Q&A: Jesse Detor Makes Electric Lollapalooza Debut with Riot Grrrl Spirit
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photo Credit: Audrey Hertel
JESSE DETOR OWNS LOLLA STAGE — Armed with unfiltered emotion and a “can’t-do” attitude that recalls the raw energy of Riot Grrrl icons of the past, Jesse Detor has quickly become one of the most captivating new voices in alternative music. That same emotional depth was on full display during Jesse Detor and her band’s debut Lollapalooza performance on Friday, August 1—a milestone moment for the rising artist that felt as cathartic as it did star-making.
Her latest EP, It Wasn’t Supposed to End Like This, is a collection of songs centered around loss, longing, and the emotional messiness that comes with trying to make sense of it all. “There’s a very common thread throughout the EP of loss, and of different feelings regarding that,” Detor says. “Reflecting on it, there are many different ways to cope and handle loss in whatever degree of seriousness that happens. I think that giving yourself space and time to process that in a way that you want to and feel all of the phases of that is powerful.”
Blending elements of Hole’s unfiltered rage, Veruca Salt’s melody-soaked aggression, and Olivia Rodrigo’s Gen Z pop-punk lens, Detor manages to bridge decades of influence while creating something unmistakably her own. It’s not nostalgia—it’s revival. And fans are already hooked, echoing her lyrics back like diary entries they wish they had written first.
Following their fiery debut performance at Lollapalooza, Luna sat down with Jesse Detor and her band to reflect on the whirlwind of the day—from the energy of the crowd to the deeper themes throughout their newest EP, It Wasn’t Supposed to End Like This. Amid the post-set adrenaline, Detor opened up about what it meant to bring their music to a stage as iconic as Lolla, how the festival atmosphere amplified their message, and why community—on and off the stage—is at the heart of everything they create.
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 inspires you to push boundaries within your sound? Are there any specific experiences, artists, or moments that have encouraged you to explore new musical territories?
JESSE: Truly just listening to a lot of female artists. I honestly even consider it almost a separate genre, and listening to the women of rock, yeah, especially with the 90s inspirations, it's all female and that is very exciting. We also pull from a really wide variety of sounds and types of music.
LUNA: Looking back on the release of your EP “It Wasn’t Supposed to End Like This” in February, how does it feel to reflect on that body of work now, half a year later?
JESSE: I’m really proud. It's very fun to get to play that music. I'm on this big stage. It was our second big project together, so I felt like we were really coming into our own and even listening back to it now, me and Emma were talking about really seeing a lot of common threads throughout the different songs that make it feel like a whole. I think it becomes more whole the more time that we spend with it.
LUNA: Now that the EP has had time to live in the world, what has the response or growth been like for you personally and professionally?
EMMA: I feel like this EP was a lot more guitar-wise. I feel like I did a better job with this one than with the last one, just in terms of things that were cool and that I thought were cool. It's always nice to get comments about the guitar parts and, like, the response, especially to “Apartment Song,” is really good guitar-wise, because we did that live session.
SAM: I feel similarly. With every new thing we record, I feel like my writing gets stronger. I take more risks. We're growing together all the time. I love it.
LUNA: What do you hope listeners walk away with after spending time with this EP?
JESSE: I think there is, as we were discussing, a very common thread throughout loss and of different feelings regarding that. It spans from “If You're Going (I’m Going),” which is a deep fear of loss, to “Lovelost,” which is like, I actually don't even care about loss. Reflecting on it, there are many different ways to cope and handle loss in whatever degree of seriousness that happens. I think that giving yourself space and time to process that in a way that you want to and feel all of the phases of that is powerful.
LUNA: What’s the atmosphere like at Lollapalooza, both on stage and off? How does it compare to other shows you’ve played?
DAISY: It's electric. Lolla is definitely the biggest stage we've ever played. The set was electric. We didn't know what the turnout was going to look like, but it exceeded all of our expectations, just people in the audience knew the words and came to support us.
EMMA: The thing that I love most is I noticed halfway through our set, I was looking at people that were watching us and having a good time. Whether it's like the Poetry Lounge in Pittsburgh, or at Lolla, you still are going to make eye contact with somebody who's watching and enjoying the music and be like, this is the reason for everything. This is the point. It’s so awesome to be able to connect with people in that way.
LUNA: How did you prepare for your Lollapalooza performance? Was there anything different about how you approached this set compared to other shows?
JESSE: The size of the stage was a big factor for us. We play much smaller club and bar stages, instead of playing a really big stage like this. We just went back and reworked a lot of elements in the set, and we worked with a choreographer for a little bit and we figured out how to fill up that space and be our biggest selves and connect with each other the most. That was super exciting. It was really fun to do, and it reflected back in a lot of different ways, even on the smaller stages.
LUNA: Do you have any specific pre-show rituals or routines that help you prepare for a big performance?
SAM: We do a little chant.
EMMA: We all are rigorous in our preparation for stage, like warm ups and we all have different things that we do.
DAISY: Breathing exercises as well.
LUNA: What’s fueling your fire right now—musically or personally—that’s pushing you into this next chapter?
SAM: Friendship.
EMMA: Friendship for me too, and also the thought of getting to do more stuff like this. It's especially awesome to be here and do this with people that I really love.
JESSE: I think that's the importance, especially right now, us all gathering as a community, and playing shows and bringing us as a community and sharing something together. Creating good music is important to us and something that we'd like to continue to do.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
DAISY: Playing more shows. It feels like we’re heading upwards.
SAM: It's just a tough feeling. It's excitement, motivation, especially after graduating. I think after graduating, you get a period of total burnout, and then you come back on the rise. I'm back on the rise, motivated again.
JESSE: We're heading out to LA. We're moving in the fall, which is super exciting. We'll be in Luna land. We're going to be putting out a new EP, so big things are coming.
Photo Credit: Audrey Hertel
