Dora Jar found out she had gone viral this week through a post online pitying her.
The 28-year-old artist and songwriter had spent the day in rehearsals preparing for her upcoming stint as the opening act on Gracie Abrams’ European leg of her The Secret of Us tour, which she and Abrams had just announced with complementing social media posts.
During a break, she opened Twitter and saw a whole lot of drama, starring herself, was erupting. An self-described “fan” of Abrams’ had started a Change.org petition (yes, really) to replace Jar as the opener, claiming she wasn’t popular enough and that her songs were “too slow” (yes, really, again).
The tweeter, Jar recalls, shared a copy of the petition along with a sentiment of, poor Dora. She dissolves into giggles recalling the moment.
“Don’t feel bad for me,” she tells me, and by proxy, the world. “I’m opening for Gracie Abrams, and also, this is funny.”
Some artists (and many average humans, let’s be real) would be crushed by such a blatant rejection of an exciting opportunity so publicly. But Jar genuinely seems to be unbothered, laughing it off and shrugging her shoulders. The internet is going to internet, and the love and support that poured in for her immediately after from everyone from Maggie Rogers to Abrams herself turned a weird moment into something sweet.
“I feel so much love,” she says. “Seeing all this support that kind of backfired off of the negativity was this really funny paradox, and I felt kind of delighted by it. It made me even more fired up for the tour. It’s fun when people don’t know what to expect and you can give anything.”
It’s clear more people need to be introduced to Dora Jar, so I chatted with her about her career (she opened for Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever tour in 2022 and released her first album in September), how middle school prepared her for this moment, and why she’s fine with her career being a slow burn.
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Glamour: Let’s start at the beginning of this saga. How did you end up being chosen as the opener for Gracie?
Dora Jar: A year ago I went to a Grammy‘s party before the ceremony, and Gracie was up for best new artist and was performing. I saw her and just her voice… I knew she was talented and beautiful, but when I saw her live, her voice really hit me deeply. I felt like, Oh my God, I love her so much. A few days later at this after party for the Grammys, I bumped into her. I was really excited to meet her, and she was so sweet. Then we became mutuals online. She was one of the warmest people I’ve met in that setting. Everyone’s stressed out around Grammy’s week and no one really can look you in the eye, but she was laser focused right there, a warm human. So that was my first impression of her.
Then, I loved her album. I love the song “Blowing Smoke.” That song has been in my head so much, especially this week. A few months ago, she DM’d me to ask if I would like to open for her for the Europe tour. That was a first, to have a personal ask. It’s [usually] all this management and booking agents doing this dance that I don’t know about, but this was direct. So that was a wonderful way to plant a seed.
The funny thing about this whole “controversy” is that it’s pretty common to show up for a tour and not be overly familiar with the opening act—in fact, that’s kind of the point, to be introduced to a new artist. Do you agree with that, and what do you think this reaction says about the modern fan experience?
So true. Yeah. I’ve been laughing a lot about it and just kind of drinking it up in this funny way and appreciating all the support that’s come from it too.
Going back to what I was saying about mystery and the unknown, let’s embrace that. I will embrace this experience that I don’t know, even if there might be people who aren’t into it, that’s not my problem. I’ll connect with you, connect with it, and I think it’s going to be a beautiful time.
How are the people in your life reacting to your name suddenly being everywhere?
They mostly have the same attitude. I was surprised; my dad is not in pop culture, he is not really online. He’s very into books and classical music, but somehow he found out about it. Maybe my mom told him. He texted me, “I like how you responded to the nut jobs online.” That was very cute and meaningful from him.
You’ve been getting a lot of support. Do you have any favorite responses?
It’s been so positive. People are dancing to this one song “Ragdoll,” which I’ve never seen that much usage of that song on TikTok in particular.
Obviously Gracie’s such a graceful, beautiful spirit, open-hearted person. She’s been directing a lot of positivity my way. There’s too much to really remember. It’s just a lot.
I saw Maggie Rogers comment on your Instagram and say, “Love you, sweet legend.” So I feel like everything was worth it to get that.
I love her so much, ever since “Dog Days.” That was the first song that I loved by Maggie. She’s so special. Lots of wonderful women supporting women at this moment.
Is this going to change how you plan out the show? What are you thinking?
I want to keep it a secret, but it is going to be a different show.
Read moreGracie Abrams Is Embracing Her Delusions
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Clearly, people need to familiarize themselves with your music. Can you walk me through your discography? What songs should we start with?
My first EP is 2021’s Digital Meadow. That was the one where I felt like, Oh, people are listening, this is very cool and so lucky. My favorite song off that one is “Multiply.” It’s still one I play live. My second EP is called Comfortably in Pain, which is a bit shorter, and my favorite song off that is “Lagoon.” It has the lyric: “I’m comfortably in pain // My love is a lagoon too deep to be known by you.” It’s something I really felt at that time, where I started feeling like a stranger to myself, having to all of a sudden be a little bit public. I felt unknown and known, and I didn’t know what I did to deserve the attention. I also didn’t know how to tell the story. I kind of felt I was embracing my own mystery. I put out my album a few years later in 2024, and it’s called No Way to Relax When You Are On Fire.
I saw your music described a few places as “bedroom pop.” Is that how you self-describe? Honestly, I don’t even know what that means.
No, I don’t. I don’t know what it means either, and I don’t like it. {aughs}. I feel like all artists share the same sentiment of, what the hell is genre? Maybe bedroom pop tries to fill in that confusion by saying, I don’t know, it’s just music. But no, I’m a songwriter primarily. I write all my own songs, usually in a stairwell or somewhere that sounds echoey like a bathroom. So I’m more like a bathroom pop artist maybe, or a stairwell pop artist. But I’m also very rock and roll and I’m also very folk. I’m just a music freak. I love it all. So I try to cover as much ground as I can.
How would you describe your music to a first-time listener?
It’s a fun house and every room is different. It’s all within the same house, but you’ll find many surprises and trinkets and details the closer you look and the deeper you listen.
It’s a good time to be a woman in music right now, especially an emotive songwriter. Yet, there are still challenges of course. How has your experience been breaking into the industry?
I feel like there’s a lot of room to be myself. I had frustrations about the whole obsession with virality when I started. I felt confident that I would grow slowly and take my time and not worry about doing something that would go viral on the internet.
So now that this moment is buzzing, it’s so crazy. It’s like the internet gave me this underdog war overnight. It brought people out of the woodwork who I didn’t know supported me and they’re now being super loud about it. It’s amazing to see. I feel really supported and happy to share what I have going on.
Basically you were happy being a slow-burn, building your fanbase slowly, artist. Is that what you mean?
Yeah, definitely. I think sometimes people fear the abstract, and my goal is to heal my own fear of the unknown. I hope that I can create a community of people who can stare at the unknown in the face and say, show me what you got.
I have to say that I admire how well you’re handling this. I loved your Instagram post where you said, “as if I didn’t survive middle school.”
I’ve had some hairy moments. I had a bit of a panic attack at dinner the other night. It’s a lot on the body to know that there’s so much buzzing conversation around you, and this is kind of the first time in a while I’ve felt that spike in those eyes watching.
You have a lot of new fans. What do you want to share with them?
I have a song coming out soon called “Lucky,” which is one of the most literal songs I’ve ever written. I have a lot of imagery abstractions in my lyrics, and this is the most straightforward, vulnerable song I think I’ll ever put out.
And listen to the album. That’s a fun house in itself. It was a dream album for me to make.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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