Adjenai: Grief Turned Into Cathartic Indie-Pop

Grief is usually quiet. Adjenai's songs are anything but that. And that's exactly the point.

Adjenai (pronounced ah-juh-nay) is an LA-based musician and writer (she/they) whose debut album Did It Hurt? Was It Fun? arrives October 23 as a self-released 12-track record. In their own words on their official site, Adjenai "makes music that goes somewhere heavy and comes out the other side." The songs carry grief, confusion, and tenderness inside sparkling, hook-forward pop — bubbly production soundtracking some of the most honest lyricism to come out of LA's indie scene this year.

The album began not as a record but as a coping mechanism. After a six-year hiatus from releasing music, Adjenai was caretaking for a close family member with dementia in suburban Florida and writing songs simply to process what they were feeling. As they told Under the Radar: "I was writing songs to process my feelings. It wasn't until I was walking with my mom after we spread my aunt's ashes in Alaska that I said, 'I think I need to try again with my artist project. I think these songs might be for someone else to hear.'" Writing continued at a Hedgebrook residency on Whidbey Island, and the songs became an album. Adjenai co-produced the record with their wife, audio engineer and musician Marina Paiz, handling production and instrumentation themselves; Javi Cruces mixed it, Elaine Rasnake mastered it.

What they sound like: Under the Radar calls it "airy, moving, and thoughtful indie pop," and the ingredients check out. Shimmering, early-2000s-inspired production, understated guitars, pillowy synths, and a voice that can float through a chorus before landing an emotional gut-punch. If you're building a mental map, start somewhere between MUNA's cathartic pop precision, Clairo's bedroom-pop warmth, and the emo-pop-rock ache of Avril-era pop-punk hooks — with a current of contemporary R&B running underneath. Lead single "Early Mourning" is the thesis statement: "a lithe, infectious, and devastatingly pretty effort," per Under the Radar, that builds toward a huge final chorus and then deliberately pulls back for a quiet piano outro that never resolves.

Adjenai isn't new to the craft — they've played around LA since college, opened for Rosie Tucker, and held down a four-week concert series in Pasadena, with earlier EPs going back to 2015. But this is the first full-length, and it already feels like the record their whole trajectory was building toward.

Live: Adjenai played an album release show at Their Lair in Highland Park on October 17 with Maryleigh Roohan, and more LA dates are likely to follow around the album's release.

Start here

• "Early Mourning" — the lead single and the album's emotional center of gravity; start here for the full thesis.
• "Everything Bagel" — the bouncier second single, hook-driven and bright.
• "Silver Lining" — the third pre-release single; catch all three singles on the pre-save page before the full album lands October 23.

Where to follow

• adjenai.com — pre-save links, singles, bio, and press
• Bandcamp (singles streamable there)
• Instagram: @adjenaimusic