Emily AF has been a live sound engineer and producer in Madison since 2007. A lifelong musician, her long dormant project, Rockstar & Elise, was given new life after she came out as transgender and began transition in early 2022. Like other “Pandemic Trans,” she was born anew into profound darkness, which you can hear throughout her music.

Emily makes what she calls, “Synth Driven Nostalgia Pop,” because the songs often call back to other worlds and different eras, but no genre properly contains her. Some of this sadness is lamenting the time lost by not transitioning earlier, but it’s also about looking to a past that in retrospect, felt less dark and hopeless. Though not explicitly about being trans or queer, her songs often speak of survival, struggle, and trying to make it through darkness to the other side. Others, like her third single, “Mixtape,” are about using music to overcome awkwardness to find new friends, or in her case, other musicians to work with. Her first single, “Makeup,” is about the armor we clad ourselves in, being literal makeup, or a shirt you feel invincible in.

As a child, she grew up in a bluegrass house, but came of age in the rock and industrial music of the late 80s and early 90s. A live sound engineer professionally, many other genres creeped in over time, from traditional string music of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, to classical, to modern pop and hip hop.  On any given day, she’s equally likely to be listening to Skinny Puppy, Taylor Swift, or Alison Krauss. You can hear in her music this push to evolve and incorporate sounds and elements of all the music she loves and is inspired by.

Her September release, “The Future,” is by far the darkest to date. It’s a trio of songs about collapse, be it global, the end of a long relationship or career, and the most personal, the rapidly dimming hope that she, and most other trans people feel everyday, as the world closes off the ability for us to live openly in society, with access to health care, and to live without fear of arrest for just being ourselves. As she ramps up to live shows in the late fall, in which she plans to bring arena-level show production to the small stage, one large question of identity looms over her. She is proudly and openly trans and queer (and married), but she doesn’t want to be trapped by that definition. She wants to be someone’s favorite new artist who happens to be trans and queer. Find Rockstar & Elise anywhere you stream music.

2024 Great Madison+ LGBTQ+ Artist Survey

Adam Raiford Wilson (ARWIL), Multimedia
Artery Ink, Design & Illustration
Elizabeth Holden, Author
Emily AF, Musician