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How Rapper Tommy Genesis Crafted Her World Vision

The singer/rapper talks her hotly anticipated new album, her songwriting process, and her artistic growth.

Tommy Genesis looking into a shattered mirror.
Mikey Asanin

Back in 2015, Tommy Genesis quietly arrived on the scene as a fully realized rapper/singer, with an affinity for plaid miniskirts and dark, spacey beats. A member of the Awful Records collective at the time (alongside her close friend and collaborator Abra), the Vancouver-born artist described her sound as “fetish rap.” Some took it as a reference to her music’s frank sexuality, even though for her, it was more a testimonial to her niche sound, which she says makes her music a fetish for her listeners.

Now, three years removed from her first full-length project, World Vision, Tommy is in an entirely new space. In addition to becoming a fashion industry staple — recent gigs include a modeling campaign for Calvin Klein, a Miu Miu runway show performance, and helming a fashion film for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week alongside M.I.A. — the openly bisexual singer also left Awful Records to sign with the independent label Downtown Records. Now, she’s ready to grace the world with her self-titled album, Tommy Genesis.

Last weekend, with only a few days before the album’s release, the multi-hyphenate performer hopped on the phone with them. to talk about her work and plans for the future. As she headed to an afternoon rehearsal for her upcoming God Is Wild Tour, Tommy opened up about artistic growth, her songwriting process, and how she felt when she saw her song “100 Bad” used in the film Assassination Nation.


Mikey Asanin


We’re gearing up for the release of your official studio debut album. How do you feel?

I’m feeling crazy and excited. I can’t believe it’s coming out this week. I don’t think it’s hit me yet. I’ve been working on this album for like a year, so it’s been a pretty long time. But a lot of the songs really came together recently because it was hard to find the album within all the music that I was making.


When you say it was “hard to find the album within,” is that because you were experimenting with different sounds and trying to find the one that stuck the most?

Not even different kinds of music. I was just making a lot of songs. I was in the studio a lot. I wasn’t really thinking about making a project while I was recording. I was just making each song. So in the end, it was about figuring out how they all fit together and which ones fit together. And it wasn’t even really a matter of which, because to me, they were all my songs and I love them all. But there were definitely certain ones that fit together. So when I figured that out, that’s when the album came together.


It’s been three years since World Vision dropped. With this being your major label debut, were you using that hiatus to establish a strong opening statement?

No, not at all. It was just literally life. Life happened in between. It wasn’t about taking time to establish something. It was just that my life happened and, for whatever reasons, I wasn’t putting out music. At the end of the day, when you’re an artist and you’re personally making all this music, it’s all on you. If you wake up one day feeling like you’re going to write and be creative, then that’s on you to make the song. But if you wake up one day not feeling it or you can’t access that part of yourself, then the song doesn’t get made. That’s kind of just how it is for me.


Tommy was put together in sort of the same way World Vision was, except I was in a different place. For this particular album, I’ve been in the studio with a lot of different producers, as opposed to World Vision, which was recorded in my bedroom. I’ve definitely gone in my own lane for this. I’ve done this album pretty solo; it’s just been me and me, you know what I mean? I think there are differences but I think it’s really just life and the time that has passed in between. The differences are not chosen ones. It’s just like...well, here we are, three years later.


You came out the gate referring to your music as “fetish rap.” Do you think that label still applies?

“Fetish rap” is just a term I made up. I don’t even know how relevant it is to this particular album. Obviously, there are songs like “Play With It” and “Bad Boy,” where I’m kind of explicit. But the reason I originally started calling my music “fetish rap” is because I acknowledge my music as niche and not being for everyone. So it’s kind of like, if you do like it, it’s kind of your fetish — you like it because it’s like that. But after I said it, it just blew up and everyone started using it as a term for my music. I wouldn’t say Tommy is not fetish rap, but it’s so much more than that. That’s what it means to me.


You recently tweeted that the song “Daddy” was for the LGBTQ+ community.

I feel like all my songs are for the queer community; I just think that they really get me and make me feel at home and good about myself and confident in my music. Whenever I play a show, it’s queer people that are my biggest supporters. They really support me in a way that no other community does. They’re really important to me.

I had the honor of playing the LadyLand Festival, and that moment really opened my eyes because the amount of love I got at that show was overwhelming. It’s just a community that’s really accepting of all your differences. They love you for who you are and they’re just trying to support you. They don’t want anything from you, and to have that feeling is super rare. I make all of my music for the queer community. I obviously make it for everyone else who wants to hear it, but I make it for the queer community first.


The only two features you have on this album are Charli XCX and Empress Of. Was there any specific reason that those were the artists you wanted to work with?

I just love their music. I personally listen to them, and that is why I asked them. It just made sense. Charli for “100 Bad” just made sense. And then “Naughty” was a song that, once it was done, I was like, “This is almost it, but something is missing.” And Empress Of is just someone who I’ve always loved for her singing voice. I had known her from Atlanta from a bit back, so I just hit her up. She has my favorite singing voice, so I was really happy when she got on it.


Knowing that you’re already working on the next project, is there anyone else you’d love to work with in the near future?

Rihanna. A classic answer, I know. But basically, I’m not really thinking about that. I’ve just been making music on my own and then I guess whatever comes from it. Especially for this album, because it’s self-titled, I just wanted it to be finished without having to have features, and if features happened organically, [then I was down]. So that’s really how it all came together. Just super natural. Not supernatural, but super space natural. But also, supernatural, I guess.



Super. Natural. And also supernatural.



Before we go, I wanted to ask about Assassination Nation, because your song “100 Bad” was included in the film in one of the most iconic scenes. How was that?

That part was fire! When Hari Nef snaps her finger and says, “I love this song,” I honestly was just over the moon. I had met with the director (Sam Levinson) and he showed me the movie before it came out and he was just like, “Do you have any music for this?” And I was like, “I think I have a song you’ll love,” and it was “100 Bad.” He loved it and put it in that part. Then, Charli and I made another song called “Bricks” and I think they’re going to put it out later, but I’m not sure what the status is on that. But overall, I was just so honored to have my song be the one where they’re like, “Stop! I love this song.” I was like, “Okay, thank you! Same!”


This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
