Zach Zoya Walks Clash Through New Project 'No Love Is Ever Wasted'
Montreal riser stakes his claim...
Montreal force *Zach Zoya* is doing it his own way.
A new force in North American rap, his base in the multi-lingual city seems to afford his music a sense of depth others lack.
A true multi-hyphenate, this force is known as a rapper, but he's also a fantastic singer, as well as a rounded songwriter.
His song 'Strangers In The House' caught our ear earlier this year, building up to his current project.
A new eight-tracker, 'No Love Is Ever Wasted' goes deep, with the hip-hop all-rounder showing off his skills.
Staking his claim, Zach Zoya walks Clash through the new project in full...
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*Strangers In The House feat. Soran*
This song started out as an inside joke between my good Soran and I.
We were doing one of our evening sessions at his house and one of the neighbours came over with their dog. At first the vibes were good, we were having a drink talking about what we all did for a living etc. but we weren’t really trying to go a lot deeper than a polite chit-chat. We were there to make music and the neighbour wasn’t really letting us do that. We managed to endure the convo for a couple hours but it was getting late, the neighbour was getting drunk, Soran’s cat was at this point, actively fighting the dog in the living room and we still hadn’t written a single line. The “stranger” finally left and all I could think of was 'Strangers in the house, weird ass energy”, so that’s what I started with.
Funny enough, my mind quickly wandered and it turned into a love song, more of a break up song I should say. I went on to explain how tired I am of writing love songs. I think I use it a lot to externalize and explain my feelings but to treat it as a solution can be a not-so efficient way of dealing with problems. You can write a thousand love songs and never make the changes that need to be made.
*Understand*
This was the first joint I ever made with the producer duo BANX & RANX. 'Understand' is car song, it’s for long or short road trip type vibes. It’s about rolling around your ends, your hood, your parts with people you love. Once again, it’s a love song (I seem to write a lot of those). I go through a day in the life of an artist.
The tour lifestyle, the post-show parties, the multiple flings and basically sending out a warning to my partner that it’s a tumultuous lifestyle and that I need her understanding for it to work. I embody a more selfish, more narcissistic version of myself. It’s everything I don’t want to turn into… in a good and catchy way lol.
*Feelings*
'Feelings' is love at first sight - walking into a room and instantly noticing that ONE person that just takes your breath away. Not only yours but everybody in the room. A girl that commands the attention simply by her assertiveness, her confidence, her gate, her stare. I was trying to describe the feeling of time stopping, that trance-like sensation when you just can’t look away, avert your eyes. It describes what I’d like to say, but won’t because I’m too shy, too in awe to go up to the person and tell them.
*My Ex-Gurl*
This interlude is about jealousy. It’s about being in a new relationship and obsessing over every little detail, not being confident and sure of yourself and what you bring to the table. It’s that uncomfortable phase where you’re clearly in love but still in the flirty phase before locking it in. You still feel like you have to sell yourself to your crush. You compare yourself to the competition, you look at each other’s past relationships for the dos and don’ts, how you should and shouldn’t act.
*Smoke & Dance*
'Smoke & Dance' is a summer anthem. It’s everything I wish I could’ve done during the two-year pandemic lockdown. It’s about losing it, dancing, smoking, drinking, making love, letting it all out. It’s a festival. If you listen I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.
*All Alone In The Universe*
This song is a love letter to the universe. It’s a show of my appreciation of being alive, having an opportunity to be AWARE that I’m alive, on this earth. And also how crazy the odds are to find that special someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. How precious that feeling is. It’s the type of song you bump on a hot summer night outside staring at the stars, thinking about the meaning of life and the immensity of the universe.
*Upper Hand*
I wrote this with Soran once again. It’s so easy and fun to work with this guy. We push each other to be better but in a really non-competitive way. It just flows and it’s always so easy. We wrote that in an afternoon with Banx & Ranx on production. It’s one of those feel-good pop records that I know the general audience - young, old, boy, girl - will all enjoy. We have a crazy music video coming out too, I’m so excited about it.
*Start Over*
Last but not least, 'Start Over' is the first song that I ever wrote with other writers and the producer all in the same room. Before that I was still ripping beats off of YouTube or being sent stuff that I would record by myself at my studio. This was my first taste of the collaborative effort that music can be and I loved it.
It’s about no matter how tumultuous and challenging a relationship can be, I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. You learn from challenges, it helps you grow and changes you forever. A perfect, seamless love is not one that helps you move forward in my opinion. I’m saying regardless of the bumps and hurdles we had along the way, I would do it all over again.
Big S/O to Benny Adam who sang the chorus. He really gave it a feel and a texture I don’t think I would’ve achieved on my own.
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'No Love Is Ever Wasted' is out now.
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