Star has an unassuming quality about her, in the way she chirps about her insecurities and guilty pleasures, and gushes with warmth for her collaborators and friends. Yet, she’s not self-effacing. Her aura drips with self-confidence and the knowledge that she is, and always will be, famous (it’s a mindset). Even over Zoom, she is charming, funny and quick-witted, her lyrical prowess clearly a natural phenomenon. It’s no wonder that, in this age of cultural fatigue, Cortisa’s star-power has shone through and captured the imagination of those seeking a fresh take and an authentic edge. Indeed, in an industry still fraught with misogyny and pockmarked with tales of harassment and sex trafficking by the biggest in the biz, Cortisa is a micro-skirt-wearing, lip-syncing, girly-popping breath of cherry-flavoured air. She is the moment, and the future — so you better get on board.
Interview taken from METAL Magazine issue 53. Adapted for the online version. Order your copy here.
Heavy chordal synths lead us into her opening track of “E.M.O. (EVIL MOTION OVERLOAD),” then give way to reverberating coughs. This is Cortisa Star, her distinct vocal timbre sat on top of hyperpop scratches and distorted bass. It’s unexpected and almost religious, a choral prelude, an ode to “acting up” with “hella bitches.” “E.M.O.” is a crystalised expression of Star’s fuck y’all attitude. A sentiment rooted not in negativity, lashing out or superficial bravado, but rather one that protects her peace with brutal honesty.
A necessary protection against the evil eye of vapid hot takes and unfashionable trolls who have already come out in full force against the 20-year-old in the space of her short, but ever brighter, career. Regardless, Star’s no stranger to the bullying wielded by insecure others — it’s simply water off a duck’s back as she continues to level up each day.
Deflecting the hate with her thrifted armour, Cortisa Star is unequivocally one-hundred-percent herself. With a trans flag and Free Palestine in her TikTok bio, she laughs at herself in glitchy videos set to trending sounds, promotes her music in pink wigs and celebrates her sisters loudly and proudly. Growing up in a small town in Delaware, Star found belonging in the arms of the anime-gilded gamer digital universe, and now digisphere has catapulted her into the limelight IRL. Since garnering attention in 2022 after posting a joke video referring to herself as an “underground rap princess,” Star has travelled the world, walked Miu Miu’s Autumn/Winter 2025 show at Paris Fashion Week, and released her debut EP with a surprise feature by Chase Icon. Now, she opens up to METAL.
Hey diva, how are you? What’re you up to these days?
I’ve been home since I got off tour, I’ve just been hibernating. How’re y’all doing?
Yeah, it’s important to have that time just to reset. I’m great, thanks! You were in London recently, right?
Yes, I love London. London was so cool. Everybody there is so cute and nice, and it was very different, but also similar to the spaces I’ve been in America, especially New York. It felt kind of like New York.
Yeah, it has that vibe for sure, just slightly smaller and less intense. Ok, let’s get into it. I wanted to chat to you about the things you’ve said in previous interviews about divorcing people’s perceptions of you from your sense of self. How has this impacted your creative and personal journey?
I feel like I grew up so conscious about what people thought about me, and then one day it just snapped that nothing matters. Well, not nothing. But the way that people perceive you in most areas does not matter, because you just have to push to be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be. That comes with being crazy. That’s why in my music I’m always crazy and talking about the most random things, because that’s my truth.
There’s so much vulnerability but power in just saying what you feel and not caring what other people think about it. I also think it can help us deal when things do get tricky. As a queer person who also went through bullying at school, I think it’s sick that we came out the other end even more affirmed in who we are, rather than forced to conform. Did this mindset also help you deal with that?
Yes, of course, because life is not easy. You go through such crazy things all the time — you live so long, it’s not going to be luck all the time. And so, it really helps me whenever something goes wrong. I just step back, really zoom out, and I’m like, okay, girl, you gotta wake up tomorrow to keep going.
And you have navigated all this while holding on to a level of vulnerability too, because to be that raw and honest, to just say what you want and be crazy like that, also takes a kind of vulnerability. How do you take care of yourself through it all? What are the things you do just for yourself?
