![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0-6.jpg\")
\u201cI love making music, and I love performing it live,\u201d says AroMa.<\/p>\nAll of AroMa\u2019s art, from the drip to the slap, hinges on a relationship with time.<\/p>\n
AroMa\u2019s fashion pairs edginess with antiquity. Their film visuals are simultaneously classic and fresh. And their music combines crying alt-rock guitar riffs and big orchestral strings with R&B soul and introspective lyrics, creating a sound that spans decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the eve of my 10th birthday,\u201d AroMa says, \u201cI realized that when you go to double-digits, you never go back to single-digits.\u201d The realization made it clear that certain things are finite. \u201cAnd that terrified me,\u201d AroMa admits.<\/p>\n
To combat that anxiety, AroMa began a process of either urgently \u201cchasing time,\u201d or completely running away from the construct, so as to not be \u201ccaptive to the finite nature of temporal beings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI love making music, and I love performing it live,\u201d says AroMa.<\/p>\n
On June 26 at Eli\u2019s Mile High Club in Oakland, AroMa will perform music from their latest EP Smitten<\/a>, as well as pieces from their forthcoming project, on a lineup with the band Spa<\/a> and the duo closegood<\/a> at the MASC4MASQUERADE BALL<\/a>. Presented by Trans Bay<\/a> and hosted by RAY<\/a>, AroMa guarantees some refined fashion statements from artists and attendees alike.<\/p>\n But AroMa has no idea what they plan on wearing yet. And that\u2019s part of their stragey.<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly wait to the very last minute to pick a lot of my outfits,\u201d says AroMa, for whom procrastination lights a fire.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the \u2018grandma aesthetic\u2019,\u201d they tell me, crediting their Big Mama\u2019s influence. \u201cWhen I was a kid, I thought she was the coolest person,\u201d says AroMa of their grandmother. \u201cI was meant to be like her; I didn\u2019t know that that meant eventually I also would have a wig collection.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with matching antique hairpieces, big black leather belts and fly feathered garments, the added element to AroMa\u2019s sense of style is time.<\/p>\n Their first full-length project, ZoomBug<\/a>, \u201ca radically queer musical about race cars and shitty exs,\u201d was written in a bout of anxiety about time passing. When it dropped in 2018, the campy musical became something of a local cult classic.<\/p>\n The film centers a fake band, played by real musicians. Oddly enough, it was that collective that catalyzed AroMa\u2019s music career. \u201cMy first-ever live music performance was because somebody asked the ZoomBug band to play a New Year\u2019s Eve show,\u201dAroMa tells me. \u201cWe weren\u2019t even a real band.\u201d<\/p>\n That experience opened the door for more productions. AroMa was making music videos for other artists when they began working on another film, Moon Baby. But when the pandemic stalled the production, AroMa fully turned to music.<\/p>\n \u201cI low-key hate releasing music,\u201d says AroMa. \u201cBut it needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n The songs on their four-track EP Smitten were workshopped for months. Some marinated for years. Leadoff track \u201cGoldmine\u201d was written\u00a0five years ago, when AroMa and their bandmates first got their studio space in downtown Oakland.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like, \u2018okay, this space, in this moment, is the beginning of a big change,\u201d recalls AroMa. With a desk, a basic sound system and furniture they\u2019d repurposed, the venue allowed the collective to celebrate being chaotic; that sentiment is reflected in the song. \u201c\u2018Goldmine\u2019,\u201d says AroMa, \u201cwas written at the start of something new. A big leap, the beginning of some significant evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n Creating the song \u201cTerritory\u201d gave AroMa trouble, as the \u201ccharacter\u201d in the song is an \u201coverzealous, big-voiced, very brash\u201d person trying something for the very first time. AroMa had to sound apprehensive, yet confident. After years of refining the track to show trepidation and also declare that they\u2019re here to \u201cembrace the fucking journey that\u2019s ahead,\u201d says AroMa, the song is all about \u201callowing yourself to feel, and be affected and be loved.\u201d<\/p>\n Creating the track \u201cEyes\u201d was about overcoming a different artistic hurdle: having your stuff stolen. Three years ago, thieves didn\u2019t just steal their hard drive from their car \u2014 they stole the whole vehicle.<\/p>\n Though there\u2019s an air of \u201calternative rock soul\u201d throughout Smitten, AroMa\u2019s music is less about genre and more about the \u201ccharacters\u201d that represent facets of who they were when they wrote the song.<\/p>\n As time passes, the version of AroMa who finishes a song is different from the one who started the creative process. And as they grow, their sound constantly changes (AroMa makes hip-hop music as well). But the way that AroMa tells stories in the music remains consistent.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not so interested in perfecting a formula, I\u2019m not trying to create a new genre,\u201d says AroMa. \u201cI\u2019ll flow in and out of whatever the fuck feels right.\u201d<\/p>\n AroMa performs at the MASC4MASQUERADE BALL<\/a> on Friday, June 26, at Eli\u2019s Mile High Club (3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland). Tickets and more information here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0-5-scaled.jpg\")
AroMa.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0-4.jpg\")
AroMa performing live. <\/p>\n