Pop singer Zoya grapples with love, art, and the Internet in latest album
A look at the singer-songwriter's career so far, from going viral in India to her upcoming album
Zoya's life was forever changed when she went viral for her music in 2015.
Courtesy of Zoya
Words by Vik Chopra
It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon in Venice Beach, California when I meet up with my friend and pop singer Zoya at Ospi, my new favorite Italian restaurant—and let’s be real, it's thanks to her that I’ve discovered the place (she is a regular). Tanned and salty from a day of laying on the beach, she looks effortlessly cool in her high ponytail and striped shirt dress. We catch up over delicious pasta, pizza and burrata, talking about stupid boys we’ve dated, art we’ve created, and everything else in between.
Fresh off an album-writing camp where she and a team of artists and producers crafted her upcoming album THE I/O (The Human Era is Over), there is an excitement and energy in Zoya’s words as she describes each track and the overall experience of creating the concept pop album.
When most Americans think of South Asian singers, they typically think of Bollywood music. But that isn’t Zoya. This chanteuse has been forging a name for herself in independent pop music for a decade, and with THE I/O, set for release in early 2025, she’s primed and ready to become a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.
Zoya's upcoming album, "THE I/O," is set to be released in early 2025.
Courtesy of Zoya
Born in India and raised in California, Zoya began singing at a young age. Her parents supported her passion, even buying her a guitar at the age of 11 and taking her to India in her teens to record pop albums. Always one to break the mold, Zoya was also a rambunctious and rebellious child. She tells me, "I grew up in Orange County, but I went to a lot of boarding schools because I wasn’t really that great of a kid. I was a troublemaker for sure. I got asked to leave a few schools! So [when that happened] or when I was on breaks, I would go visit my dad [back home in California]." Zoya ultimately benefited from each experience because each time she was asked to leave an art school, she would just enroll in a better one. She finally landed at the prestigious Orange County High School of the Arts, which helped prepare her for undergrad at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied music business and songwriting. Zoya raves about her experience, telling me, “It was the best...Berklee was the coolest f*cking school in the world. It’s just musicians, all musicians…and it was music 24/7 all day, every day. It was the best."
While at Berklee, Zoya honed her skills as a singer-songwriter, inspired by 90s and 2000s artists like Fiona Apple, Norah Jones, and Colbie Caillat. While in Boston, Zoya recorded several albums and music videos, and performed at various venues throughout the city. It was during her last performance at Brighton Music Hall that she was asked to go on tour with up-and-coming YouTube artist at the time, Kawehi. While on tour, Zoya’s life really changed when legendary Indian music producer A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) posted about her on his Facebook page. This was back in 2015 when Facebook was “the thing” (something us Millennials can appreciate). Describing the dramatic moment, Zoya shares, “He found some article about me and shared it on Facebook and it went viral. And then MTV and Rolling Stone and Elle and all this stuff in India started writing about me. And I was like, ‘What the f*ck is this?’ I had no plan to go to India for music. Obviously, music in India is Bollywood. And I had no idea about this independent music scene that had recently started. So when MTV [India] started playing my music videos, I was like, ‘What is this?’”
In 2015, Zoya followed her curiosity and took a leap of faith, moving to Mumbai to explore this emerging independent music scene. She quickly signed with management agency KRUNK and became a staple in India’s indie music revolution. Zoya headlined major festivals such as NH7 Weekender and Sunburn, opened for acts including Clean Bandit, Martin Garrix and Anderson .Paak, and signed major brand deals with Vans and H&M. Over the course of four years, her career skyrocketed as she carved out a name for herself as a singer-songwriter across India, but she longed to venture further into pop music. “I wanted to do pop, commercial pop. So I started writing. I went through an electronic pop phase and then I started writing pop records, and I was collaborating with deejays from around the world,” she explains. “So when I said that I wanted to make pop music, immediately, everyone's like, ‘Well, commercial is Bollywood though. So you should add some Bollywood.’ And I was like, ‘No, I just want to make pop music.’ And it was weird because even my label was having a hard time booking me places.”
Unable to categorize her pop sound for Indian audiences, Zoya’s label continued to push her towards the Bollywood scene. And never one to follow anyone else’s rules but her own, she once again fully embraced her rebellious side. Zoya left it all behind and came back to the United States in 2019 to start fresh and pursue pop music.
She leveraged her success in India to land meetings with many major labels and managers, and landed at Propelr Music. She released the single “Bad Girl’s Dream,” featuring Billboard chart-topping artist Jack Harlow in July 2019, within a few months, followed by the album of the same name the following year. Since then Zoya has released several singles and full-length albums, and was named Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2022. Most recently, she dropped her album Maybe It’s You in two parts throughout 2023 with the full album releasing in January 2024, and new single “Could You” under her current label, Create Music Group.
Despite pushing from her label, Zoya refused to compromise her artistic integrity.
Courtesy of Zoya
Which leads us to Zoya today, and her new album.
THE I/O comes from Zoya’s reflections on not only where she stands as an artist, but human beings in this current state of time and evolution. In a world where we’re all plugged in and everyone is an artist, she asks, “What is art anymore? What is love?” Describing her writing process, she says, "The two things that I came up with that I would possibly choose to live for were love and art. And those two things are being completely f*cked up by the Internet right now, and that's why the human era is over...I just was looking at the world and felt like, ‘F*ck. Love and art...those things are just consistently losing connection, real connection. I wanted love but I got the algorithm.’" THE I/O also refers to the input and output in both music and life, symbolizing Zoya’s grappling with how love and art are being affected by the Internet. Sonically, the album combines elements of pop, drum’n’bass and techno, and features some of the best vocals from Zoya that I’ve ever heard. This album is not only a statement on love and life, but an exhilarating musical journey she plans on launching as an immersive experience for its debut next year.
As we wrap up our lunch meeting, Zoya’s energy and excitement over this new era in her music and life are palpable. In addition, she may be venturing into film in the very near future. She’s also preparing for the next phase of her career: Using her platform and influence as an artist to make meaningful change. Describing her plans, she says, "Music, that's a vehicle to get to a position of influence, to then make change, to then do something…creating charities and building conversations around all of these things. And, I don't know, maybe starting a label to sign more young Indian artists."
Zoya is more than ready for the next era of her career.
Courtesy of Zoya
As we walk outside and say our goodbyes, Zoya hops on her bike (her new preferred method of transportation) and zips down Venice Boulevard, ponytail flying in the wind. It’s clear that no matter where this next era of her career takes her, Zoya is poised to conquer it with the same defiant spirit and innate tenacity that has taken her this far. And I can’t think of anything more human than that.
Published on October 10, 2024