Alt-pop artist Dora Jar has been on the rise to stardom through whimsical performances as an opening band. Even though she sports a compartively small fan base, she’s played to audiences of thousands with headliners like Billie Eilish and The 1975. Some may know her for her fairy-like demeanor and dream-like vocals. Most may recognize her from a recent Change.org petition demanding that Gracie Abrams remove her as the opener of her 2025 tour. The now-deleted petition claimed that fans are “perplexed, as [they] do not recognize her” and that “it’s virtually impossible to familiarize [themselves] with her slow-paced songs.” So, I decided to do the impossible and get familiar.
In Jar’s most recent record, “No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire,” she experiments with fuzzed guitar, xylophone and playful pauses before sudden bursts of noise and energy. She starts the album in a whisper, with a quiet twinkling track produced by The 1975’s George Daniel. In the next song, “Timelapse,” her voice booms the question, “Who am I?” before escaping into a dream-like montage of coming-of-age New York City escapades. The album attempts to answer this question, especially in “Debbie Darling,” a love ballad to the most negative version of herself. In the album’s title track, Jar describes the push-and-pull of a nonstop life, feeling like a blazing star yet painfully burning up. Her lyrical approach to the different aspects of herself is rich with romance and understanding.
Songs like “Smoke Out The Window,” however, buzz with energy in their production and taunting schoolyard-like melody. Drum crashes, synths, a guitar solo and even what sounds like a wild cat growl nullify the Change.org’s claims of Jar being a slow-paced artist. Jar taunts again in the song, “Puppet,” half speaking the lyrics “No smoke d-d-d-d-detector in the venue, are you afraid to die?”
Ultimately, “No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire” is refined chaos, and though Jar doesn’t shy away from slow-paced songs, they are anything but impossible to listen to.