Photo courtesy of Jennah Vox
June 2, 2023 By Ethan Marshall
Astoria resident Jennah Vox is looking forward to performing at Queens Rising Saturday at the Queens Night Market. Her performance will come as she prepares to release her second EP, “Recovery,” as soon as later in 2023.
According to Vox, she’s had a deep interest in music for as long as she can remember. She gained a deep appreciation for classical music from playing the cello throughout elementary school, middle school and high school. She also frequently took part in her schools’ theatrical productions, which led her to go to college with a major in theater.
Vox said she started writing and performing her own music right before the COVID-19 pandemic. She ended up developing and releasing her first EP, “In Effigy,” in 2020.
Photo courtesy of Jennah Vox
“I performed a lot on Instagram Lives and Zoom calls throughout the pandemic until things started opening back up again,” Vox said. “It’s a huge honor [to be performing as part of Queens Rising]. All through June I’ll be playing Queens Rising performances. I’ll be playing the Queens Night Market Saturday, Astoria Park June 17 and Culture Lab for the Queens Rising closeout party June 30th. I just think it’s a cool organization. Everyone is super passionate and go out of their way to promote great arts and culture in Queens. To be asked to represent some of the art in Queens is a really big deal for me.”
While she has lived in many places throughout her life, Vox said Astoria is the one place where she’s always felt right at home. She has resided there since 2018.
Some of the musicians she cited as being huge influences on her include Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, and Janis Joplin. She feels they have influenced her singing voice. She also takes inspiration from hip hop and spoken word artists like Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal and Mac Miller.
“I have an eclectic and broad taste,” Vox said. “But the folks I do end up loving I go really deep with.”
Vox doesn’t like to label her own music as belonging to a specific genre. She tends to blend together several elements, including neo-soul and spoken-word influence. Vox described her music from her first EP as more declarative compared to her upcoming EP.
“It was this really strong powerhouse vocals EP,” Vox said. “I’m working on my next one right now and it’s a little bit softer in tone. It will have a touch of jazz influence. I hope to combine those two things one day into an album and put it out again as a complete work.”
Vox also uploads some of her content to social media sites like Instagram and Tiktok.