Honestly? What really helps me is that I really love staying home. Just surrounding myself with my family and my friends and my dog. I love just laying in my bed, sitting on my porch. That’s really all I do. I don’t do too much.
I love bed! Sounds gorgeous. What’s your dog called?
Zuko. The name comes from “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
OK, I’m not in that loop but I love the name. Where in your house do you feel the most at peace, and the most authentic softest version of yourself? Do you have a favourite corner or room?
I love my back porch because I just sit there. My dog runs around and I watch. I like it when it rains.
It smells so good when it rains.
It does!
You also speak very publicly about your experience of gender. “Misidentify” in your album feels especially beyond the binary, where you say, “guess I’m that fucking guy, I mastered rapping.” What’s it like navigating being a trans woman rapper in the public eye and in a patriarchal world?
It is crazy, because I’m in a space where nobody would have thought I would be. But it’s also awesome, because a lot of people appreciate it. There are a lot of other trans artists who are rappers who I never heard of, but now that I’m a rapper, I’m open to these spaces. It’s tricky and it’s hard, but I think it’s awesome because it feels new.
Ah, it’s so cool that this journey has led you to connect with others as well. Who have you been vibing with or collaborating with that you didn’t know about before?
Ever since I started rapping, I met my good friend Cindy Nova, she produces, raps and sings. Cherry X, I have a whole album with her, that’s my old, really early music, yeah? Also my friend Jadadoll. There are a lot of us pushing the music, but the people don’t really want to hear it, so it’s hard.
Why do you think people don’t want to hear it? Do you think that it’s because of transphobia, or do you think it’s something else?
I feel like it is that. But also the people aren’t hip yet. They’re not ready. But it’s happening. There’s gonna be a great shift. I can feel it.
That’s exciting! I feel like it’s so often the case with queer people, and especially trans people and trans women making art, that the world is just not ready for the universes that they’re creating. It was the same with SOPHIE and the hyperpop glitch worlds that she formed. I think that queer people, generally, and maybe especially trans people, have this deep urge to create and to be heard, because the world doesn’t always want us to be visible, so we need to push back by taking up even more space. What do you think about this? Do you relate?
Yes, I feel like we’re all inherently authentic to ourselves. Because especially once you become socially queer and you’re out, you want everybody to know, I’m here, my old self is gone, dead. Everyone loves creating their little worlds. The escapism is real.
The escapism is real. But I also write about how these little worlds may help us escape, but they also help us imagine different and better worlds that maybe we could create together. What do you think about that?
I definitely agree. In my music, I’m obviously crazy and insane. But for the most part, in real life, people say I’m pretty calm. I like to release my craziness in my music, all my uninhibited parts, so that I can be calmer in real life. And it has helped. I am way more calm than I used to be.
That’s so interesting. It makes me think how much people use music and creativity as a form of therapy or healing for themselves, so they don’t project harm on to others. I’d love to hear more about what worlds you think you might be creating through your music. Do they look like something other than the world we live in?
Yes, everybody is cool, nobody’s evil. A lot of music, everybody’s punk, but not that everybody dresses emo or street punk, but like everyone’s Punk in the mind. It’s cutesy, but it’s dark too.
Okay, what does punk in the mind mean to you?
Basically just the mindset of standing up for what’s right, standing up for others, keeping tight with your community, making your own shit.
Love that! It’s interesting you say that not everyone has to dress a certain way to be punk. But also, I’m so interested by fashion as this really expressive way in which queer people can show the world our authentic selves. Strength and softness, punk and tenderness are not opposites, it’s the issue theme. Related to fashion, really soft clothing actually can be subversive and radical in the right context. How do you share your punk mindset with the world through your fashion?
I do. I really think that people can conjure their soul in their outfits.
And what does that look like for you? What do you think about when you style yourself?
