Jorjiana.
via publicist.
When The FADER pulls up on Jorjiana at Racket NYC on Tuesday June 9, the Indiana rapper is out front on the sidewalk taking selfies and signing autographs for her fans. It’s one of those perfect Manhattanhenge days, or damn close, and the setting sun is beaming straight down 16th Street, “like something good is going to happen,” per my colleague Salvatore Maicki. When Jorjiana finds out that he’s from Michigan and I’m from Iowa, she flashes a smile: “We all Midwest.”
Jorjiana broke out in late 2024 off her On The Radar Radio freestyle. That song, “ILBB2” (or, "I love bad bitches too"), had serious legs, eventually getting remixes from both GloRilla and BabyChiefDoit. Jorjiana's hardnosed raps are delivered in a distinctive lower-register rasp, and her careening flows rarely feel predictable, which helps to explain her steady run since then, with singles like “Elevator Spaghetti” and “Shark” featuring Rio Da Yung OG popping off. Following her fall 2025 mixtape Project 219, named for the area code of Michigan City, Indiana, where she’s from, she's been gearing up for a new project later this year. And when we caught up with her, she was the opening act on 42 Dugg and Babyface Ray's 4 THE TRENCHES tour.
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Jorjiana tells us she’s out in NYC a lot, though she’s been here for Fashion Week nearly as often as she’s performed in the city. Her next project is done, but she’s still recording, with an upcoming recording camp in Germany scheduled in between European festival dates. Lately though, she’s been focused on her creative direction and live performances, as evidenced by the excellent video for new single “WOKE UP” and her opening performance shortly after our interview, which was funny and fully engaged even when the crowd’s energy flagged.
The FADER caught up with Jorjiana for a freewheeling conversation about E-ZPass tolls, her plans for the summer, and an inspirational story about Tezzus in Paris.
The FADER’s Salvatore Maicki: On “Rich Finally,” the line "lactose me, please pass that cheddar" – I thought that was like "late tolls me" and I was like, "Yes, she's talking about the tolls coming back from Chicago, yes! I get it!"
Jorjiana: Them tolls be hell, too crazy! It's funny you say that: I was just in Chicago like two days ago for my friend's graduation. I had to go from Chicago to Michigan City, and the Uber driver didn't have an E-ZPass, so I had to pay for the tolls myself.
I was pissed. I was like, "Ain't no way in hell I got to pay for the tolls when you driving us!"
SM: My friend was like, "Babe, that's lactose."
It is lactose for sure, but it's okay. I do have a lisp, so I'mma blame it on that.
The FADER’s Vivian Medithi: What you got coming this summer? Cooking up a new album?
This summer is crazy. The album is done. Baby boy, the album is done! But I've made a few albums, not gonna lie. Before I left for tour, I was recording at the studio every single day, all day. I was sleeping there every night. I probably made like six albums, not gonna lie.
But I'm on this tour right now, obviously. I got one more show with them after today, then I leave for Europe. I got Paris Fashion Week. I'm attending 424, of course – I'm gonna be front row. And then I've also got a few festivals that I'm doing out there. I'm doing Splash!, I'm doing Roskilde, Melt!, Woo Hah!, and Clout. And Warsaw, Berlin, Copenhagen.
SM: Roskilde’s gonna be crazy.
I'm looking forward to all of them because it's my first time in Europe. I didn't take my first flight until I got found by a label. My first flight was for a label meeting when I was 19. I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun out there.
And I'm also doing a recording camp in Germany through Sony. They're doing a recording camp on a lake, so I'm excited for that. It sounds real rich [laughs]. And then when I come back, I go back on tour again. And then I’m also headlining a festival in Indianapolis.
SM: So you're just outside all summer.
I'm outside as fuck! I'm so outside I got rid of my house, and I'm not lying. I don't have no house right now because I'm on the road.
SM: Right. Who needs a house anyway?
Shit, me. Cuz I don't have one! Um, yeah, it’s a busy year, but I really look forward to dropping this album. I don't have a date for it yet, not gonna lie, but I hope that it's soon.
VM: Do you mostly freestyle and punch-in, or have you been writing more lately?
I do all the above – it depends on how I'm feeling. I can write songs really easy. It'll probably take me 15 minutes to write a whole song, with two verses and hooks, etcetera. But I still do enjoy freestyling and punching in. I've been trying to perfect my artistry, like make music rather than just push out songs. I think writing is how I do that, cuz I want to work on better hooks and everything to really catch listeners.
VM: You're a really versatile rapper, and you have a lot of different styles. How are you listening through beat packs?
I say this every time someone asks me that question: if the beat fuck my eardrums, I'm picking it. No lie! If it catches my attention, it catches my attention, but I'm super picky on beats. Extremely picky. It's a feeling, I'm like, "Ooh, okay."
VM: What was the feeling you got from, “WOKE UP?”
I just thought that shit was hard. It's fast-paced, a little bit of aggression behind it.
VM: What about a song like “Elevator Spaghetti?”
“Elevator Spaghetti,” I turned that beat on, my producer, EMRLD sent it to me. That was like one of our first songs that we made together, and at first I'm like, "What the fuck?" And then I'm like, "Hold on." Then I'm like, "Hold on!" And then I freestyled on that one.
VM: What's the vibe for the next album, more hard songs or more smooth songs?
The vibe for the next album, I really wanted to feed my fans. My fans don't want this mainstream shit. They don't want girly shit, they don't give a fuck about that. They want me back in 2022, 2023. So I'm like, let me feed my fans. Like my intro: my fans. My “Indiana Freestyle,” for my fans.
I made a lot of songs that I feel like is going to feed them. They should get full off of me for a little minute. But I also got some stuff for the girls on there. And some pretty experimental stuff on there also. I got a singing song on there.
VM: What's something that you're inspired by that people would be surprised to know you're inspired by?
That's a good question. I think that what I've most recently been inspired by is my manager, Aisha. We did this event at the store called 424, Guillermo's brand [Guillermo Andrade], and Tezzus was there before the event, all day. And he was taking pictures with all the people that asked him for a photo. He took pictures with every single person.
And one of the guys that works for 424 was like, "Damn, you been out here all day taking photos, you don't get tired of this?" And he was like, "Nah, I got on my knees and prayed for this – so I'll never get tired of it."
And that has been sticking in my head ever since she told me that story because I felt that like damn! So when I hear shit like that, it makes me want to go harder. I lock back into my reality like, I've nowhere near made it above surface level. I still have places to be, and I too, got on my knees and prayed for it, so that's what's gonna keep me going.
VM: Beautiful, honestly.
My lawyer, he's always telling me when I'm stressed out or something, he's like, "You got good problems now." Cuz I remember back whenever I would have to deal with like, da-da-da-da, ra-ra-ra. Now I'm getting nervous cuz I have to pull up to a show that's sold out— that's a great problem.
