A QUICK CHAT WITH CHASE ZERA

Your new EP ‘DISCO RUNWAY’ is great! Could you tell me a little more about how it came about?

Thank you! Well ‘Miss Universe’ was the first song written on the EP. I was feeling so passionately about everything that was said in the lyrics of that song that I remember thinking ‘I just want to keep writing about this and making multiple different songs in different ways about empowerment and feeling yourself and not shrinking yourself for anyone’. 

So the next few times I got in the studio I had that at the forefront of my mind in my songwriting and eventually just decided that because there was a strong running theme across the songs I was writing, it would make sense to release them as a body of work.

 Once I decided I wanted it to be an EP it became really fun and sentimental - I pulled all the creative together and packaged everything up like it was a creative diary from a certain time in my life that I could always look back on. 

What does ‘DISCO RUNWAY’ mean to you and what messages do you want to convey to audiences around the world? 

Creativity to me is a never ending cycle of switching between audio and visual inspiration. This EP is heavily inspired by disco instrumentation and disco rhythms and the creative look and feel is heavily inspired by maximalist fashion and extravagant costuming. Pairing audio and visual is so important to me as an artist, so I wanted to come up with a title that really shows the collaboration of those two things. That’s why I called it DISCO RUNWAY.

Lyrically, I also want my music to remind people of their worth and inspire them to be 100% unapologetically themselves - let go of anyone who makes you feel small, embrace the people who love you for who you are, have fun, don’t take life too seriously, dance with your friends and live in the moment. 

Noting that you look at your artistry as an entirety compared to just music, how have you been able to conceptually convey the message of ‘DISCO RUNWAY’ through each of those outlets - Music, fashion and creative.

In terms of the music I think the songs on the EP have the potential to suit both a disco party and a runway. Some of the songs are good for dancing and singing along to and some of the songs are good for strutting along to and feeling yourself, so to me it fits into both worlds. 

As for the fashion and creative, the message is ‘be unapologetically yourself and do what makes you feel empowered’ and I’ve done exactly that. Dressing up in maximalist costumes, experimenting with wild hair and makeup looks, trying new things and pushing myself out of my comfort zone - I’ve done things that I think look cool and that make me feel like a queen, without questioning what anyone else will think of it. I wanted to just trust my gut and do it for my own creative expression before anything else. 

If you could perform on any stage around the world with any artist (dead or alive) who and where would it be and why?

At Glastonbury with ABBA. I don’t even know if that one needs further explanation.

Any shows planned in the near future?

Definitely. My live shows are a big priority for me at the moment because it makes me so happy being on stage. Especially now that the EP is out, I can’t wait to play these songs live. I’m supporting Bag Raiders at Sun Sets festival this December and have more lined up for 2023 so stay across my socials for updates!