Cyrena Wages fell in love with music on the country backroads between Millington and Shelby Forest, two small towns just north of Memphis. Her father — the local judge — drove her to school every morning in a gold ’67 Cadillac with the license plate “ROBN HD,” an homage to the underdog spirit that would later define her sound and storytelling.

That spirit came to life on her debut album, Vanity Project (2024), produced by Grammy-winner Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, St. Paul & The Broken Bones). Recorded at Southern Grooves Studio in Memphis, the record blended country-soul grit with indie-pop confessionalism, carving out Wages’ distinct voice. Following its release, she toured alongside Lilly Winwood, Hailey Whitters, Maggie Rose, Lucero, and Chaparelle, with performances at The Troubadour, The Bluebird Café, and SXSW.

Wages’ forthcoming sophomore album, Miss Melancholia (produced by Johnny Black), marks an evolution. “If Vanity Project was despair, healing, and truth-telling,” she explains, “then Miss Melancholia is swagger, boundaries, levity, fun — and a sense of humor I’d lost touch with. There’s still a little darkness, but now it comes with a wink and a backbeat.”

Influenced by Amy Winehouse, Patsy Cline, and the raw storytelling of Southern women, Wages weaves together sharp wit, heartache, and rebellion. Miss Melancholia, slated for 2026 release, continues her delicately punk narrative: a woman raised in North Shelby County, reckoning with and redefining the South’s “Bible Belt beauty pageant” expectations — one song at a time.