Zella Day talks Creative Expression and Achieving Her Dreams
Words by Annette Hansen
Since the age of 13, singer Zella Day knew her purpose. Growing up in a small town in Arizona, the young songstress picked up an acoustic guitar, began writing songs and stared playing shows.
“When I started writing and playing when I was about 13, we lived in a really small town away from any major city that could offer any type of venue for me to play outside of coffee houses,” Day explains.
From the very beginning, Day’s family backed her dreams. With their support behind her, Day was able to express herself in ways that many budding musicians can’t and was able to expand her horizons early on.
“My mom started driving me down to the city for shows to play and also for lessons,” Day says. “My family was definitely supportive and I definitely couldn’t have done it without them.”
For Day, this support from her family was essential for not only pursuing her dreams, but also for her ability to be the artist she wanted to be. As a natural songwriter, Day found freedom in her art.
“I was just allowed to do what I loved, and nobody was stopping me,” Day expresses. “I was lucky enough to be raised in a family where the environment was conducive for my passion, for that kind of art.”
But while Day’s family allowed her this freedom, her small town did not. Day eventually made the decision to move to L.A. to go somewhere more fit to pursue the path she was forging. It was this sense of independence and determination that served as inspiration for her debut album, 2015’s Kicker.
“Kicker is a perfect representation of where I was at that stage in my career,” Day explains. “I was really figuring myself out as an artist and what I wanted to do and be and sound like, but still not forgetting my roots and where I came from.”
With Kicker, Day accomplished just that. While the singer’s songwriting began from a simple place, just her and her guitar, with her debut album she wanted to bring something different to her new music.
“I just had a lot of fun recording my record in L.A. and experimenting with bigger sounds and kind of dressing up what I do on my own with synths and programmed drums,” Day describes.
Day allowing herself this creative freedom added to the spirit of the record, the spirit she has continuously infused into her career.
“It’s fun for me to experiment and not box myself in,” Day says. “I kind of allowed myself to make lots of different songs. With the next record I make, I’m not pigeonholed and I’m not held down by any expectations because there’s a good variety on Kicker. I kind of freed myself a little bit.”
She takes this same spirit with her as she steps onto the stage. Zella Day will be spending most of her time on the road this summer having already played several headlining dates as well opening for Fitz and the Tantrums and Michael Franti.
For Day, the chance to play in front of an audience of listeners is an inspiring opportunity.
“It’s always really telling to stand up in front of the people that are listening to your music and consuming your music,” Day expresses. “It definitely helps my writing process and everything creative because I definitely rely on that relationship that I have with the people that are out there listening to my music.”
And bringing that free spirited nature to the stage is an important part of her presence. For Day, this means overcoming a few mental hurtles.
“It’s about letting go,” Day says. “It’s about being in the moment and being present for that 75 minutes I’m on stage, of really just giving myself to the music and to the people that are in the room with me.”
With music that’s truly inspired and a mesmerizing live show, Day has proven herself a pop force to contend with, but for Day, this journey she’s been on for the last several years has meant so much more than how successful she’s become.
“[Music is] kind of my outlet,” Day relays. “It makes me feel confident in what I’m doing. The fact that I can create art is what’s sustaining me, it’s how I’m surviving. I really believe in it.”
Beyond that, she wants the art she’s created to reach out to those who have experienced similar desires or who are in a place she was once in, who just need a chance to break free and live out their dreams.
“I just hope people feel inspired,” Day says. “I was inspired as a young person to create, and there was never doubt in my mind that music was what I was supposed to do with my life. I was so sure about it from a very young age.”
Day insists that dreams aren’t worth giving up on. “I think that a lot of people are like that, and sometimes we can be victims of outside pressures or people telling us that we can’t do it because we’re too young,” Day expresses. “It really feels great to reach this dream of mine. It’s possible, and I want people to take away that dreams really are possible. As cheesy as that sounds, it’s true and I’m living it right now.”
