Photo: Jessica Lehrman

The music industry can often feel like Monday mornings: tiresome and repetitive with undertones of deadline-based hastiness. We all know the feeling—morning after morning roaming our apartment in a zombie-like haze in an attempt to make it to a commitment on time. In the midst of the groggy morning fog, we ache for a spark to carry us through the rest of the day. As far as the music industry goes, the alternative creative Troi Irons is that much-needed first cup of coffee.

The Los Angeles–native is revitalizing everything we know about music with her robust vocal power, unrestrained lyrical prowess, and intricately unique production style. The self-produced icon in the making has undergone a particularly difficult excursion through the music business that led to her almost calling it quits, yet she used that strife to shape her into the artist we see before ourselves today. 

Irons was born into a family of musical artists. Her father, Eddie Irons, is the drummer of esteemed ’70s jazz-funk band Brick and her mother is illustrious ’80s pop singer Anne G. So it should come as no surprise that the 24-year-old’s relationship with music started young. The musical virtuoso taught herself to play the guitar at age twelve, received her B.A. in psychology from Cal State at sixteen, and she told interviewers at ABP that at the tender age of fourteen, she had a record deal with RCA and an offer from Interscope records.

As she progressed as an artist, she appeared on tracks from Grammy-Award winning artist Lupe Fiasco, Australian DJ Will Sparks, rapper and producer DUCKWRTH, and EDM pairing Tom & Hills. To add further fire to the creative flame, 2016 saw the release of her riveting EP Turbulence via Def Jam. 

However, there are projects she created that laid dormant for years, likely to never to see the light of day, and with them laid Irons’ hope for her future in music. In spite of the discouragement, Irons used her disheartened disposition to transform her creative perspective, and by 2018 she released her five-track album ANTIHERO, which served as a necessary form of rebirth for our new favorite alternative artist on the rise. 

As she explained in her TEDxTalk at the University of Nevada, Reno,

“I stopped caring about a lot of things… Most importantly, I stopped caring about whether or not I was gonna be successful. And because of that, an interesting thing happened. I started playing the guitar again, like just for fun.”    

Since early 2019, Irons has been releasing eclectic songs paired with a plethora of innovative visuals that flaunt her versatility and share pieces of her story. “Hold on to Your Heart” showcases a slower rock sentiment and exudes this lighters-swaying-in-a-dark-amphitheater feel. “Strangers” pairs electrifying guitar riffs and early 2000s angst in a track that never fails to get your blood boiling. With her upcoming album, Lost Angels, rumored to be released late October, we are more than ready for this standalone artist to send us into a musical awakening.