Back when Cobrah was just a little rattlesnake, she recalls being glued to her TV set watching American child stars on the Disney Channel, and feeling one thing: jealous. “I remember thinking, ‘This is what my life is supposed to be. I have to go to kindergarten, but I'm supposed to be a star,’” says the Swedish 29-year-old, who is starting to see those more traditional popstar dreams come true.
This summer, she’ll likely rub shoulders with her idols of yore – Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, et al – as she navigates the backstage area of Coachella Festival, before emerging to perform on her biggest stage yet. Over the past few years, Cobrah has already accumulated her fair share of pinch-me moments, from Emma Stone dancing to her song in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness, to performing alongside the likes of Charli xcx and Grimes, and hosting an acclaimed Boiler Room set in London.
But Cobrah’s origin story is far from traditional. Her first few performances happened at fetish parties in Sweden, where she says people were “just kind enough to let me perform”. She discovered the community thanks to a newfound love of latex, which she first donned during a fitting for her artist press shots. “I asked my friend, ‘Where do people go when they dress like this? And she told me about these parties.” Safe to say it was a little bit of a shock to the system initially. “I remember going out on stage, and the first thing I see is this fully naked woman front row in the audience and I'm like, ‘This is wild,’” she says. “I was like a kid in a candy store.”
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It was also quite the career switch-up. Before becoming a full-time musician, she worked as a primary school music teacher, which had limited transferable skills to her current day job. Save for one. “Organised chaos,” she laughs. “Learning to stay level headed in a room where 30 children are trying to learn the flute is definitely a skill I still use. Being backstage at a show can sometimes feel like 30 kids trying to learn the flute.”
Since releasing her first track in 2018, Cobrah has become known for her thumping, erotic club-pop sound and matching aesthetics, littered with latex, claws, nudity and dripping black goo. Now, she’s shedding the protective provocation and stripping down to the bare minimum. Her debut album, Torn, explores more intimate, vulnerable themes, exposing a brand new Cobrah to the masses. “I think I've wanted to be personal for a long time, but I don't think I've been brave enough to do it, because I always search for the extreme,” she says. “Like, for the Succubus EP, we did the music video for Suck, and I'm in a medical bed, full frontal naked, and there's aliens with suction cups, putting them all over my body. But somehow getting personal feels even more extreme than that.”
Cobrah’s been explicit - lyrically and visually - from the very start. Putting herself out there like this in the early days felt like a risk, but one that has ultimately paid off. “You have to climb cringe mountain,” she laughs, “everyone thinks you’re cringe in the beginning, no matter who you’re trying to be. When you start doing something and you don't get any likes on socials, or you’re not getting booked, no one believes it. Then you book a tour, and even if you’re doing the same thing you were doing five years ago, suddenly people like it.”
With her debut album set for release tomorrow and prep already underway for her North American tour and Coachella performances, it’s clear that people do, indeed, like it. Cringe mountain has been scaled, and a newly reborn Cobrah is just taking in the view.
Cobrah plays Kentish Town Forum on 27 May
