Zoe Ko On Her Musical Origins, Shift in Sound, and Lastest Releases
Using time as her advantage, Zoe Ko has spent years exploring and crafting her songwriting process, as well as her place in the music industry. She began releasing her earliest singles in 2022, and her sound has only evolved since then, building a stronger ethos and identity as an artist. Ko’s music has echoes of early 2000s female-fronted pop, while she adds notes of rock for a slightly darker, heavier sound. Her latest single, “Kiss My (Ah),” was released September 13th.
Photo via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
What has been your musical background and inspired you to become an artist?
I have just always been a creative kid, and always just singing, dancing, and writing music. I started fully turning my poems that I would write into actual pop songs when I was definitely seven, eight, nine. I was just always writing. My first full length song that I wrote myself was for my grandpa who had passed away, and I think it was the only way for me to process it and stuff. I actually got to perform it at his funeral, which was really special.
And my mom started finding different people that I could work with. And so I was fully in a studio recording songs at fourteen and fifteen and getting that experience.
Very quickly I knew I wanted to do college programs for high school students. And so I did a Brown University Logic production summer program in high school. And then I also did Future Music Moguls that NYU does for high school students in New York. That was amazing, that was super life-changing for me and really solidified mentally that I wanted to be an artist full time, that I wanted to pursue it, and be in the music industry. And then I applied to NYU as well, and got in. The first week of college, I got reached out to by a producer in LA, flew out, and started doing sessions and stuff. So I feel like that's how I've gotten into it, but I've just always been a creative kid.
Your single “EAT,” is so fun. The way that you sing, and the diction of the lyrics, is very reminiscent of early 2000’s music. One lyric that I really loved from this song is when you said, “you won't find us in the kitchen scrubbing dishes, that's malicious.” And I loved that. I wanted to know what was the lyrical inspiration behind that song?
Yeah, I really was just listening to so much 2000’s pop. I feel like at that time when I wrote that, I was loving “Hollaback Girl” specifically. I love the way she spells “bananas.” So many times they would just spell words out, specifically “Glamorous” by Fergie and in “Hollaback Girl,” and I just thought it was so catchy and fun. So I wanted to do that with the slang term “eat,” cause I thought it was hilarious. And I was living in New York at the time, and my besties and I would always go out and go out to our favorite clubs. I really wanted to make a song about going out clubbing with my best friends. The scrubbing dishes line was just hilarious to me, I was like, “I’m not cleaning the dishes at home, I’m out slaying.”
And then you paired that song with your single “DIRT,” which I thought was such a good contrast because it is a heavier, darker sound. Sonically, when you were creating that single, did you have an idea of how you wanted it to sound?
I was listening to a lot of LCD Soundsystem and really just wanted to reference some of the more indie sleaze and a little more grungy, club music that I was hearing. I feel like that was such a scene that I was kind of around with. The Dare, I would go to his frequency nights all the time since it was next to my apartment.
And I was listening to all my indie sleaze playlists and stuff and just kind of wanted to marry the indie sleaze vibe with the little pop rock vibe that I had already going on. So that's kind of how it came about. And we were just riffing in the studio, and I came in and I was like, “ugh, I miss New York so much.” I had only been in LA for three weeks, and just wanted to make the New York energy come through in a song.
Your latest single, “Kiss My (Ah),” is so high energy and really hard hitting from the get go. Walk me through the creation of this single. Did you go into the studio knowing what you wanted?
I feel like in general I always go in with a very, very clear vision. Even though I don't play any instruments in the studio while writing and stuff, I come in kind of singing a little guitar riff, melody or something that I hear as well. I was also listening to “Gimme More” by Britney Spears, and I just love the vocal effects. So I kind of heard that in my head when I was writing it. I was literally just driving to the studio and wrote the whole chorus in the car.
I just really wanted to make a sassy diss track about someone spreading rumors about me and stuff cause that did happen to me. And also just growing up in New York, in general the attitude I feel like I was born into knowing was just like, “don't give a fuck. Don't judge anyone around you. Do whatever you want and it doesn't matter.” I lived in Union Square for a second, and there was this guy who was always just blasting music, dancing in his underwear right in the middle of the square, and I was like, “king, truly.”
I just came into that session with that chorus and that energy with the “Gimme More” and “Hella Good,” by No Doubt references. It kind of just very quickly came to us.
And how did the title of the song come about?
I didn't really know if it was going to be like, “Kiss My (Ah),” or “Shove It Up Your (Ah).” But no, it was genuinely just like “fuck off” kind of vibe. And I just had a few phrases that went with that. Then we just landed on “Kiss My (Ah)” instead of “Kiss My Ass.”
Your earlier singles that you first released in 2022 are a little bit lighter and indie versus now that lean more on the rock side. Regarding this slight shift in sound, was that intentional, or did it naturally come about?
Yeah, it was completely natural for me. And in general, I have been making professional music, I guess, for a total of five years. So it's taken so long for me to really discover what my sound is, whatever that means. And I think genuinely it was because of where I am in life. I was in a very unstable upbringing. And I just feel like now, since I'm fully independent on my own, I’m the happiest I've been and the healthiest. I think now I've finally been able to settle in my voice and the most confident version of myself. I think it's about confidence. All my other songs, even on my last EP, “Baby Teeth,” was a lot of me processing my life. So now I'm in my confident baddie era and I'm like, “let me explore this.”
If you're talking to somebody, give them one reason why they should come to your live shows.
I do think you're able to escape reality a little bit. I definitely make everyone participate in this cheerleader bit for a second, and then we all jump around and dance at the end. I think people can really escape and leave feeling more confident and more able to not give any fucks about what other people think.
Anything new coming up? Any new music or tour dates that you want to share?
I don't have another tour on the books yet. This is my last one for this year that I know of. But I have just so much unreleased music. I am performing two of the unreleased songs on this tour that I'm excited to soon release. But now I'm just working my way up to a project.
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
I always say something differently when I'm asked this, but today I'm feeling that I should say to my younger self to experiment more and to not be afraid of it. I think even today, I'm still trying to learn that taking creative risks is really good actually. And every time that I do, it's usually rewarded in some way. So to not be afraid to do something like you think is kind of crazy.
Follow Zoe Ko on Instagram, Spotify and her website.
All photos via Tori McGraw (@afterr.hourrs)
