Dorian Electra Fridkin Gomberg (born 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and performance artist. Their debut studio album, ''

Flamboyant Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-t ...

'', was released in 2019, followed by their second studio album, '' My Agenda,'' in 2020. Electra is known for their non-conforming fashion, queer aesthetics, and

experimental pop Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas. It may incorporate experimental techniques such as musique concrète, a ...

sound. Electra identifies as

genderfluid Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typica ...

Early life

Electra's father is Paul Gomberg, known as "the Rockstar Realtor" in Houston, and originally from Beverly Hills. Their mother is an artist and jewelry designer Paula Fridkin. Electra graduated from

School of the Woods School of the Woods is an independent primary and secondary school located at Hilshire Village, Texas, Hilshire Village, Texas, United States in Greater Houston, with a portion of the school property in Spring Branch, Houston. It offers education ...

, a

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

high school in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. They attended

Shimer College Shimer Great Books School (pronounced ) is a Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, with a history of bein ...

, a

Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cla ...

school in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

, from 2010 to 2014.

Career

Electra first drew national attention in 2010 with the music video "I'm in Love with Friedrich Hayek", which lauded the philosophy of the Austrian economist

Friedrich Hayek Friedrich August von Hayek ( , ; 8 May 189923 March 1992), often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian–British economist, legal theorist and philosopher who is best known for his defense of classical liberalism. Hayek ...

and garnered commentary from the modern Austrian theory professor

Steven Horwitz Steven G. Horwitz (February 7, 1964 – June 27, 2021) was an American economist of the Austrian School. Horwitz was the Distinguished Professor of Free Enterprise in the department of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State Un ...

. In 2011, they released two more videos, "Roll with the Flow" and "We Got it 4 Cheap". Both were covered by mainstream political media. "We Got it 4 Cheap" came in second in the

Lloyd V. Hackley Lloyd Vincent "Vic" Hackley is an educational administrator in North Carolina who was named in July 2007 as the interim chancellor of Fayetteville State University. He was previously chancellor of FSU from 1988 to 1994. Hackley is an alumnus of L ...

Endowment's "Supply and Demand Video Contest". In 2012, they interned at production company Emergent Order. Emergent Order had previously published " Fear the Boom and Bust", a similar Hayek-oriented rap video. Electra then produced a new, similarly economics-oriented pop video, "FA$T CA$H", with the support of an award from the

Moving Picture Institute The Moving Picture Institute (MPI) is an American non-profit organization and film production company founded in 2005 by human rights advocate Thor Halvorssen. Its current president is Rob Pfaltzgraff. Mission and purpose The Moving Picture Inst ...

. In September 2012, Electra released the music video "Party Milk", which they describe as an attempt to merge common party scene symbolism with something one would never associate with a party, but that everyone is familiar with in another context. In 2014, Electra (as Dorian Electra & The Electrodes) released a music video called "What Mary Didn't Know", based on Frank Jackson's philosophical thought experiment of the same name (1986). 2015 saw the release of Electra's video "Forever Young: A Love Song to Ray Kurzweil", a tribute to the futurist

Ray Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and ...

. In 2016, Electra released "Ode to the Clitoris" on

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 ...

detailing the history of the

clitoris The clitoris ( or ) is a female sex organ present in mammals, ostriches and a limited number of other animals. In humans, the visible portion – the glans – is at the front junction of the labia minora (inner lips), above the o ...

from ancient Greece to modern 3D models. In an interview Electra stated it was to "desensitize people to the word CLITORIS and help bring it more into popular consciousness." In June 2016 Electra released "Mind Body Problem" on Bullett Media, a song and video "about femininity as a performance—when being a 'woman' feels like putting on a costume and the costume doesn't seem to come off with the clothes". Electra continued their music video series with

about

intersectional feminism Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...

and queer histories with "The History of Vibrators" (2016), the "Dark History of High Heels" (2016), "2000 Years of Drag" (2016), and "Control" (2017). These videos focused on the histories of intersectional feminist and queer issues, collaborating with many artists including Imp Queen, London Jade, The Vixen, Lucy Stoole, Eva Young, Zuri Marley, K Rizz, and Chynna. "2000 Years of Drag" was accepted and screened at The East Village Queer Film Festival, NewFest, Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest, TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival, Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF), Art All Night - Trenton: 6th Annual Film Festival, Desperado LGBT Film Festival, QUEER-Streifen Regensburg, Filmfest homochrom, Flatpack Film Festival, CINEMQ. In 2017, Electra released the single Jackpot through Grindr's digital publication Into More, a song that "addresses gender fluidity, but in a more subtle, less explicitly educational way." Later that year, Electra was featured on the

