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Bruja is a Romanian musician making a name for herself by combining and navigating genres with ease. She combines trap beats with lyricism, harmonious hooks, vaporwave vibes, and metal fury. Musical imports, like trap or vaporwave, are usually not too creative. They work by following a certain recepy: take a popular beat, add some local sounds, make it visually and thematically attractive, and done.
Bruja doesn’t follow that recipe, or at least her music shows more than a mear mercantile, consumerist track creation. What draw me to her music was the way in which her music acts as a mirror for the split Romanian society. Her music actualizez the nostalgias of the 90s – marked by a sudden openness to Western culture and at the same time a deep social and financial divide to the West that created that culture – with the millennial digital bliss – that doesn’t see itself as a newcomer in a newly imported musical landscape, but feels at home there. Precisely because of this mix of attitudes – nostalgia and digital (almost ignorant) bliss – makes her music have a vaporwave aura. Vaporwave with a twist though. It’s more like vapor-trap, and I have a feeling that Bruja (intentionally or not) explores fully the nature of trap to not be a fixed framework. Trap is easily imported and easily modifiable, because it fluctuated between its own determinations. For this reason it can bridge vaporwave with domains of sound that vaporwave never saw as itself.
For a Romanian like myself this brings great hopes, as Romanian music has been chasing for years the mainstream Western culture, always falling behind. It could be that in this case, Bruja’s music can set a new goal to be chased by others.
Let’s see what Bruja has to say about my humble reactions to her music.
Interview with Bruja
Follow Bruja here
Forum Nepantla: Dear Bruja, thank you for accepting our interview. How are you and how are you managing the lockdown?
Bruja: Hey! With pleasure. I’ok, I’m managing this quarantine as good as I can … sleeping by day, and staying up at night, writing, watching series… you know … like everybody. I’m trying not to think to much about conspiracy theories and to do what’s recommended.
FN: I saw you released a recent video with Brasov that seems to be recorded during the quarantine. Was this planned or would you call it spontaneous lockdown art?
Bruja: The video with Brasov was shot before the quarantine, and we had planned it for a long time now.
FN: Your song “Lo-Fi” sparked my interest in this interview. Could you tell us more about the idea behind the song?
Bruja: “Lo-Fi” is a piece of me, my pink, dreamy side. I was inspired by the lo-fi genre, and what I added on top of that just came to me on the spot. When I compose, it may well be that I develop the general concept only after creating the beats and not before. It depends. With “lo-fi” everything was spontaneous, unplanned, and while I was looking for lyrics in my head I stumbled upon some 90s nostalgias and just went with it.
FN: You title yourself “a vaporwave wolf” with an “anime heart”. Could you explain what this means for you?
Bruja: I don’t believe in coincidences. Why am I saying this? Because the idea of calling my self a “wolf” came from my need of showing myself as nature leads me. This was before I met two cool chicks that became my friends and after the song came out recommended me the same book – without knowing each other – “Women who run with the wolves”. They don’t know each other, which lead me to believe that I attract exactly what I wish for. Plus, wolves are fucking badass besides their wild and protective nature – when it comes to their pups. I just think they have an OK behavior. My heart is anime because I grew up on them. I adore anime, manga, the whole lot. I guess I am an otaku girl.
FN: For me, your song mixes in a very interesting way the nostalgia of vaporwave and analog media culture with millennial gadgetry dominated by the sound of trap. Was this your intention?
Bruja: Like I was saying , most of the times, ideas just come to me. It wasn’t my intention to do this necessarily. I just went with the beat it and it led me there, step by step. I kind of let the beat speak for itself 🤷🏻♀️
FN: Do you think we can envision a new type of vaporwave – vapor-trap? A nostalgically alert beat that bridges the VGA and Wi-Fi generations and plays around with “non-linear rules” like you say in “Ia loc”?
Bruja: Vapor-trap sounds nice. It could lead to something in time. I will continue to make similar tracks and with more powerful vaporwave and lo-fi influence. We can play with so many things and make millions of musical combinations. Why not? It could be a new genre.
FN: You are one of the few female voices in Romanian rap that is breaking through to the mainstream. How does this affect you and do you think your voice can bring any change in the industry?
Bruja: I am happy people listen to me and that my numbers keep on growing. I can only say I am happy with what I have to offer and what I got until now. I restrain myself to this state regarding my goals for the meantime and I hope everybody gets to hear my voice, because I do have a lot to say. The industry is anyways continually changing and I guess only time will show my contributions to that change.
FN: You play around with a lot of symbols associated with sexual power relations – like in your song “Spice Girl” – and you reconfigure them. This is also palpable in “Ia loc” where you criticize statical, authority based ideas. Does Feminism play any role in your music? If so, how do you understand it?
Bruja: I don’t see myself as a feminist necessarily. I’m just defending women’s rights and trying to give young girls the confidence to bloom like beautiful, strong women without bowing their heads to certain “situations” so to say, as is usually expected from them from parents, or society in general.
FN: What are your future plans?
Bruja: To get on the Billboard. Hahaha
FN: Thank you for the interview.
Bruja: Thank you too! Stay safe!
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