Isadora Franca Finally Finds Confidence as a Performer

Growing up all over South Florida, Isadora Franca found herself in a predicament most first-generation children of immigrants face. Raised in a religious household, she had a strong love affair with music and the urge to create, but she was too afraid to do anything about it.

After entering adulthood, she moved to Georgia and entered a marriage that ended in divorce before returning to Miami. Her dreams seemed out of reach until songwriter, producer, and head of Lunchbox Records LunchMoney Lewis stumbled on France's blend of honest music with dashes of alternative and tropical music.

Now, Franca is speaking to New Times from Los Angeles, where she is putting the final touches on an EP and reflecting on what got her this far.

"I just didn't understand the music industry, but as I was growing up, I always found myself going to my room, making melodies, going on YouTube, finding instrumentals, and doing covers," she explains. "I just knew that always brought me so much joy and peace, and I was so shy about it. I never told anybody I had such a passion for music because it felt silly for me to say and because I was never going to picture myself doing anything with it."

Franca found herself living a double life as someone in love with the idea of making music but too afraid to do anything about it.

She adds, "I was becoming more constrained throughout the years as I got older. I was 18, and I moved to Georgia, and it started to really bug me because I started thinking very morbidly, I'm like, What if I die and I just never did this music thing? I just felt like I embodied melodies; I embodied music. It was part of my soul, but no one knew, and I never felt comfortable telling anybody."

Eventually, she gathered the courage to tell an ex-boyfriend about her aspirations.
"I was like, 'I love music, and I make music. I create songs, and it's a big dream of mine, and one day, you're going to hear me on the radio.' And I said it like I've never said anything that confidently," Franca remembers.

With her fear out of the way, Franca embarked on her music career, testing the waters at her local church. She admits to having nightmares the night before her first performance, finding it all the more nerve-racking and feeling anxious about the whole situation.

"It was really bad, but I knew that it was something I had to conquer," she shares. "That went on for a couple of months, and then I found that the moment that I started singing, the moment that like bravery and the action steps in, fear was no longer there."

As Franca grew more confident in herself as a performer, she eventually married another musician at the age of 20. The union didn't last long, and the couple never collaborated on music during their time together.

"I wrote a song called 'Imagine,' which is about just imagining a relationship that's gone wrong, but like you're using your imagination so well that in your mind your relationship is good — like you're just sort of in la-la land."

Around this time, LunchMoney Lewis stumbled upon the Brazilian-American's recording of "Imagine."

"He said he clicked on it, and he felt like a pain in my voice and vulnerability," Franca says. "Then he reached out to me, and it took a few days to reply to him because I didn't know who he was, and I was very skeptical. Then we FaceTimed, and we talked for an hour, and I told them my story, and now I'm here."
The experience has made her a much more confident artist, and she is preparing more music to release. Franca wants to continue focusing on being honest and truthful about life and its many problems.

"I like storytelling. I like evoking emotion within myself. If I was sad, I would listen to sad music to make me sadder, or if I was happy, I listened to happy music because I always loved being able to find myself in those moments of other people's emotions and other people's artistry."

Franca has the softness of Clairo but the boldness of SZA. She effortlessly merges ethereal vibes with raw, fearless energy. Her latest single, "Had Enough," is a clear example, with its echoing chorus fused with laid-back tropical instrumentals.

Being raised in a traditional Brazilian household has exposed her to many different sounds and genres, most notably worship music and bossa nova.

"We have a lot of songs in our backlog,  and a big portion of them are inspired by my Brazilian background. Most of my family is still in Brazil, so they're cheering me on from there. I want people to listen to the music and just have this homey sort of vibration, to find a home away from home within my roots."