New Music Alert: ZOLA

ZOLA’s voice is smooth and soulful. She sings with every emotion on her sleeve and if her EP is anything like her two most recent singles, it’s sure to be incredible. At just 22-years old, she’s multi talented and very much an old soul. We got to talk about “Everything I Know” and we cannot wait until it’s released!

Tell me about your upcoming EP!

My upcoming EP “Everything I Know” is a glimpse of the hardest and most uplifting emotions I went through during my college years. It’s an embodiment of discovery, loss, guilt and heartache and every single word or phrase in my songs is honest. These songs were created from real experiences which is why it makes them all so special as a whole. By writing them it was a way for me to figure out what I was going through and how I was going to make myself feel better or overcome whatever it is I was going through.

Which was your favorite track to create?

My favorite track to create was probably Blue. It was written with a friend of mine, Andre Bernier. I came in with this poem that I written in an English class and showed it to him because I was very fond of it and he immediately felt the same way. Andre is a master piano player and went on to play something a little rougher than what you hear on the actual track today. I sang over his piano playing with my poetry lyrics and in 15 minutes I think we had the song. It happened so naturally and with a force of its’ own. It’s as if the song already knew how it wanted to be and it was telling us what to do. A few months later we recorded it with our friends Daniel Loumpouridis (who also produced two other tracks off my EP) and Tumi Lengoasa. We spent hours and hours in Daniel’s room getting every single detail of that song right that it drove us a little crazy near the end. Those were however really magical hours spent together piecing this song together and giving it the power and emotion that it deserved. I think we did it justice.

Which artists have inspired your creative process?

My go to artist to spark some creative ideas is ALWAYS Justin Vernon. His lyrics always give me something to go off of, whether it be a word or a feeling. For this EP, I listened to a lot of Sylvan Esso, The National, Lianne La Havas, Eryn Allen Kane and Bon Iver (duh).

So far both of your releases have so much depth in them. Were these created from real life experiences?

Yes they were! And funny enough they are both about the same person but the events are almost 2 years apart. That’s what I like about this EP is that for these songs are chronological memories and they show me how I’ve matured and how I’ve learned from my mistakes.

What's next for you?

More writing, collaborating, living and fucking up to then write about my experiences and mess ups.

Fun Fact: I am bilingual in both English and French. My Mom is from France and she enrolled my sister and I in a French immersion school from kindergarten all the way through high school. I’ve been exploring how to immerse my French into my writing so look out from some Franco-English bops.

Follow her on Twitter and Instagram to stay tuned.