EARMILK EARMILK
  • NEW MUSIC
    • DANCE
    • ELECTRONIC
    • EXPERIMENTAL
    • HIP-HOP
    • INDIE
    • POP
    • ROCK
  • INDUSTRY NEWS
    • DOCUMENTARIES
    • EVENTS
    • FASHION
    • LIFESTYLE
    • MUSIC GEAR
    • MUSIC INDUSTRY
    • TECHNOLOGY
  • OPINION
  • ALBUM REVIEWS
  • GEAR REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • FEATURES
    • FESTIVALS
    • EXCLUSIVES
    • LISTS
    • CONTESTS
    • Photo Journals
  • SERIES
    • Artist to Watch
    • Under The Crust
    • Flashback Friday
    • Suicide Sundaes
    • Daily 2%
    • The Club
    • Weekend Selector
    • Mashup Mondays
    • Artist Remixed
    • Wobble Wednesday
    • Night Rumours
    • Indie Sabbath
    • Straight No Chase
    • Straight From the Teet
  • Jobs
  • About EARMILK
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Music
EARMILK EARMILK
EARMILK EARMILK
  • NEW MUSIC
    • DANCE
    • ELECTRONIC
    • EXPERIMENTAL
    • HIP-HOP
    • INDIE
    • POP
    • ROCK
  • INDUSTRY NEWS
    • DOCUMENTARIES
    • EVENTS
    • FASHION
    • LIFESTYLE
    • MUSIC GEAR
    • MUSIC INDUSTRY
    • TECHNOLOGY
  • OPINION
  • ALBUM REVIEWS
  • GEAR REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • FEATURES
    • FESTIVALS
    • EXCLUSIVES
    • LISTS
    • CONTESTS
    • Photo Journals
  • SERIES
    • Artist to Watch
    • Under The Crust
    • Flashback Friday
    • Suicide Sundaes
    • Daily 2%
    • The Club
    • Weekend Selector
    • Mashup Mondays
    • Artist Remixed
    • Wobble Wednesday
    • Night Rumours
    • Indie Sabbath
    • Straight No Chase
    • Straight From the Teet
  • Alternative
  • Interviews
  • Mainstage

'I hate expectations, burn them down so that you can be open': Zella Day on her new EP [Interview]

  • July 10, 2020
  • Steve Likoski
Total
1
Shares
1
0

"I’ve kept my head on during quarantine by continuing to produce work", US-based artist Zella Day expresses to EARMILK at the top of our interview about her latest single, "My Game." At the time of this actual interview though, Day is sitting on a couch in her studio while her team is working on getting drum levels prepared for a recording session.

Day's "My Game" is a King of the Castle kind of song. As Day reveals to EARMILK: "As it was being written I imagined being alone in a dark dance hall", in fact, Day had vision of the floor starting to glow yellow beneath her feet, Day clarifies, "the room starts to come alive so does the voice singing 'Now you’re playing My Game.'" As Day saw walls of LED cherries start to fall like rain reflecting off the sequins of her dress in the video, Day had the vision to run with it. "Maybe there were backup dancers on roller-skates I can’t really remember", Day jokes.

Working in collaboration with her producers Dan and Bobby Wood, the discovery phase of "My Game" came sitting around throwing ideas amongst each other, in fact, one of those ideas explored the theme of "Disco living half in the darkness half in the light," Day recalls. "Bobby started playing a piano riff that fell to earth from the world we were imagining." From there, within a few minutes the first verse was written in its entirety, Day elaborates, "once we had that it was pretty clear to see where the song needed to go". The process from there was relatively straight forward, "My Game" was written in a day and then recorded with a live band in a matter of four days, along with all of the other songs on Day's upcoming EP, Where Does The Devil Hide.

The music video, however, was a whole different experience for Day creatively. At the time of conceptualising the video, Day found herself incessantly drawn to some of her favourite spy films to help her sort out the narrative for the video. 1963’s "Pink Panther" and James Bond's "Gold Finger" & "Casino Royale" just to name a few. "I collaborated on the creative with my close friend Kaiman Kazazian who illustrated a lot of the costumes you see on the characters", Day explains to EARMILK, "we worked tirelessly on each detail from the “Bunny” license plate to the “Death by Disco” newspaper." In fact, the director for the video, Phillip Lopez, brought a different set of inspiration to the project Day reveals. Everything from Opera, William Klein’s Mr. Freedom, the art direction of Tokyo Drifter, and Wes Anderson’s composition was thrown in as potential themes in the work.

