After a surprisingly busy 2020 for the Scouse newcomer, Zuzu returned to perform at the UK’s first live show in over a year. With new music in the shape of single 'Timing' finally here, she’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Words: Finlay Holden. Photos: Robin Clewly.

Liverpudlian pop mastermind and ambitious dreamer Zuzu dropped her second EP ‘How It Feels’ back in April last year, featuring various singles from across her discography and indeed across her life. A celebratory run of live shows pre-empted this release, and it’s a good thing too. As we’re all too aware, live music faded into obscurity shortly after an exuberant tour blasting out indie-pop anthems with her band and greeting her adoring fans afterwards. Fortunately, her listeners have had less time to wait between shows than almost any other fanbase.

Did you hear about that live music pilot event in Liverpool’s Sefton Park, headlined by Blossoms? Of course you did. But did you know that Zuzu was the first act on the line-up, and therefore the first musician to grace a full stage in over a year?

Speaking from her cosy bedroom, Zuzu is very much still digesting the historic event herself. Recalling the moment she heard the news, she reminisces: “I was sat outside in my garden, and my manager rang and told me there’s a gig happening that’s part of these pilot events, which I thought was sick. Then he said it’d be supporting Blossoms, who I love. Then he told us it was going to be the FIRST gig? I screamed my head off; I couldn’t process all of that at once.”

As the venue was capped at 5000, many were left to watch videos in awe of what seems like a relic of a time gone by. When asked to put it into words, she replies: “The closest thing I can compare it to would be jumping out of an aeroplane - not that I’ve ever done that, but it’s what I imagine it would feel like. It was pure euphoria; it was incredible. The energy in that room… I don’t think I’ll ever experience anything like that again.” What a show-off. She does retain a distinct sense of humility about the whole thing, though. “I could’ve been anyone; people weren’t just cheering for me; they were cheering for live music. I just had the honour of being that person who got to walk out. It was an amazing experience, and I was super lucky to be involved.”

The experience of being in a crowded audience feeding off each other’s hype is just something else, and by god, the industry has been missing those magical interactions. As Zuzu puts it, “there’s just something about feeling the bass in your chest that gets you emotional. Being around your friends and other people, seeing the people you’ve connected with through music for so long – that’s really important to me.”

This intimate connection she mentions has gradually developed after years of grafting in sweaty basement gigs and greeting everyone and anyone who wants to say hello. “You don’t just get success out of nowhere. I spent a lot of time working on my craft, as they say, and it took me a while to get people to let me make the music that I wanted to make,” she reveals. This has only made her even more grateful for those that do express an interest. “I try to keep people engaged in a real way and put a lot of effort into knowing my listeners. I’m still in shock that people want to come to my gigs. It’s the least I can do to stay and hug everyone that wants to hug me; what a dream!”

This effort has transformed from hugging every gig attendee to writing letters to her closest fans, many of whom Zuzu knows by name and chats with regularly. Although she’s planning some for future tours, local meet-ups have not been a thing over the last 18-going-on-1800 months, during which she’s been laying fairly low in her home city.

“I’ve been in Liverpool for a year, and I’ve been heavily influenced by it more than ever. In the last few years, I’ve been travelling so much that coming home is a luxury,” she affirms. “Being here for the last almost-18 months, I’ve been absorbing what’s around me – family, friends, local fans, the Mersey. I think the pandemic has made us all realise what’s important and what’s not.”

Embracing the inner Scouse is an empowering element of Zuzu’s music, with the instantly recognisable accent shining through her hefty vocal takes. This is not a creative choice made lightly, though; citing Alex Turner as an inspiration for utilising her roots, she continues: “There’s definitely a misconception with Scouse women, northern women, and anyone with a strong accent. I was at the nail salon the other day, and the lady said, ‘I hate the sound of my own voice, I sound thick, I sound stupid’ - don’t you DARE say that about yourself. I know a lot of Scouse women that feel judged and insecure about the way they speak, which is fucked up and bizarre to me. You should feel represented, or at least you shouldn’t have to change yourself to be taken seriously. It’s so common, people get really embarrassed, and that breaks my heart.”

Accepting and championing her identity has been a large part of the process of exploring the music industry for effectively her entire life, as Zuzu bluntly outlines. “You don’t get somewhere by copying someone else. When I was 14 and had just been signed, everyone wanted Avril Lavigne. The thing is, I love Avril Lavigne and am inspired by her in a very natural way, but no one wants to be forced to be someone else; that’s just not a vibe.”

Particularly with a debut album peeking over the horizon, Zuzu is keen to make sure this statement of intent encompasses what she’s really about. “A lot of people capture phases of their lives in records, and that’s how I feel about this,” she announces. Even with playlist culture, the debut album is still seen as a make-or-break moment that encapsulates a career in a collection of tracks. As such, Zuzu has been persistent in expressing her true feelings, her true influences and working with her true friends on her upcoming songs. Reflecting on her work to this point, she confidently declares: “I want my first record to be out there as the first body of work that properly represents who I am.”

This self-discovery journey has begun to manifest with lead single ‘Timing’ unsheathing some mystical energy, contrasting her previously glossy sound with an abrasive and gritty environment that still maintains the harmonic elements from anthemic tunes like ‘Get Off’. “’Timing’ is probably my most psychedelic one,” Zuzu confirms before excitedly flashing a rock’n’roll gesture (index and pinky out, you know the one). On adopting this fresh mix of sounds that’s hard to label easily, she recalls: “The amount of shit I’ve been through with playlisting… I felt like a square peg in a round hole. I’m just not going to change my music to fit into any genre.”

Using her career to “catalogue deep emotional unrest”, this song continues to use music as a cathartic tool to extract snippets of painful life moments. She says that, specifically, “it’s about meeting someone in the wrong time of your life and when you can’t get them out of your mind. It’s about that feeling of ‘what if’ – when you can’t escape that feeling, and even the beauty you see in the world makes you think of them. See, even my happy songs are secretly emo,” she laughs.

‘Timing’ was actually written while in London with her boyfriend, long-time collaborator and musician in his own right Kurran Karbal, aka Munkey Junkey. Although it may sound as though this embedded feeling of ‘what if’ is heavily and intentionally romanticised, it’s actually not; Zuzu says it really refers to the desire to move back home, a wish now granted.

“The weird thing about my music is that the songs that sound like they’re about relationships aren’t actually about love interests at all,” she contends. “They’re about friends, acquaintances, people I used to work with… life isn’t all about falling in and out of love; or it is, but it’s not always that kind of love. People don’t put enough emotional weight on their friendships.”

And if people choose to view those themes as cliché and grounded in adolescent melodrama? “I think that’s just what people do,” Zuzu answers. Either way, her tunes clearly strike an impact and hold deep significance for a collective of fans that’s only growing from here. If listeners find an alternative spin that allows them to access something meaningful to them… why would you ever contest that?

Taken from the July 2021 edition of Dork, out now. Zuzu’s single ‘Timing’ is out now.