Q&A: Bôa Brings Their Cult Alt-Rock Revival to Lollapalooza
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photo Credit: Audrey Hertel
RETURNING TO THE SPOTLIGHT — A wave of 2000s alt-rock nostalgia collides with the fresh pulse of reinvention as U.K. trio bôa takes the stage at Lollapalooza Chicago on Saturday, August 3. Known to many for their 1998 cult classic “Duvet”—a haunting, melodic anthem that soundtracked the cult anime Serial Experiments Lain—bôa has experienced a stunning second life over the past few years. But this is no mere reunion tour: bôa is back with something vital to say.
Following a period of dormancy, the original lineup—Jasmine Rodgers (vocals/guitar), Alex Caird (bass/guitar) and Lee Sullivan (drums)—reunited with purpose after “Duvet” took TikTok and streaming platforms by storm in 2021. With new fans discovering the track’s emotional depth and ethereal mood, the band found themselves the unexpected torchbearers of a movement that brought their music to whole new generations. The result? Over 1 billion streams across their catalog and “Duvet” officially reaching Platinum certification in North America.
Last year, bôa released their first full-length in over two decades, Whiplash. Far from a nostalgic throwback, the 13-track album touches on themes of alienation, resilience, and healing with a graceful blend of introspection and rock-driven energy. The album feels current and timeless all at once, a quality that mirrors bôa’s own trajectory.
“One of the things that we have always done when we've been in the studio is trying everything out and not being afraid to lean into experimentation and giving it a go,” frontwoman Jasmine Rodgers says to Luna.
Bôa’s appearance at Lollapalooza marks a powerful full-circle moment as it’s a celebration of longevity, evolution, and the unexpected magic of cultural rediscovery. Whether you first heard “Duvet” in the late 90s, stumbled across it on TikTok, or are discovering bôa for the first time in Grant Park, one thing is clear: this is a band that still knows how to cut deep and soar.
Ahead of their electrifying Lollapalooza performance, Luna had the chance to catch up with bôa’s frontwoman Jasmine Rodgers to reflect on their return to the spotlight, the catharsis behind Whiplash, and how they’ve stayed grounded while navigating this unexpected second wave of attention.
Photo Credit: Audrey Hertel
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
JASMINE: I hope that we create a rock-driven emotional landscape that offers a place for people to find peace of mind for themselves, or something like that in there. I think it's generally very rock. We throw a bit of funk in there every now and then. We do a lot of melodies and have a little folk influence going on. We try to create little worlds for each song.
LUNA: It’s been about a year since the release of your Whiplash album — looking back, how do you feel about the album and its impact? Has the album grown or evolved in your eyes since then?
JASMINE: We've been touring pretty much non stop since around August, and the songs have grown, as they always do, and being able to perform them internationally and see how people are interacting with them has been incredible. And inevitably, they've been growing and because of that, we've had solid people working with us, like Carlos Garcia here, who is our MD and plays guitar with us.
We’ve developed the songs so much that we actually went back into the studio and reframed them and did acoustic versions of them, which are coming up this year, and the first one came out yesterday for “Walk With Me.” We had a string quartet, and Harry Fausing Smith, who is our string arranger, also played the violin with us throughout these tours. Inevitably, I think it landed really well. It's been incredible to see, and it's just been this wonderful vehicle. It's been very, very strange to do this. It's very lovely of the record label to give us this opportunity, but mostly it's the people listening to the music that's given this opportunity. I can, hand on heart, say that we wouldn't be here without people listening to the music and it hadn't gone viral.
LUNA: Did you ever expect to go as viral as you did three decades later? It’s crazy how music transcends so many boundaries and time and space.
JASMINE: It's been incredible. I think one of the things is the music itself at the time. The songs have different genres to them and it kind of worked with our brains. But luckily, being able to go international means that our audience were able to hear. We really found our audience.
LUNA: Were there any specific breakthroughs or lessons you learned while creating Whiplash that have carried over to your future releases and projects?
JASMINE: One of the things that we have always done when we've been in the studio is trying everything out and not being afraid to lean into experimentation and giving it a go. Let's just try it. Even if we'll argue about it, we'll try it. I think that's a really healthy thing to do, is just to be open enough to do that and lean into that experience and then fight about it.
LUNA: If there’s one feeling or message you hope people walk away with after listening to Whiplash, what would that be?
JASMINE: I think one of the things that we had, which is very different from previously, is we've had feedback. When “Duvet” was doing really well, we were getting these lovely, very heartfelt, beautiful messages for people. What we wanted to do was to appreciate them and show that we heard them and that we care about them. I think that's where we struggled when we were younger to find reasons to carry on, but we're here and we've written another album. You don't know where you're going to be going, so just keep going.
LUNA: Can you describe the atmosphere and energy you’ve felt from the Lolla crowd? Was it what you expected?
JASMINE: It’s very chill and beautiful. I love listening to the cicadas here. For me, it's like the sound of summertime in Japan.
LUNA: You’ve built a solid reputation for your live shows. How do you keep your performances fresh and engaging for both longtime fans and new listeners seeing you for the first time?
JASMINE: We’ve been building the set list and streamlining it at different points. I think mainly for me vocally, I just need to keep my head on that, because what I wrote in the first album was vocally quite out there, playing around and sang a lot, so it's trying to build into that kind of thing. We mix all three albums. We take songs from all of them each tour. We try to do something slightly different. We've got quite a lot of different changing musicians as well, and they bring their own flavors.
LUNA: Do you have any specific pre-show rituals or post-show regimens that help ground you or boost your performance on stage?
JASMINE: I'm pretty straight, like clean living during touring, and we try to exercise and do all of that stuff. It's not really rock n’ roll, but it's quite serious, so warm ups and stuff like that.
LUNA: What’s fueling your fire right now—musically or personally—that’s pushing you into this next chapter?
JASMINE: I think I learned that I burnt out. I'm learning to try to stay centered and try to stay positive. I think there's a lot going on in our world that requires that, especially now, I think just trying to do what you can do is important. I think as a woman, I have a lot of personal things to think about being a woman on tour and it’s a thing to consider. I try to stay centered.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Luna?
JASMINE: I'm starting to write again and just putting ideas together. We've got this acoustic music coming out. We'll be touring later in the year, so we're keeping very, very busy.
Photo Credit: Audrey Hertel