At the time of Day's interview with EARMILK she was promoting her then-latest single, "My Game", however, in the meantime before publication Day released her new single "Purple Haze", a song Days reveals is an ode to summer love filled with simple pleasures. "When I lived in downtown LA I would hum this melody while strolling to the market in the mood for something sweet", Day explains, "all of those perfect Saturdays with nothing to do but eat oranges and daydream".

Both of the singles come off the release of Day's aforementioned EP, Where Does The Devil Hide, Day's emphasis on the EP's meaning is to find your devil so there’s no more hiding in plain sight. "If you don’t know where the darkness is rooted there is no way to overcome or find peace", Day expresses to EARMILK, "the whole idea is about shining a light, even in the places that scare us so that we may find deeper understanding."

At the end of the interview, Day expresses her disdain for setting expectations with EP, so she wants listeners to join her and "burn them down" per se, "so that you can be open."

Connect with Zella Day: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Total
1
Shares
Share 1
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • Interview
  • my game
  • purple haze
  • Zella Day
Steve Likoski

Previous Article
  • Electronic
  • Electronica

BeatLove revamps avant-garde eletronica on 'Avian Heart'

  • July 10, 2020
  • Pedro Daim
View Article
Next Article
  • Ambient R&B
  • Pop

Finn Matthews displays a deep feeling in new single "Low Key"

  • July 10, 2020
  • René Cobar
View Article
You May Also Like
View Article
  • Alternative
  • Indie
  • Indie Pop
  • New Music

LA shoegaze artist Suave Punk shares new release "Dust Bunny"

  • June 30, 2022
View Article
  • Alternative
  • Alternative Rock

Shalom makes waves on debut singles "Bad To The Bone" and "Agnes"

  • June 29, 2022
View Article
  • Alt-Pop
  • Alternative
  • New Music
  • Pop
  • Uncategorized

Lauv proves "Kids Are Born Stars" with sunshine-filled single + video

  • June 28, 2022
View Article
  • Country
  • Interviews
  • Mainstage
  • Pop

[INTERVIEW] Jason Maxwell hits new peaks of stardom with his heartfelt country-pop

  • June 28, 2022
View Article
  • Dance
  • Mainstage

Rich Delinquent battles isolation with emotionally gripping single, “Hallucinating”

  • June 22, 2022
View Article
  • Dance
  • Disco
  • Drum and Bass
  • Electronic
  • Event Review
  • Festival
  • House
  • Mainstage

Love Saves The Day returns for an unforgettable 10th anniversary

  • June 21, 2022
View Article
  • Alt-Pop
  • Indie
  • Mainstage
  • Music Videos
  • Premiere

Mimi Bay unveils the glorious 50s-inspired track "helium cowgirl" [Premiere]

  • June 14, 2022
View Article
  • Album Reviews
  • Exclusive
  • Feature
  • Hip-Hop
  • Interviews
  • New Music
  • Rap
  • Reviews

Father is creating for himself again on new record Young Hot Ebony 2 (Interview)

  • June 13, 2022
Popular Music
  • 32Stitches, blklght deliver cover of Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash's "Reload"
    • July 1, 2022
  • Bay Area artist Fortune Noco shares new release 'Big Moves'
    • June 30, 2022
  • UK rising act Alto Key channels joy of life and love on "wondrous life"
    • July 2, 2022
  • Head Ballet look within themselves and 'Suddenly It's Making Sense' [Video]
    • July 1, 2022
  • Rising indie pop act Mollie Coddled explores social anxiety on "Guilt Trip"
    • June 30, 2022
Recent Scoops
  • Artists not to miss at Love Saves The Day in June this year
    • June 1, 2022
  • Red Bull Announces Return Of Culture Clash
    • April 27, 2022
  • Milk + Cookies announces Gucci Mane as headliner
    • April 18, 2022
  • UNUM Festival adds Tobi Neumann, Paco Osuna, Butch and more to line up
    • April 13, 2022
Community Voices
  • Tyler the creator
    4 things I learned on the 'Call Me If You Get Lost' tour
    • March 31, 2022
  • 4 things every artist needs to think about in 2022
    • January 27, 2022
  • The TikTok Takeover of Hip-Hop
    • January 11, 2022
  • Shelley FKA DRAM & West Side Boogie: A Love Renaissance [Interview]
    • December 17, 2021

EARMILK EARMILK
  • Jobs
  • About EARMILK
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Music
All Milk. No Duds.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

Posting....