Nessa Barrett’s visual evolution is a masterclass in dark pop reinvention
Music24 September 2026
AuthorMegan Harms
From TikTok emo princess to gothic pop icon. How Nessa Barrett uses vampire imagery, high-fashion grunge, and visual eras to build her artistic persona.
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ithin alternative pop, pop-rock, and dark pop, American singer-songwriter Janesa Jaida Barrett, known as ‘Nessa’, has developed a distinctive visual identity. Starting as a TikTok singer to performing at Lollapalooza Argentina, and collaborating with Lana Del Rey and Jesse Rutherford, she continually reinvents her aesthetic. Barrett’s reinvention is not a complete rejection of previous identities, but an evolution of recurring visual motifs that become darker and more mature alongside her music.
With three EPs and five albums, plus another due 25th September 2026, she has created iconic looks within each era. Her first album, Young Forever, communicates youth, vulnerability, and darker undertones through heavy black eyeliner and gothic-leaning outfits, complemented by soft vocals. Fans described her style as a ‘pink bubble-gum baby doll vibe’ with a darker edge of ‘emo princess’.
Her most recent album, Aftercare, featuring artists such as Tommy Genesis, embraces dark fantasy and gothic romance with a ‘sad girl at the club’ influence. Her tour featured sheer black fabrics, corsetry, chunky statement boots, and faux fur, influenced by post-club midnight attire.
Her upcoming album, Tough Love, explores gothic romance, supernatural themes, and the hardest aspects of love. It is preceded by two singles: ‘Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die’, which debuted 17th July 2026, followed by ‘Bad Girls Never Die’, which debuted 21st August.
‘Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die’ delivers an angsty pop-rock sound driven by urgent guitars and heavy drums. This creates instability and danger, mirrored through gothic styling, dark colours, and high-contrast makeup. Vampire imagery represents the destructive and obsessive nature of the relationship explored within the song. The videography explores a ghostly ambiguity, leaving viewers wondering whether the pair are living the story or haunting it.
The ‘Bad Girls Never Die’ music video features dramatic close-ups and an unapologetic attitude, continuing the high-fashion grunge aesthetic of the upcoming album. The video presents two types of girls: ‘good girls go to heaven’ and ‘bad girls never die’, introducing a binary between femininity and rebellion. Angel imagery represents idealised femininity, while darker sequences reject this through fire, grunge styling, and gothic fashion. Barrett presents ‘badness’ as empowerment, challenging the association between female respectability and goodness.
The repeated use of vampire imagery throughout Barrett’s later work creates an association between romance and danger. Vampires are traditionally connected with seduction, immortality, and death, making the imagery appropriate for an artist whose music explores toxic and emotionally destructive relationships.
Barrett uses each album era as a complete visual world. Changes in makeup, colour palette, clothing, and photography allow audiences to associate images with specific periods. This makes her music recognisable and gives fans a way of participating in each era.
Young Forever draws on conventions of grunge fashion, using chunky boots and fur to create a rebellious image. These choices communicate nonconformity, while positioning her within alternative fashion associated with youth culture and self-expression.
The release of her EP Hell is a Teenage Girl marked a shift in visual identity, moving from heavier grunge towards a ‘clean girl’ aesthetic. Blonde hair, lighter visuals, white clothing, and softer makeup create a more minimal presentation developed through a restrained style, creating innocence.
Blonde hair continued into the Aftercare era but was contextualised through darker visual elements. Black and white filters, glitter, and a ‘club girl’ aesthetic introduced a contrast between femininity and alternative symbolism.
The visual direction of her most recent EP, Jesus Loves a Primadonna, develops these ideas by returning to stronger grunge influences while incorporating dark romance and supernatural imagery. Motifs such as black cats and vampires function as recognisable gothic codes, while darker styling reinforces mystery and rebellion. Her visual identity recycles elements from previous aesthetics to create a recognisable identity throughout her career.
These themes are further developed in the music video for ‘Buffalo 66’ featuring Jesse Rutherford. Black and white cinematography creates a nostalgic atmosphere, while the prominent lace or mesh one-piece combines traditional feminine codes with gothic and alternative fashion. The contrast between revealing materials and darker visual conventions constructs a provocative image, reinforcing her gothic-pop persona.
This leads into her current Tough Love era, where supernatural and dark romance themes remain central. Black lace, cherry-red accents, and gothic motifs create a darker, more mature palette while incorporating recognisable elements from previous eras. These motifs show how her fashion operates as branding and visual storytelling, communicating the development of her artistic persona.
Her visual evolution demonstrates that Barrett’s identity is not fixed but constructed through the relationship between music, fashion, imagery, and digital culture. While each era introduces new aesthetics, recurring gothic and rebellious motifs maintain continuity. This balance allows Barrett to present each album as a new chapter while maintaining a distinct identity audiences can associate with her.
