Diamond in the Rough

The rising electro-dance singer Amanda Warner, known as MNDR, is not terribly interested in the conventions of pop music. She readily confesses that her debut album, Feed Me Diamonds, out August 14, has elements that could be considered, well, “wrong.” For starters, there’s the lead single, “#1 in Heaven,” which takes some of its lyrics from a statement Patty Hearst gave following her 1975 arrest for bank robbery. The album’s title, meanwhile, is an homage to performance artist Marina Abramovic, whose pieces involve audience provocation and physical danger. “It’s possible,” Warner says, “to make a great pop song for everyone while referencing something real.”

Photo: Matt Salacuse