Video: Zolita Unveils Music Video for Queer Country Anthem 'Small Town Scandal'
Her new album Queen of Hearts is out on May 31.
By: Josh Sharpe Apr. 30, 2024
Zolita has unveiled the official video for her Queer country anthem “Small Town Scandal,” appearing on her forthcoming album Queen of Hearts due May 31 via AWAL.
Building off the storyline from her previously released video for “Bloodstream,” the video features Zolita as well as Love Island fan favorite Kyra Green running away together as they find refuge in a sea of line dancers. As a filmmaker, each track begins as an elaborate movie in Zolita’s mind, boldly rooted in both riveting drama and raw emotion.
As an avid fan of country artists since childhood, listening to the likes of Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson and Shania Twain, Zolita wrote “Small Town Scandal” as a way to blend a genre she admires with a community that’s often been excluded from it.
“About a year ago, I started going queer line dancing at a place called Stud Country,” explains Zolita. “It has been unbelievably healing to reclaim a part of American culture that Queer people have historically been excluded from - and it inspired me to write my new song ‘Small Town Scandal.’ The lyrics in this song are simultaneously sexy and funny and unabashedly Gay. I grew up a horse girl obsessed with country music - so I am unbelievably excited to finally release a song that is infused with so many of my favorite 2000’s country references.”
Most recently, Zolita premiered her album tracks “All Girls Go to Heaven” and “Bloodstream” alongside accompanying short-film style music videos. The new music has already begun to receive critical praise; Billboard proclaimed, “Brandishing her unique brand of alt-pop artistry, Zolita spends much of ‘Bloodstream' penning her very own declaration of love. Declaring that they want to be as physically close to her partner as possible, the star’s hazy vocal and rollicking production sound like they could soundtrack the climactic moment of any late-2000s rom-com. And that’s just part of what makes ‘Bloodstream’ so irresistibly good,” while PAPER Magazine furthered, “There’s only more to come from the budding pop star and we can’t wait to hear where she's going." Out Magazine declared, “Zolita, one of the hottest voices in sapphic pop, is ready to win the hearts of lesbians everywhere.”
Queen Of Hearts is built around a pair of equally ambitious themes—one half, Zolita views as a giant queer celebration, while the other half is more meditative and introspective, diving deep into life’s turmoils and travails. The album serves as a testament to her vulnerability and honesty as a songwriter along with her willingness to go to depths she hasn’t revealed in her songs before. “I feel like I got to explore things that I had never written about before—things that maybe I was a little bit afraid to write about,” she recalls.
Zolita is also set to bring her lauded live show back on the road this fall with an extensive run of headline U.S. tour dates. Kicking off on September 13, the tour includes stops at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Los Angeles’ Troubadour, Boston’s Brighton Music Hall, Philadelphia’s The Foundry, Nashville’s Exit/In, Chicago’s Chop Shop and many more. Further information can be found at zolitamusic.com while full tour routing can be found below.
Born Zoë Hoetzel and raised near Los Angeles, Zolita grew up in a highly creative family who nurtured her artistic side from a young age. To that end, she first discovered her innate gift for music by playing flat-pick guitar with her father (a bluegrass aficionado and longtime banjo player) and later began writing her own folk-leaning songs in her bedroom. In high school, Zolita immersed herself in photography, almost instantly unveiling her left-of-center sensibilities.
Naming David Lynch and Sofia Coppola among her favorite filmmakers, Zolita headed to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts to study film but soon found herself drawn to the world of music-video production. After refining her stylistic approach by creating a number of videos for her own songs, Zolita had a major breakthrough with the spellbinding visual for “Explosion.” Masterfully directing, producing and editing her own videos, Zolita made waves 2021 with her episodic viral trilogy that featured “Somebody I F*cked Once,” “Single In September” and “I F*cking Love You.” The three videos quickly garnered more than 85 million global streams on YouTube alone.
As a truly multidimensional artist, Zolita matches her wildly catchy pop-punk hooks and fiercely honest songwriting with vibrant and striking cinematic storytelling, earning her praise from the likes of Billboard, i-D, PAPER Magazine, V Magazine, NYLON, Gay Times, Dazed, Interview Magazine and more.
QUEEN OF HEARTS TRACKLIST
- All Over Again
- Bloodstream
- Queen of Hearts
- All Girls Go to Heaven
- Small Town Scandal
- No One Tells You No When Your Beautiful
- What If
- Grown Up
QUEEN OF HEARTS TOUR
September 9, 2024 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room
September 14, 2024 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge
September 16, 2024 - Dallas, TX - HOB Cambridge Room
September 17, 2024 - Austin, TX - 3Ten @ ACL
September 18, 2024 - Houston, TX - HOB Bronze Peacock
September 20, 2024 - Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5
September 21, 2024 - Charlotte, NC - Visulite
September 22, 2024 - Nashville, TN - Exit/In
September 24, 2024 - Washington, DC - Atlantis
September 25, 2024 - Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry @ The Fillmore
September 27, 2024 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
September 28, 2024 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
October 1, 2024 - Toronto, ON - Velvet Underground
October 3, 2024 - Columbus, OH - The Basement
October 4, 2024 - Chicago, IL - Chop Shop
October 5, 2024 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
October 8, 2024 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
October 9, 2024 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
October 11, 2024 - Seattle, WA - Barboza
October 12, 2024 - Portland, OR - Holocene
October 15, 2024 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
October 17, 2024 - San Diego, CA - SOMA Sidestage
October 18, 2024 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
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