Isabel Dumaa

When she was 12, Isabel Dumaa’s moms booked her a studio session to record songs she had been filling up her journals with since she was 10. With her guitar in tow, the budding singer-songwriter recorded songs she titled “Keep on Trying,” “Cliche Country Song,” and“ Forbidden Love. ”“I don’t even remember why one was called ‘Forbidden Love’ because it wasn’t even forbidden,” Dumaa recalls. “The song was about my aunt getting married. And‘Keep On Trying’ was essentially about this boy liking me and me being like, there’s not a chance in hell, baby .I laugh at them now, but they weren’t bad for a 12-year-old.”Although her musical musings on the trials and tribulations of being a middle schooler in the Bay Area may never be streamed on Spotify, these songs were a springboard for the ones that you can now listen to on repeat .Dumaa’s debut single “Call My Bluff, ”a commentary on imposter syndrome, dropped in July2022, receiving flattering comparisons to Clairo, Remi Wolf, and Maggie Rogers. Follow up single, “Freshman Year” (distributed by Sound On), quickly became a hit on TikTok. Now 21, Dumaa calls Los Angeles home — a six-hour drive away from her family in San Francisco. She moved there right after graduating high school to pursue making music professionally. “I know that there’s nothing else I want to do,” Dumaa shares. “There’s no plan B. I just have to do this. ”And no longer is she tinkering with GarageBand to produce her own songs. Dumaa now works with talented professionals, including vocal coaches, producers, and acclaimed songwriters. “The more someone is willing to experiment, the more I love working with them,” Duma says. “In sessions, I’ll try anything, so having someone who is willing to play around with me is amazing. ”Best of all, a passionate TikTok following is cheering Dumaa on along the way. She’s racked up millions of likes on her impressive acoustic covers and teasers of her latest songs — all infused with her breath-taking vocals. Her Instagram following saw a massive 600%rise over the last four months. Her songs “Quarter Life Crisis” + “Always Leaving You” were released last year to great fanfare from the likes of Paste, Ones to Watch, Lyrical Lemonade and more. Her debut EP Just My Nature is on the way, set for release October 2024. “This project has been a culmination of my life over the past two years, as an artist but also a person,” Dumaa details. “It came straight from my heart, the good and the bad. Traveling through the highs and pitfalls of entering adulthood; the love and heartache, the burnout and growth, the aching for the past, and frisson for the future. ”For her debut, she worked with acclaimed producers Tyler Chester, Brandon Shoop (Role Model), Jed Jones(Post Malone), Oscar Neidhardt (Kasey Musgraves),amongst others, with mixing and mastering from James Krause (Beyonce)