Drama on Tour
Drama's onstage setup is minimal — singer Via Rosa takes center stage at the mic, while her partner Na'el Shehade is perched behind a bank of synths, samplers and keyboards. That's all this Chicago duo need to transfix a room. Drama may specialize in downtempo electronic pop, but they more than live up to their name thanks to Rosa's impassioned performances. And the chill atmosphere of their music belies the intricate architecture of Shehade's productions, which fuse breakbeats, manipulated samples and orchestral textures into cerebral soundtracks equally suited for both a solo headphones session and a communal dance-floor experience. After honing their stage act opening for British electronic-pop phenom SG Lewis and French phenom Jain, Drama are now making the jump to becoming club headliners in their own right.
Drama in Concert
Raised by parents who played in a reggae band, Drama vocalist Via Rosa spent her childhood bouncing between her native Austin, Texas, and California before landing in Chicago in 2010. Shortly thereafter, she started making music with ThemPeople, the hip-hop production collective best known for their collaborations with local heroes Chance the Rapper and Mick Jenkins. Through a mutual friend, R&B singer Jean Deaux, Rosa was introduced to producer Na'el Shehade, who was one of the engineers on Chance's star-making Acid Rap and Kanye West's Cruel Summer compilation. (And music is just one of Shehade's talents: he's also a successful restaurateur and head of the digital-marketing agency KAKE.) Following an impromptu but fruitful studio session, the two formed Drama in 2014, and they self-released their debut album, Gallows, two years later. Situating Rosa's soulful, sonorous voice in Shehade's synth-washed productions, the album suggested the nocturnal R&B of The xx with a Chicago-house twist. They further refined their aesthetic on the 2018 EP Lies After Love before signing on with Brooklyn electronic-music imprint Ghostly International for their luminous 2020 full-length, Dance Without Me.
