By Nancy Navarro, May 9, 2025
Feather Flowers is an up-and-coming band formed in 2022 by Didier Flores, a musical development engineering student at Cal Poly Pomona, while he was attending Riverside Community College.
Feather Flowers currently consists of seven members: Flores on bass, Karissa Espinoza as the lead vocalist, Diego Fernandez Kim on piano, Jesus Aguilera on drums, Elyse Abad and Celine Joy on vocals, and Ezekiel Leyva on saxophone. Flores, Aguilera and Leyva are all current students at CPP.
When the idea for the band came to mind, Flores reached out to Espinoza, who remains the only other original member of the band.
“It’s a beautiful feeling to know that I’ve done something for this long and to know that we’re getting something done,” Espinoza said.
Flores was hired to do live sound for a show in August 2022 that happened to need an extra band to perform, and that opportunity helped launch Feather Flowers.
“I just told them I have a band and so they said, ‘OK,’ but I didn’t have one,” Flores said.
Flores began asking strangers to join, but conflicts in everyone’s schedules made it difficult to form a single band, so they created two small ones. After their first performance, they realized they should just combine into one, and that’s how Feather Flowers officially began.
Feather Flowers originated from Flores’ name. Flores is Spanish and translates to flowers in English, and his father’s nickname at work, “Feather,” also drew inspiration for the band’s name.
“It is a little family orientated and a way of representing my family and culture,” Flores said.
Feather Flowers mainly plays R&B, soul, funk and jazz music, drawing inspiration from artists like Erykah Badu, Cleo Sol and Stevie Wonder. Up until now, they have only preformed covers, including salsa and cumbia tracks.
They released their first single, “Taking My Time” April 9. Espinoza, Aguilera and Flores wrote the track.
“I have never had any music out with myself or another group, so it is really exciting,” Flores said.
Flores shared finishing the song took the band less than an hour, since it was the fourth song they produced. “Taking My Time” is part of their newest project, an upcoming and untitled album. The album has nine songs that are finished.
“We’re going to just drop all nine of them on the album,” Flores said. “Actually, this is the first time we’ve told anybody.”
For the first time in a while, Feather Flowers is taking a break from performing to focus fully on writing and recording the album. Once the album is released, they plan to tour around Southern California. The tour is set to start in June and will run through July and August. A total of 12 shows are planned, with four performances each month, but as of now, no specific dates or venues have been confirmed.
Feather Flowers is excited about this new part of their journey. The members, who are all busy with school, work and music, have been spending a lot of time working on their songs and building their album.
“I’m just excited for people to get their ears on what we’ve been working on for months,” Aguilera said.
You can stream Feather Flowers’ music on all major platforms, including Spotify. To keep up with their latest updates and show dates, follow them on Instagram @featherrflowers.
Feature image courtesy of Angel Carreño
