ZORA Set To Release Debut Album 'Z1'

Minneapolis-based trans artist, producer, singer, and rapper ZORA (she/her) announces her remarkable, entirely self-produced debut album, Z1, today.

The 22-year-old artist teased the release a few weeks ago with the incredible single "RUNNITUP," and today she shares the album's hypnotic second track, "Happiest I've Ever Been."

Touching on themes of mental health and getting through the darkness, ZORA explains, "Happiest I've Ever Been" was one of the first songs I wrote for this album. I had a pretty jarring mental health scare in the summer of 2021, and landed myself in the hospital over the 4th of July weekend. Once I got out, I used songwriting as a way to cope with my circumstances and speak up about what I had gone through, no matter how intense it was. I wanted to make a song that sounded carefree, fun, and relaxing, accompanied by some of the darkest lyrics you've ever heard. Haha."

Z1 will be released on June 17th via Get Better Records, in celebration of both Pride and Black Music Month. Pre-order it now HERE.

ZORA joined her family's long lineage of classically trained pianists at the age of 6, dreamt of a career in opera and musical theatre, and began writing her own music by the age of 14. Her love of music, however, flourished outside of the classroom, as she attended her father's late night DJ sets, helping him curate his playlists, with artists like Lauryn Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, and Janet Jackson.

In later years, ZORA applied to a vocal jazz program in high school, and was ultimately rejected and placed into a music technology class instead. This class that she initially hated is ultimately what unlocked her love of synthesizers, vocoders, Logic Pro X, music software, and even choreography. She began to quietly self-release her own music, picked up the electric guitar in homage to her newly adopted hometown's Prince, and began to bring her alt-pop dreams to life.

ZORA aims to spread awareness, positivity, and freedom of expression through her music. It is ZORA's central belief that people are only truly happy when they're able to be exactly who they are, at all times. ZORA implements these messages in her lyricism and hopes to be able to impact the lives of others in a positive way, no matter how widespread.

Listen to the new single here:

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