Zolita, singer-songwriter and filmmaker, joins Cheddar News to discuss the creative process behind her viral music videos and performing at LA Pride. 

Between Bells

Alt-Pop Artist Zolita Talks Celebrating Queerness Through Music

Welcome back Friends between Bells banker Machado and new york alternative pop artist. So lita she knows I have a viral moment. The star first gained attention for her viral music video explosion that garnered over 16 million views. Her creative videos always tell captivating L G B T Q plus stories. And her recent viral cinematic trilogy is out now and it's given fans that classic nineties love tail. Take a look at this. You leaving. Yeah. So joining us now to discuss is singer songwriter and film makers Alina Alina, you hear? Well, so we just played a clip from I Effing Love You that music video right there. And as I mentioned, it's part of a viral cinematic trilogy here. So walk us through some of the creative process to creating something like that. Yeah. So when I put up the first video in the trilogy and just saw how many people were reacting to this Sapphic love tale that ended happily. We don't get a lot of happy ending. No, especially not now. Yeah, I decided to expand on it and everybody fell in love with the characters and the love story. And so I decided to make it a three part series and I got my start in film actually. Um and you know, music has always been the vehicle for me to make music videos. So it was really fun to tell a three part story what I love about this is and watching this, you get like the nineties nostalgia which is also so good for all of us. Who are you know, what do you think? Is it about the nineties that we gravitate to. That is great about something like the style. Of course. Also I think just like nostalgia for a carefree time. I think that's why we crave it. Yeah. Is that what was part of the reason why you felt that that was gonna be perfect for this music video because I was doing a lot of callback to like O. G. S. In the nineties early two thousands. Yeah I thought that would be just like the perfect setting for a lot of fans obviously love you so much for the fact that you don't really put yourself in a box. You sort of do things sort of completely out of the box and totally different. What sort of the creative process in terms of you as an artist when you think of inspiration to make songs like. Yeah I mean a lot of the times I'm thinking of video ideas that I would like to see and then I'm writing songs like four interesting. So you think do you think video first before? That's so interesting because most artists are the opposite. Yeah the videos have always been like the biggest part of my project. And why is that? Do you feel like the video tells the song the story of the song? Definitely. I think it's like the marriage of the two. It's the music and visuals and I think music videos are just like a perfect place for fashion activism, choreography, performance. Like there's so many things you can do in a music video and your new yorker went to N. Y. U. Do you feel like your experience at N. Y. U sort of helped shape who you are as a creative individual? Oh, absolutely, definitely. I went to film school and not many artists can say that they went to film school. Do you almost feel like that almost gives you almost an inherent advantage in this industry? Yeah, I think that's always been just like my, my, my different edge I guess is the film element. A lot of artists use obviously social media, but Tiktok in particular as a way to engage with fans and talk to fans. Do you feel like that's sort of been away for you also to sort of engage with your fans? Oh, absolutely. I think the coolest thing has been like re appropriating old music videos for Tiktok and finding like helping find a new audience. And I think also just like seeing the way that different fans play on different trends and different songs. It's a really cool way to connect people also like how do you sort of feel like this, the fan reaction to it has sort of been because I feel like with social media that's like this avenue that you're never usually able to sort of engage with. Yeah. When the first video in the trilogy came out, like on Tiktok, I feel like, especially if you're a queer woman, it was inescapable. It was on your feed. So definitely it was a really cool way to connect. Also the thing as you know, being part of the LGBT community as well. What I love and appreciate so much about your work is is you showcasing storylines involving LGBTQ plus love and queer love. Why was that also sort of important for you to do as an artist to sort of showcase that? Because there's not a lot of queer artists out there. I mean there are some and God bless them, I'm so happy that they're out there and talking about this stuff, but there's not a huge pool of them out there definitely. And there's definitely never enough representation. So I think that that's always been so important to me to tell like authentic queer love stories from the perspective of someone who is queer and has experienced those things well, especially that for those who are queer, but also like for girls, there's not most of the individuals who are out there maybe except for maybe Brandi carlile and a few others. Most of them are gay men. Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. And there's definitely just like not enough happiness in the there's a lot of like queer joy for women. So I think that that's been so important for me to do you feel like that's changing though. Yeah, I think it's changing a little bit. I mean there's definitely a lot more queer female artists in this space. But yeah, now you've you've had a really sort of interesting run as well. You've performed L. A. Pride which is always a great part of Pride, but you performed with Christina Aguilera. Christina Aguilera was there at the same time as did you sort of get the opportunity to have interaction with her because she is like incredible. Her trailer was next to mine and I saw her but I didn't yeah, I didn't have a full interaction but it was really, it was my first, that was the first album I ever got was six years old. Just come on over. Oh my God, that's still such an amazing social circle moment. Full circle moment. And what is it like? Also sort of just playing at L. A. Pride, I mean Pride is so huge, right in the heart of West Hollywood, you just have this amazing party and so many amazing people. It was so much fun. And also L. A. Reid was the first time I ever went to when I was in high school. So it was like also a full circle moment. Okay, so what's coming up next for you? What do you have sort of in Next in the pipeline you have more music than you have a full ep coming out in the fall of six brand new songs and a whole new visual world that I'm gonna introduce everybody to. So I'm really, really excited and then obviously more live stuff. Obviously new york Pride is this weekend, everybody is very excited about it. What does Pride mean to you prior to me is being able to tell the stories that I want to tell as a queer artist and being unafraid to do that, and then also just like getting to hold my girlfriend's hand in public and be proud to do that and be proud to, to love the way I want to love. Absolutely Well, happy Pride, congratulations on all the success that you've had that is singer, songwriter and filmmaker Zoli to.