When I style myself, it’s really about how I feel that day. Sometimes I feel super girly, so I put on my little skirt, and I match my colours to the season. Or sometimes I feel more sporty, so I wear my short hair and some jewels. But also it could be just, I don’t know, going to a rave and dressing up as your favourite animal. Just letting people see what you like and who you are.
So fun. What’s your go-to rave outfit? Or does it really depend on how you’re feeling?
I’m real classic. I love a bikini, a little bikini top and some jeans or some funky skirt.
A classic, can’t go wrong.
Exactly, but I’m maximalising accessories.
Ugh, yes. Maximalism is so interesting as well, because that’s also a way in which we get told to be smaller and not take up too much space. You’ve previously defined your style as maximalist junk. Do you still relate to that?
I have been tackling my minimalist bag, I can’t lie. But I still love the maximalist junk. I feel like sometimes you gotta look like you just jumped in your closet and rolled out with whatever landed on you. Look at it from one angle, it might look right. But from the majority, it doesn’t.
But that’s okay, isn’t it?
Because sometimes you need a fuck ass outfit. I truly believe.
Anyway, the expectation that you have to be perfect and look put together from every angle is dishonest, right? It’s not honest because it’s not real. That’s not how humans work — we’re messy!
I look crazy sometimes, but that’s my truth. I love that sometimes I’m tapped, and that’s okay.
You also thrift a lot, right? Is that how you get hold of most of your pieces?
Yes, I love thrifting. There’s this huge store called Savers in Baltimore, and they have the biggest jeans selection. I always find nice low rise skinny jeans or boot cut jeans or anime tees.
That sounds perfect. I went to one of those pay-by-weight vintage thrift warehouses and found some amazing Nili Lotan jeans. I managed to get them along with five other items for only forty pounds in total. Sometimes you just really hit the jackpot, don’t you?
Yes, the best I ever found were J Lo low rise, skinny boot cut jeans. Oh my gosh, they were crazy. The perfect fit.
What’s your process for finding the best stuff? Do you do a lap and then settle somewhere? Do you go through each rack methodically?
Honestly, I look through every single item.
That’s commitment.
I don’t know. I get really scared of missing out on stuff. If I miss it, I’d be really mad.
Do you feel like that about other things in life? Do you get a lot of FOMO?
No, not when it comes to events. I really like being bored, because then nothing’s going on and nothing’s going wrong.
Do you think that being bored is also when we come up with ideas? Because if you don’t let yourself get bored, then I feel like you don’t let yourself process and turn inspiration into creativity.
Yes, I feel like that. But sometimes when I’m bored, I just lay down and don’t think, I’m not gonna lie. I love doing nothing.
Good. We need to reclaim more of doing nothing. I feel like it’s important to do nothing.
Everybody wants to DJ, everybody wants to do nails. How about we do nothing?
I wish that the world could let us do nothing, like if we didn’t have to pay our bills. But there’s a power in reclaiming the nothing in a capitalist society. I like the themes emerging here. We were talking about reclaiming maximalism, and also I guess thrifting is a way to reclaim someone else’s trash and give it a new life. What is your favourite trashy habit?
Getting clothes that I know I shouldn’t be getting. I really do have a terrible shopping addiction, in a 2000s teenager type way. It’s actually disgusting how bad I shop.
Oh my god, and I’m asking you so many questions about clothes and fashion.
I’m gonna buy a dress after this.
Oh, no! Triggered. At least you buy second-hand.
Exactly, but then I can buy more.
Sometimes the joy can get a little out of hand, but at least we’re aware of it! And we’re talking about how fashion is a form of self-expression, it’s not just about being materialistic. And you’ve been smashing it, being a Miu Miu girly and all. There are themes in your album “E.M.O.” about turning criticism and judgement into your own armour. D’you see fashion as a form of armour?
Yeah, it has really just helped me affirm that I am a cool ass bitch even though maybe I’m a little weird and off-putting. Sometimes there’s a little bit of truth in what people say, so I just hold it and then I throw it off. Just let it hit for one second then reflect off.
