Joséphine Invites Listeners Into 'Welcome to the Cabaret'

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and actress Joséphine steps into a world entirely her own with Welcome to the Cabaret, an eight-song album that transforms the glamour of Old Hollywood and classic cabaret into a sharp, playful exploration of modern femininity.

Created in collaboration with Big Venti and recorded entirely live at Melrose Ave Studios, Welcome to the Cabaret draws from cabaret, jazz, vaudeville, and theatrical pop while exploring desire, ambition, independence, romance, sex, and the contradictions women are so often expected to resolve.

Across tracks like “HoneyBee,” “Patriarchy,” “Skirt,” and “Love for Sale,” Joséphine moves between flirtation, social commentary, vulnerability, and satire without losing the theatrical personality holding the record together. “Bare Minimum” takes aim at lowered expectations in modern relationships, while the album’s opening track, “Damsels,” immediately establishes a world where familiar ideas surrounding femininity are ripe for interrogation.

Rather than choosing between those contradictions, Joséphine embraces them. “3-in-1 Shampoo” examines the expectation that women should somehow embody every desirable quality at once, while closing track “Baby, I Just Want To Use You!” flips the traditionally male narrative surrounding casual sex and gives female desire permission to exist without an obligatory love story.

The record separates itself from contemporary pop through its commitment to live instrumentation. Harp, accordion, flute, tuba, brass, and live rhythm players create a lush theatrical backdrop without relying on synths. The result feels less like an artist borrowing vintage aesthetics and more like Joséphine constructing an actual cabaret around her songwriting.

Developed over approximately 20 months, Welcome to the Cabaret is cheeky and provocative without sacrificing sincerity. Joséphine understands that the real appeal of cabaret has always been what can happen beneath the glamour: satire, sexuality, exaggeration, vulnerability, and uncomfortable truths delivered with a knowing smile.

With Welcome to the Cabaret, Joséphine doesn't simplify femininity to make it easier to understand. She celebrates its contradictions, turns them into spectacle, and invites listeners to take a seat for the show.