zzzahara Returns With New Single 'Kensington'

Los Angeles-based queer guitarist and songwriter zzzahara returns today with a new single, “Kensington." More music from zzzahara is imminent.

“Kensington is one of my favorite streets in Angelino Heights,” zzzahara says. “It feels like a film when you are walking down the street, filled with mini mansions and picturesque homes. The American dream street. The song is a love song for summer nights filled with wine, late night park hangs, unwashed hair, flings, convertible tops down, friends and hope. Kensington is about living in the moment for the moment...mindfulness.”

“Ross Harris is probably one of my favorite videographers to work with, it always feels like I’m working with a friend,” zzzahara says about the video. “We’re always giggling and building on jokes we’ve made in the past. His creative eye always speaks for itself. His videos are organic and truly bring out the music in a fun way."

Aside from the one-off single “idk how to luv” released in March, “Kensington” is zzzahara’s first new music since their debut album, Liminal Spaces, was released to critical acclaim via Lex Records in 2022. Of the album, Ones to Watch wrote, “The beauty of zzzahara’s songwriting is how brilliantly they take the mundane and make it magical.”

Liminal Spaces features singles “get out of la,” “lust,” “gurl,” “cupid’s out tonight”—which FLOOD praised as “a playfully bitter fantasy about a less-than-helpful evil cousin of cupid,” while American Songwriter called it “mysterious and riveting,” comparing zzzahara’s voice to an “ancient secret”—and more.

Born to Filipino and Mexican parents and raised in Highland Park where they still reside, zzzahara is the moniker of queer songwriter and guitarist Zahara Jaime. Growing up in Los Angeles, they felt disconnected from Southern California’s predominantly straight white male rock scene and discovered making music as a way to process the experience of living in an ever-gentrifying city.

They became the touring guitarist for Eyedress aka Idris Vicuña in 2018, which spawned the collaborative duo The Simps, who released their Siblings LP earlier this year. Following their solo debut EP Simp.Wave in 2021, zzzahara signed to Lex Records and put the finishing touches on their debut album, a collection of songs about queerness, love, lust, absurdism and feeling lost that trace their stylistic and emotional evolution from childhood through present day.