That’s so admirable to be able to have that kind of protection around yourself. I’m amazed at your ability because it’s a really difficult thing to achieve while in the public eye and while so many people’s attention is on you. How have you found getting quite a lot of fame in a short period of time?
I have really bad social anxiety. But I feel like I’ve started to get rid of it. I just said to myself, all the interactions I have day-to-day with random people outside, I’m never going to see them again. So, it really does not matter at all. And that really helps me with people online. They may see me again, but I will probably never interact with them personally.
I guess what matters is who is around you in real life.
Yeah, if you’re in my circle, I’ll think about what you say.
Do you have a small circle of friends? Or do you tend to have friends in different circles, different social groups?
I have friends from different social groups, but more so in different locations, because I’ve been traveling to a lot of cities. So, it feels like I have a little group in every hub.
That’s so nice, proper international girl!
It is. I love it. People are so awesome.
Where’s been a favourite place you’ve travelled to recently?
I really liked Prague and Paris. It was really cute in Prague. The festival I went to in Prague was really good.
I really want to go to Prague. I’ve heard lots of really good things.
It was awesome. Go to Creepy Teepee next year.
Okay, cute! I will check it out. The kind of fame that you have through TikTok is such a unique experience. Some of your videos would probably send a small Victorian child into a coma, in the best possible way. They’d be so confused.
They’d be scared. They’d be like, this is not right.
They’d probably think they’ve died already and gone to a different realm. It’s really funny to imagine. So, how has it been bringing your actual online connections with people that you do want to see again IRL?
It’s crazy because, especially growing up in Delaware, I’ve had at most five friends my entire life. And I’m still friends with those five people from elementary school. But now I’m holding so many different types of people, friends all over the world. It’s great getting to hear what they say, and learning about everything that’s been going on, because I used to be trapped in such a small bubble.
For sure! We get so much from learning about different people’s experiences of reality and the world in which we live.
Yeah, especially since a lot of people around are creatives. It impacts my art.
How does it impact your art?
Because it’s the influence of the people you surround yourself with that is the blueprint. Not the media or anything like that.
Yeah, absolutely. It’s so important to have genuine people around you, especially as you get more media attention. Those are the real ones.
Yeah, and community is so important for everybody on Earth.
One hundred percent! How did you find growing up in a place where it was more difficult to find the kind of community you now have access to?
There was basically no music scene. It was a very conservative small farm town. It was crazy. But there are some cool people from out there. You still find diamonds in the rough.
Is the music scene growing now?
I don’t know. I think they mainly throw shows outside of the town. I’m in Baltimore now.
Um, that’s where the musical “Hairspray” is set, right? I just have that song in my head right now.
Yes, (laughs and sings) I love you, Baltimore!
(Laughs) Cute! It’s so interesting how queer people find so much community through online spaces. It’s been really important to me in my life as well. So it’s nice that you’re getting to meet people all over the world now.
Internet people are real, y’all, they’re not scary. Your mum was wrong.
It’s true. I have internet friends, too, and they’re actually lovely, real people.
I’ve been having internet friends since I was too young to be having internet friends, a classic Gen Z-er.
Honestly, I met a few of my internet friends back when I was fifteen or sixteen and on Tumblr. You’re probably too young for this, but that’s where we were finding internet friends. It was kind of a wild world, but it was beautiful.
I was on the art and anime side, like the real nerds. Yeah, I was with the real dweebs.
I was an indie sleaze kid. I had a micro-viral Tumblr for a while, actually, but that was more NSFW and anonymous.
That’s real. My Tumblr wasn’t because I didn’t get to experience those days.
Yeah, those were the proper times, the wild Tumblr days.
I’m jealous!
It’s a shame it’s been ripped off some of that authenticity. It used to have all these weird, dark corners. And some of it was a bit fucked up as well, and I understand why they’ve added more regulations now. But it was also one of the most raw hubs of human expression and connection. Also, I totally learned how to code! Why was I a fifteen-year-old writing HTML?
Its impact on this generation and all generations to come. It’s still making waves.
