‘I would love to not be underrated’: pop experimentalist Empress Of on vulnerability, fame and fun | Music
The musician Empress Of, real name Loreley Rodriguez, is trying to tell me about her new album, but there is a problem. A Los Angeles native, she’s in London for a week of press, with starry trappings: a show at the Jazz Cafe; an appearance on Radio 1; dinner with friend and fellow pop star Rina Sawayama at a Mayfair restaurant, where she was stunned to find the chicken priced at £140.Now she’s in a corner on the third floor of the Barbican centre, finishing her coffee before we head into its exhibition on textiles. No…