo act after her 2010 release A Badly Broken Code. Since then, she’s released 5 more full-length albums, working across sounds and styles while keeping her razor-sharp writing front and center.