Yeah, big time. I saw this meme that was like, “Tumblr girls walked so that TikTok girls can run.” Makes me feel so validated! (laughs).
It’s true, it’s true.
Okay, circling back to your work. “E.M.O.,” the name of your new album, stands for Evil Motion Overload. What d’you think of the concept of an evil villain era? D’you think it’s just how we look at marginalised people, especially women and femmes, when they actually protect their peace and set boundaries?
We deserve to be a little bit selfish. I truly believe there are moments in life where you should be thinking about yourself.
Yeah! D’you think it’s also another way society tells us strength and softness have to be at odds with one another?
Yes, because people really do think that you can’t be strong and soft at the same time. When really you have to be strong to be soft and you have to be soft to be strong.
What d’you mean by that? Can you talk to me more about that?
I feel like, in order to open yourself up to be strong, you have to be able to see yourself after the battle. And after the battle is peace, that’s when you get to be soft.
I really like that you put it that way around. Because often when we talk about these topics, we talk about how you have to be strong in order to be vulnerable. That you have to be sure of yourself to be able to be vulnerable. But I love that you put it the other way around, that you have to think about the softness and the peace in order to fight your battles and be strong. That’s really cool.
Peace is the most important thing to me. I love my peace.
It’s important to choose peace and to choose your battles. The world tells us all the time that we need to do everything for everyone else, or if we don’t fight every battle, then we don’t care. But it’s also important to survive.
Yeah, because the battle will come. I promise the battle is coming. The killer is coming too.
“Fashion has really helped me affirm that I am a cool ass bitch even though maybe I’m a little weird and off-putting.”
That sounds like a threat.
It is a threat. Peace is not forever.
The battle’s coming, and it’s me (laughs).
(Laughs) It’s me. Watch out if you see me, you better run.
So that’s what “Evil Motion Overload” is talking about.
Exactly, you revealed the truth.
Ah, so we got to the crux of it. Perfect. Speaking of peace, you’ve mentioned in a previous interview that you don’t centre men. Would you be up for talking a bit more about how you navigate this in a society that so often validates women’s femininity through the lens of male attention and attraction?
I feel like, for so many people, their happiness is based on if they have a partner, or how their partner’s feeling. It even goes for any gender. People love to centre all their love on their partner the whole time. You have so much love in life, you’ve got twenty friends who would die for you, a mother, a sister, a father. I truly think I don’t really need a partner. I’m loved enough. I might have a partner one day, if it comes, but it’s not a necessity.
Yeah, and that’s a form of choosing your peace as well. Society puts such a pressure on us by telling us that we only succeed if we have a partner and if we’re on track to get married and have children. Obviously, people in the queer community do slightly manage to evade that relationship escalator. But it’s just so sad when people get into relationships and then they just stop hanging out with their friends and they become unavailable all the time because they’re centring romantic love. Anyway, friendships can be romantic too, right?
Exactly, it gives tension.
Yeah, those lines can get a bit blurry sometimes, but also that’s beautiful, there’s nothing wrong with that.
The platonic lovers.
It’s important! There are just so many different types of love and we just really don’t need to limit ourselves. I think that’s another way in which we can be strong and punk in a heteronormative and monogamous society, by prioritising platonic love.
Exactly, hold hands with your friends and get some ice cream, and then go home and sleep?
Oh my god. People really do feel like you can’t go home alone and, just, go to bed.
No, because that’s my favourite thing to do. I look forward to that every time I wake up in the morning. I’m looking forward to that moment at the end of the day.
Yeah, my housemate and I recently adopted two kittens. And honestly, it’s made coming home on my own and thinking, oh I get to see my cats now, kind of amazing.
Yes, I love seeing my cat and my dog. My cat has one eye and she’s best friends with my dog. They cuddle and they sleep together.
That’s so cute! So we’re talking about love, peace and strength. And obviously things are really tough at the moment for a lot of people around the world, especially young trans people. What would you say to trans youth who are maybe struggling with the legal and media landscape at the moment?
