THE LAST ARTFUL, DODGR

Pop’s new secret weapon: a soulful voice from Los Angeles

alana chenevert never really liked her given name, so around 2010, she started calling herself “Dodgr,” in tribute to Oliver Twist and her hometown L.A. baseball team. “I decided I was just gonna go for it,” she says, calling from Portland, Oregon, where she’s staying with her girlfriend. She started making music in 2010, when she was in her last semester as an anthropology student at Humboldt State University in Northern California. A decade later, under the full name of the Last Artful, Dodgr, the 32-year-old is one of the most promising songwriters in pop — she’s caught the ear of Mark Ronson and

Anderson .Paak, as well as a number of other names so big she’s had to sign NDAs after their sessions. “Let me just say that there’s some coolass people, and the experiences in the studios have been life-changing,” she teases. Dodgr got a big boost when her sleek, Rihannaesque single “Hot” landed a spot on HBO’s hit Euphoria, and now she’s hard at work on a debut album that’s a top priority for Interscope Records

this year. “I’m a superunknown artist who was given that opportunity to shine,” she says. “I feel like I’m going to be popping up in notso-low-key ways in 2020.”

BRITTANY SPANOS