Drama (American duo)

History

Via Rosa was born in Austin, Texas and grew up on a Northern California Indian reservation, traveling as a child with her parents’ reggae band. She got into poetry while at charter school and, in her late teens, started pairing it with her own beats. After culinary school in Hollywood, she relocated to Chicago in 2010 to care for her grandmother, who had cancer. There, she became part of the hip hop collective THEMPeople and put out her own music from 2010 to 2014.

Na’el Shehade, a Chicago native, spent his teen years DJing at clothing shops and record stores, soaking up the city’s house and electronic scenes. He started making music in high school, which got licensed by Bravo and MTV, and later studied arts management in business school before moving into production for other artists. Before forming Drama, he worked on projects with Chance The Rapper, Kanye West, Chief Keef, and Vic Mensa. Artist Nicolas Jaar pushed him to release his own work.

The two met in 2013 through vocalist Jean Deaux, who was working with Shehade and was friends with Rosa. What began as a loose project eventually became a formal duo, with Shehade handling production and writing and Rosa singing and writing. Their first single, “Hopes Up,” came out in September 2015, with a video directed by Christopher Kostrzak in January 2016. A second single, “Forever’s Gone,” dropped in May, accompanied by a Chris Yoder-directed video.

The Gallows EP followed in November 2016, its title referencing gallows humor and its songs tackling painful experiences with lightness. In 2017, the duo worked on remixes for the Gallows Remixes EP and material for the Lies After Love EP. They opened for Sofi Tukker in Chicago that March and later played shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. In November, they opened for Jungle at Red Bull Sound Select in Chicago. A collection of remixes from the EP arrived in January 2018.

Musical style

Drama’s sound is a blend of “happy sad,” where Rosa’s heartfelt lyrics about love and loss aim to heal, while Shehade’s production adds pulsing synths and R&B. Rosa draws lyrical inspiration from Sade, Drake, Stevie Nicks, and Kurt Cobain, with vocal influences from Billie Holiday and Toni Braxton. Shehade, shaped by Chicago house, looks to Jon Brion and Pharrell for production. In their writing, Shehade amplifies the emotions in Rosa’s lyrics, which she builds by reexamining past experiences for fresh insight.