The rising star spoke to DIVA about her love of Yellowjackets, fanaticism and her new EP Cult Leader
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGES BY SUMMER CHANTZ
It’s been a big year for the rising star Susannah Joffe. Her 2024 song, Die Your Daughter, is currently going viral on TikTok with over 175 million views. Many sapphic fandoms – such as Yellowjackets and The Last Of Us – have adopted the song to use in fan edits on the platform.
And it doesn’t seem like things will be slowing down anytime soon. Not only has she released a new EP, Cult Leader, she also has her upcoming debut headline show at Baby’s All Right in New York City on 10 July.
Just when I thought I couldn’t love the singer-songwriter anymore, she joined our transatlantic Zoom call from her room in New York wearing a pink tutu and looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, despite the fact that it’s first thing in the morning for her. It’s made even more impressive when she later confesses to me that she woke up 10 minutes before our call and that her mind is “one-tenth popper brain” from taking them just 10 hours previously for a birthday party.
DIVA: How are you feeling in the lead up to the release of your Cult Leader EP?
Susannah: I’m feeling really excited. I’ve been working on it for a year and I’m ready to let my baby bird fly.
Your viral hit Die Your Daughter is inspired by Yellowjackets. And then one of the tracks from this EP is called Antler Queen. Why does the show resonate with you so much?
It’s literally so me. It’s cannibalism as a metaphor and also in practice, and lesbianism, it’s just so good.
I use cannibalism as a metaphor so much in my music – like the idea of completely absorbing another person. I’m queer a lot of my songs are about my lived experiences and going through queer breakups, falling in love with women etcetera. Also, aesthetically, I’m really into exploring the contrast of this super shiny Dallas pageant vibe with the grittier Americana stuff.
That fandom has given me a lot. Like you know, Die Your Daughter went viral largely because of that fandom and because of Arcane and The Last Of Us and because of the trans community.
The song Antler Queen isn’t about the show, but it’s about this kind of dynamic of wanting to do anything for a person – serve them and sacrifice everything for them. Which I felt was, you know, not that far off from what’s going on in the show.
Who is your favourite character in Yellowjackets?
I think Van is, the adult Van. Largely because I’m really attracted to her. I’m also really attracted to Lottie. It’s hard because all the women are so beautiful, I get a little bit blinded. Lottie is so beautiful but I’m like, “Damn girl, let those girls out of those damn woods.” Shauna was my favourite character until this season, so I feel like right now it is Van.
What is your relationship like with your fans?
A lot of people say this, but the best part is being able to connect with people in a real and meaningful way. Obviously, the numbers, it’s exciting, it’s like “Oh, there’s like 20 million streams on this song of min”’; but it’s like I’m not going to remember that, I’m going to remember being at a show and someone coming up to me being like “I drove 10 hours to come see you” and me like talking about where they’re from.
I really try to respond to every DM and I do, if it’s like an appropriate DM, I have responded to every DM. I’m a little backed up right now by like a month and a half but it’s important to me. You have to honour the people that are giving you their time and energy with your time and energy back. I hope to continue to do that in whatever capacity I can as I continue to grow as an artist.
As a queer musician in the industry, how do you get the balance right of not hiding yourself, or like dimming down your queerness, but also not being put in a box because of it?
What’s really frustrating is it’s reviewers and audience members that are the ones that will like put you in that box, which is like frustrating because it’s like this is supposed to be my community. I’ll do a kind of Southern thing and because I’m singing about girls people are like, “Oh my god, you’re copying Chappell Roan”, because you can’t also be queer and also be inspired by like growing up in a Southern place.
I feel like we pit people against each other a little bit. Growing up there would always be this online conversation of like “Oh, Doja Cat’s the new Nicki Minaj”, or “Oh, Ice Spice is the new Nicki”. It’s like there can actually be multiple Black rappers that are women at the same time without it being this combative thing.
Where did you find the inspiration for this EP?
I wanted to reflect on different examples of fanaticism in my life.The idea of worship in general is really fascinating to me and looking at different idols. I think the longer I’m out of Texas, the more I’m drawn toward it to make art on it, and kind of reflect on it. There are a lot of things I miss about it, and there are a lot of things I hate about it.
Have you always expressed yourself so much through fashion and aesthetics?
Yeah. I wish I had like a movie about my childhood because it’s like if people could watch it, they could be like “Ohhh, this makes so much sense”. My parents are a realtor and a therapist, and they somehow just got wrapped up in this like insane creative community of artists in Austen. I was around all this insane creative expression, colour, and vibrant art.
As a kid like me and my best friends, what we wanted to do all the time was do photoshoots; we like ran a fashion blog. We are still my best friends to this day and we were looking at our old fashion blog, we were like, “Lowkey this is fire”. We were like 11 years old, but we were like so intense about it.
I love doing the visual stuff it also brings me so much joy. It really fulfils that little girl in me.
You have your debut headline show coming up. Can you tease what attendees have to look forward to?
It’s going to be very theatrical and immersive. I want people to have a really good time and walk out being like “Woahhhh, what was that?”.
Susannah Joffe’s new EP Cult Leader is out now and available to stream on your preferred platform.
@niccrosara
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