Figuring It Out, Together
The late-April capstone event for the Music Industry program was the debut performance of STARCRXSSED. Katie James and her collaborator VC had spent nearly three years building toward it — a debut single, a debut EP and their first live show, all in the same academic quarter.
James, who records and releases solo music as KORA, is already an established presence in EDM and pop. KORA has over 10 million streams, with releases on labels including NCS, Lowly and CHOMPO, and support from editorial playlists and DJs internationally. It boasts an EDM duo whose music centers queer and multicultural narratives, blending what the duo describes as the glittery and grungy sounds of dance music with AfroLatin sonic influences.
She grew up in San Clemente, California, in a household shaped by her father's work as an actor. She started writing and recording seriously during the pandemic, and when she researched colleges, The Herb Alpert School of Music's Music Industry program held what she had in mind. She applied right out of high school and didn't get in on the first try. She spent a year in New York, but realized quickly it wasn't the right fit. Returning to California, she attended community college and was accepted as a transfer student into UCLA — to the very music industry program she had originally hoped to attend.
She deliberately sought an internship at MEmusic, an all-female-run music house specializing in song plugging (pitching unrecorded music to labels and publishers on behalf of songwriters). She wanted to work in a company run by women. She managed their social media and found that coming in as a working independent artist made her useful in ways that went beyond the job description.
After graduation, James is taking a year to make music full time, with both KORA and STARCRXSSED running simultaneously. She's taking on the music writing and producing, the marketing, the visuals, sync placements and pitching for live shows.
She's most interested in cultivating what she found at UCLA — a supportive, creative community. "Not just in a 'these are the people I can do business with' way," explained Jones. "But focusing on the relationship aspect of what a community means. We're all just figuring it out together."
