Zolita Is Using Her Voice
There’s a lesbian couple somewhere out there that have Zolita’s lyrics “I fucking love you” tattooed on their bodies. “I Fucking Love You was their song and they’d gotten engaged with it on the background,” Zolita tells StyleCaster when asked about her most meaningful fan encounters. “They both came to my show and it was so special to meet them in person.” For a musical artist whose career really took off with 2015’s single “Explosion” (21 million YouTube views and counting), Zolita has cultivated a dedicated following that’s undoubtedly going to explode more so as she hits the road with Bebe Rexha this summer across the United States.
When StyleCaster speaks with Zolita (mortal name Zoë Montana Hoetzel), she’s deep in mental and physical preparedness ahead of the 21-date tour—which kicks off in Phoenix and culminates with two dates in Los Angeles in July. She’s doing “Pilates and a lot of journaling” and “going through the set, even at home before rehearsals; mentally going through the set and picturing everything.” She’s also seeing her friends as much as she can before she leaves. “I went line dancing last night,” she adds.
It’s fitting that the beginning of her tour would coincide with Pride Month. Zolita despairs at the state of LGBTQ+ affairs in some parts of the United States, as anti-trans legislation sweeps across many of the Southern states. “It’s horrific,” she observes, “and it’s hard because I live in LA and I live in such a comfortable bubble. … I feel like now more than ever, it’s important for people in entertainment to keep using their voices in a time when all these people in politics are trying to take away our rights to literally exist.”
StyleCaster spoke to Zolita on social responsibility, why she donated $1 of every ticket sold of her North American tour to the Trevor Project, which provides 24/7 crisis support services to LGBTQ young people, and why she’s devoted to the lost art of music videos.
I read somewhere that you write the music you wanted to listen to growing up. What did you listen to?
My dad loves bluegrass and country music. He’s German, so it’s kind of random [laughs]. And my mom is a disco queen, so there was a lot of disco. Sade was the middle ground, the one thing they could agree on musically. And then I loved all pop. So of course, Gaga. Once I was listening to her, Taylor [Swift] and Britney [Spears] and Christina [Aguilera] and all the pop girls, those were definitely my favorites.
You’re such a storyteller and a big part of that is creating narrative-driven music videos. Why?
I feel like it makes a song so much more impactful to have these characters that you think back on and relate to. … But also, there are so many things you can do in a music video, like fashion, choreography, acting, etc. There are so many art forms to smash into this one short-form piece of content.
It’s something that 99 percent of people don’t get to experience, so can you tell me what it’s like walking out on stage with thousands of people cheering for you?
Oh, my goodness. It’s like the highest high. And also, the community you feel when you get on stage and everybody is singing songs back to you. It’s… euphoric. Incomparable.
I feel like now more than ever, it’s important for people in entertainment to keep using their voices in a time when all these people in politics are trying to take away our rights to literally to exist
Zolita
With your latest EP, Falling In, Falling Out, the videos sequentially tell a story. Which comes first, the music or the video concept?
It’s different every time. I would say that in the past, traditionally, it’s been the video idea first, then the song. But for the last EP, I was just writing music about stuff going on in my life and then I strung together the six songs that I liked the most. And then, it was a bit of a challenge for me to come up with a narrative for the video series that weave through those songs.
Are all of your compositions based on personal experiences?
Yes and no. I think most of the time they are and especially the ones that I like the most are always based on personal experiences. But then there are some songs, like “Crazy Ex”. I wanted to take on that character because I’m not a crazy ex in my real life. So it was fun to play with songs that feel really theatrical, too.
Can you talk through why social responsibility plays such a significant part in your art?
Yeah. By being who I am, telling all these queer stories and telling queer stories that I didn’t see growing up, that feels like activism to me all the time, every day. But on top of that, with the tour, I definitely knew I wanted to give back to an organization. I chose the Trevor Project because they do so much incredible work and I was really proud of that. I definitely want to keep doing stuff like that, with all of the tours moving forward. It is the reason I make art is for young people. It gives me purpose, definitely.
Zolita is on tour with Bebe Rexha and will be performing at Governor’s Ball in New York, June 9-11.