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery b ...

track "Femmebot" with

Mykki Blanco Mykki Blanco (born April 2, 1986) is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist. She has collaborated musically with artists including Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Blood Orange. Early life Blanco was born in Orange County, Cal ...

on the mixtape '' Pop 2''. In 2018, Electra released three new tracks titled "Career Boy", "VIP", and "Man to Man". In 2019, Electra released their debut album, ''

''. In August 2019, Electra embarked on the Flamboyant: Chapter I tour, which lasted until November 2019. They began the second leg, Flamboyant: Chapter II, in early 2020. However, in March of the same year, the rest of the tour dates were postponed due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

. In 2020, Electra released the single "Thirsty (For Love)", a collaboration with fans. They also released a deluxe version of "Flamboyant" later that year. Following this, they released the singles " Sorry Bro (I Love You)", "Give Great Thanks", "Gentleman", and "M'Lady". On September 21, 2020, Electra announced their project '' My Agenda'', featuring appearances from Rebecca Black,

Sega Bodega Salvador Navarrete (born 16 February 1992), better known by his stage name Sega Bodega, is an Irish-Scottish music producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and co-head/founder of record label and collective Nuxxe. Sega Bodega is known for his futuristic ...

, Lil Mariko, Mood Killer, Faris Badwan,

Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in August 2011, it has had a membership of appr ...

Village People Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the rel ...

, and Dylan Brady among others. The project was released on October 16, 2020, and is described as exploring " crisis in masculinity".

Personal life

Electra is queer and

, and uses

they/them pronouns Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentence ...

. They have been diagnosed with

attention deficit disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inappro ...

. Electra is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Instrumental albums

Demo albums

Singles

As lead artist

As a featured artist

Other charted songs

Other appearances

Videos

* "I'm in Love with Friedrich Hayek" (2010) * "Roll with the Flow" (2011) * "We Got It 4 Cheap" (2011) * "Party Milk" * "Fast Ca$h" (2012) * "What Mary Didn't Know" (2015) * "Forever Young: A Love Song To Ray Kurzweil" (2015) * "Ode to the Clitoris" (2016) * "Mind Body Problem" (2016) * "The History of Vibrators" (2016) * "Dark History of High Heels" (2016) * "2000 Years of Drag" (2016) * "Control" (2017) * "Jackpot" (2017) * "Career Boy" (2018) * "V.I.P." (feat. K Rizz) (2018) * "Man to Man" (2018) * "Flamboyant" (2019) * "Daddy Like" (2019) * "Adam & Steve" (2019) * "Guyliner" (2020) * " Malibu" (Guest appearance) (2020) * "Sorry Bro (I Love You)" (2020) * "Give Great Thanks" (2020) * "Gentleman / M'Lady" (2020) * "Edgelord" (feat. Rebecca Black) (2020) * "F the World" (2020) * "Friday (Remix)" (Guest appearance) (2021) * "

Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album '' ÷'' (2017), along with " Castle on the Hill". The dancehall and R&B-infused ...

" (2021) * " Positions" (2021) * "Ram It Down" (feat. Mood Killer, Lil Mariko & Lil Texas) (2021) * " Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" (2021) * "

Happy Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. Sinc ...

" (feat. 645AR) (2021) * "My Agenda" (feat.

) (2021) * "My Agenda" ( Anamanaguchi Remix) (feat. Village People & Pussy Riot) (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Electra, Dorian Living people Musicians from Houston Shimer College alumni Singer-songwriters from Texas 21st-century American singers Non-binary musicians LGBT singers from the United States Queer musicians LGBT Jews Jewish American musicians Electropop musicians Experimental pop musicians Baroque pop musicians Transgender non-binary people LGBT people from Texas Transgender musicians LGBT songwriters 21st-century American Jews 21st-century LGBT people 1992 births