You really have to remember that everything is seriously out of our control. We can continue coming together and doing community, but legally and politically, it’s so important to not focus on the impending doom. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We just gotta wait it out.
Light at the end of the tunnel is a lovely way of looking at it. I think it’s tough, though, to feel like there’s nothing we can do about it. I think it’s great that there are lots of people trying to stand up for trans youth and take action, even if change feels really difficult right now. Is there anything that you do with your friends or with your community that helps you wait for the light at the end of the tunnel?
It’s hard to do stuff on your own. But when it comes to others, just sharing resources, being there for everyone out there, being open to hearing what other people think and how they feel about what’s going on, and just keeping an open mind. I think that’s really the most important thing right now.
It’s so important to have an open mind and also be able to admit when you’re wrong. This is a bold claim, but I honestly think that it would fix most of the problems in the world if everyone was able to just stop and just be like, “Okay, I made a mistake when I made that decision. I’m actually going to admit that and I’m going to learn from it with an open mind.”
Everybody wants to be so perfect. But humans have been here for so long, and we’ve been making mistakes since the first step. The first step was a mistake. And we’re still gonna be making mistakes a million years from now. Some people need to give themselves more grace, but certain people need to give themselves less grace. The balance is what we need. Y’all, the balance.
The balance is so off right now.
It’s way off, like it’s wicked.
Oh, babe. Okay, if you could climb through a wormhole and be in a parallel universe, what would you want it to look like?
I want to be on a planet that’s just the islands, but the islands are mountains. And it’s just me and all the baddest bitches, all of my closest bitches and a few animals. And the sky is always pink and at night it’s purple, like a dark, deep purple. And there’s a Chipotle on the island, but it’s run by AI so it’s okay that they work 24 hours. Non-stop.
Purple’s my favourite colour! Which animals would there be on it?
Probably some childish animals, like dogs and cats and bunnies, tigers and lions, but they’re all peaceful. Maybe also a lemur.
And they all just co-exist! I love how visual you went with it. I can really see it in my mind.
And the sand is white, but in other parts of the island it’s pink.
It’s like Barbie’s Dreamhouse, but a whole set of islands.
Yeah, there have to be many islands for all the bad bitches on the Earth.
Only the bad bitches though, to restore the balance.
Everybody else has been sent to another planet. I have no idea what’s going on over there. I don’t even want to know.
Probably nothing very good. We don’t need to know about it.
We probably will. They’ll probably send us a message.
That’s the thing though, isn’t it? They’ll probably want to come and colonise this beautiful utopian island that you’ve imagined. But still, the next time I’m feeling stressed, I’m just gonna imagine this place. Sounds great.
Yes, and I will be there. Perfect.
I guess I can follow this on because you’re talking about all the baddest bitches. I want to know, who is your dream blunt rotation and why?
Okay, this is a really hard question. I really have to think because there are a lot of people on this Earth. Probably the entire band of Stereolab. They’re all smoking the blunt. I want to smoke one with Joseline Hernandez. I don’t know if she smokes anymore, but I want to smoke one with her. And maybe, I don’t know, maybe Iron Man. I feel like he could smoke a blunt and then we could rob him. Just a fictional character for the last one.
Omg, yes, rob the billionaire! Speaking of, what are you manifesting for 2026?
Top of the list, peace. Two, a nice cheese steak. And three, I want to travel more, I want to meet more people.
Where’s the dream location?
We’re doing the Tokyo trip, 2026, y’all!
I knew you were going to say Tokyo!
Yes, it’s very typical.
I get it, it’s also top of my list! Fingers crossed for your 2026 manifestations.
Thank you, I’m wishing everybody abundance and good luck for these upcoming months!
Shirt PRADA.
Top, jeans, earrings and scarf BLUMARINE, shoes LOUBOUTIN.
Coat, shirt and skirt PRADA.
Dress LOEWE, shoes LOUBOUTIN.
Full look MIU MIU.
Full look DIOR.
Coat, shirt and skirt PRADA.
Top and earrings BLUMARINE.