Breaking Down "Walls"

Growing up, I always was given an opportunity to be creative, but then also have a wide variety of sports to express myself. Because of those two things, it's like a necessary form to create with one and the other, if that makes sense.

"Walls" was a perfect example of that blend. I was on an island, and we set up a DIY studio with my two producers and my best friend and my mom, so we all went there. We'd surf every morning at 6 a.m. and then start the session at 11 a.m. and work through until around 10 p.m. We got "Atlantic Times" and "Walls" out at the same session.

The start of "Walls" on the lyrical side was a poem that I had kicking around for a year or so, but I was pretty self-conscious about it, and I wasn't as confident to share it with anyone. And then I did, and everyone was like, "Oh, we can make this into something… we can obviously make things a little bit more clear here and expand there." So, it was a great collaborative effort from everybody.

From Poet To Songwriter

Before I did any singing or piano playing, I did more poetry and creative writing. That was my vehicle to express myself best. I felt like it left less boundaries to get stuck in, so doing poetry allowed for an easy flow - you don't have to worry about rhymes, you're just putting everything down on the paper - and it allowed for me to be a bit more vulnerable. That's what I normally do, but sometimes it's different. Sometimes it's a piano track that happens that I make and send off to the producers, and then we collaborate from there. Or just vocals - I'll send over a vocal sample and say, "Hey, mess around with this," or something.

Why The Album Was Produced On An Island

I do like to surf, but it was really important for us to have a destination location where we could just sit down and focus on work. With a lot of the other projects that we worked on, it was like, you have to drive in from somewhere, you leave earlier because you've got to go back home. And then people have kids, so they're trying to drop them off at school. So, we just blocked this amount of time off and said, "Okay, we're going to focus," and then in doing so, you set a healthier standard of creation, which is like making sure you have three meals a day, making sure you get out and wrap things up. Because you can write a song in 10 minutes or you can write a song in like a year. It's not a matter of time, it's whatever's most efficient. And that was what we did.

The Story Behind "Sweet Things In Life"

That one's pretty unique. It was my birthday and I was on a group chat, and Chin Injeti, who is one of the producers, he didn't mean for me to see the text, but he sent it to my mom not knowing I was there, and he said, "Hey, I recorded this harpist from Vancouver, and I want to surprise Zada with a track that she could write on for her trip to LA." So I didn't get to hear the track - he didn't put it in an MP3 or anything like that - he just said he hired this person. I was like, "I've either got to act really surprised or it's going to be really good."

So we get into the session and he's like, "For your birthday, I had this harpist come in and do this thing." And I was like, "Okay, okay. Wow." And then I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is insane, this is incredible." It's hard to surprise someone with a track to write on, but I was so ecstatic over it.

And then we hired Kareem [James] to write with us, so it was the four of us in the studio and we kind of just passed the mic around. He came into the session and the first thing he said was, "Have you ever been in love?" And I was like, "Uh, ah, uh, ah," and he's like, "There we go, we're writing about that, because that was not straightforward." [laughs] And I was like, "Okay, let's do it." And he's like, "Why this emotion? Why did that all come out of you?" I'm like, "Because I'm awkward. And then also because it's complicated." Yeah. So that's how that one came about.

Zada's Favorite Self-Written Song

I have two - "Walls" is definitely my favorite song because I got to be so vulnerable on that one, and even from a vocal aspect. We had one day where Brian [West, co-producer] and Chin were like, "You just gotta really let go on this song and not worry so much about the pitch or the key or anything like that and just see what happens." I was like, "Oh, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I want to keep it good, but steady and straight." And then Chin picked up the mic and he's like, "See, watch this," and he did a bunch of screaming over the track. And I was like, "Whoa. That's insane!" We didn't end up keeping it, but he's like, "Yeah, you can do whatever you want with your voice to express to the fullest."

I love that one because the vocal production of it was a lot of fun and the lyrics … everything came together on that one. And then "Write It In A Letter" is the other song that would be my favorite that I've written and it's from the previous project, but there's a little special place in my heart that I keep that song for. Everyone was kind of like, "Oh, this is a bit of a sleeper track," but whenever we play it live, it just warms me up.

The Song That Gets Live Audiences Going

"Deep End." People seem to really like when we lean into the rock-alternative side of things, especially in the live shows. Like we'll go there a bit more after the first couple of times playing it, but some people are like, "Whoa, everyone else was doing this thing and then you went here and we were not expecting that." So that's fun.

