Last Friday, 21-year-old Atlanta native, Zaia released his debut EP, Reset along with a 15 minute cinematic visual. The project explores the vast, complex range of emotions that accompany a breakup. “I wrote Reset as a way to vent about the mental reset I had to go through after a long-term relationship,” he said about the inspiration for the 5-song debut. “I went from feeling really happy to really depressed for a long period of time. I think everyone goes through some sort of ‘reset’ after something deeply affects the way they feel and think about things.”
Influenced by artistry across the realms of hip-hop, R&B, rock, and 70’s funk, Zaia is a genre-bending talent who can’t be nailed to any specific cross. In April he released the EP’s debut single, “BLUE”. The angsty, indie-rock-leaning song quickly climbed past 1 million streams on Spotify. “I tried to represent the moodiness of the emotions we experience,” he continued. “That’s why [each song has] different energies in the production.”
The short film includes every song on the project and follows Zaia through the splintering final hours of a relationship. “The reason I wanted to make the music video this way is because each song goes together to tell a story, or this rollercoaster of events,” he shared. “Visually we brought that to life, like a reenactment of the entire experience.”
He’s been compared to groundbreaking artists like Kid Cudi and Childish Gambino, which doesn’t fall far off target. As a musician, he fluidly moves between mature lyrical realism and melodic fantasy. As an artist, he’s stepping into his own. If you haven’t heard of Zaia, you really need to catch up because he’s living in 2020 while we’re all still adjusting to this post-genre world. Watch Reset: A Visual EP below!