How She Got Her Start In The Music Industry

With having great parents that wanted us to express [ourselves] in whatever ways we could, we always had that palette there in the canvas to just start whenever we wanted. So that was the basic beginnings of how we got into this. But I'd say it was mostly through my mom because I said I wanted to write, and I wanted to sing - and she's a go-getter, so she's like, "If you want to do something, we're going to do it to the 10th degree… we're going to make sure it's great and you're excited about it and proud of it." So she did a lot of digging, researching, looking into studios around Vancouver.

I met this guy Rob Darch¹ when I was 14 or so, and it was through this other musical group, but he said, "There's this studio in Vancouver if you ever want to get real with this. I know you're young, but just let me know and you can come by and see what a studio looks like." Even to this day, we're still recording at his place and then we'll go other places. But yeah, that was kind of the start of it. And then Rob ended up introducing me to Chin and Brian West. So, we all came together as a small group of people, and then we all slowly expanded and became what it is today, which is crazy for me to say.

Zada's Dream Musical Partnership

Honestly, I've had a great crew and so far, that's still pretty new to me, but I'm really honored to be in their presence. I got to work with Mr. Hudson [on "All In Your Mind," "Ice On It"] and that was really cool. And then there's a whole bunch of others that I was really grateful to work with because normally it's by myself. But, it'd be fun to write with Erykah Badu or something, just to see where her head's at.

I've definitely not played with her live, but I think I'd just be in awe and everyone would be like, "Why aren't you playing?" And I'd be like, "I'm sorry, I'm looking at Erykah, just hang out a minute."

What Is The Most Exciting Part Of Releasing Water In The Desert?

Definitely performing it live because I've been in the studio recording it so much and, when you're in your little box with the microphone, it's really intimate. I'm just excited to finally show the other side - the visual aspects and what the players look like and what we sound like.

Zada's Current Musical Inspirations

Jean Dawson is incredible. I love his music. Even his videos, they just have this grittiness. And because of my project and actually being able to direct music videos with the other directors, I can totally appreciate the indie feel, but also the grandness and the cinematic imagery. I love his stuff. Big fan of SZA, of course. Who else? Fiona Apple, I like her - been listening to her production and whatnot. It's an eclectic mix of artists.

Making Music Videos

It's funny because this circles back into the sports realm of how this comes together, but the videographers and the directors that we hired [Blake Jorgenson and Leo Hoorn], they know us from the sports world and capturing skiers on film and all that kind of stuff. So they're coming in with this edge, like I was explaining, and then we're coming in with this poetic storytelling, and that coming together is just a really fun collaborative approach.

Sometimes I go into the studio since making videos, and I'll be like, "Oh, this could be visually represented this way." But really, we sit down, we all get a piece of paper, we talk about what everyone thinks that song is about, and I'll be like, "Whoa, that's crazy, I didn't even think you could perceive it that way … I love that ... I like this ... and this is how I thought it was going to be." And then we'll write it down, and on the day we'll do a shot list and try to get everyone's ideas in and then we'll consolidate it. Usually we're just flabbergasted with how grand and beautiful it is.

The Best Concert She's Ever Seen

I saw Janelle Monae at UBC in Vancouver, and I was like, "Whooooaaaa, that's incredible!" I loved it. All of her tech guys were in these costumes that were in a theme … it was stunning. I also loved seeing Charles Bradley in Whistler at the local stage there, which is actually pretty big and brings a lot of people in.

Her Musical Goals

I'm still coming up as a songwriter for myself, but eventually I would love to write for more artists and more of my projects. I'm not as good at production yet, but I do admire it so much. So eventually, I think any form of music, any form of visual arts, is something that I dream of. I'm not too picky about, "I've got to be the superstar." I just need to live and breathe music in whatever form possible. And right now, this is the one that I love the most, which is being up front, but I also enjoy being behind the scenes too.

Taking Songwriting Cues From The Past

I really admire the greater artists from 10, 20 years ago, when there was a lot more push to write politically and to get your point across and unite more. It's always easier to write love songs and what you feel internally and what you think is going on in your little bubbles. But eventually I would like to be able to open the door to more of those concepts and not always have an internal view as a songwriter and think externally as well. But that's a hard songwriting angle to go because there's so many views in the world and there are so many things that people want to say, but ideally everything I write has meaning and is powerful.

April 3, 2024

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For album details and more, visit zadamusic.com

Further reading:
Samara Joy
Julia Cannon

Photos: Blake Jorgenson (1,2), Bonnie Nichoalds (3)

Footnotes:

• 1] Darch is the founder of the Vancouver-based Hipposonic Studios. In 2020, Zada joined the lengthy roster of acts to record there, including Selena Gomez, James Brown, KISS, Tegan and Sara, and Wu-Tang Clan. (back)

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