Interview: Zora explores alter ego on dark second album, 'BELLAdonna'
by Diane
February 13, 2025
Zora has lived all around the world, but there’s been no home quite like Minneapolis. Here, she has found “a queer and trans sanctuary.” The community has enabled her to blossom as an artist like never before. The rapper, singer, and producer is The Local Show’s February Artist of the Month.
In 2022, Zora caught The Current’s attention with her debut album, Z1, which features critically acclaimed hip-hop, hyper-pop tracks like “RUNNITUP” and “HAPPIEST I’VE BEEN.” During a recent interview at The Current, she shared insights about her wide-ranging musicality, big press from Rolling Stone, Minneapolis’ LGBTQ+ community, and her second LP, BELLAdonna. This new concept album portrays the artist’s “superhero alter ego” battling the abuse and exploitation she has experienced as a Black trans woman. Highlight tracks “Head2toe” and “Fastlane” are gaining exposure right now on The Current’s airwaves.
Zora's debut album showcases "all the different parts of my heart"
Transcript edited for clarity and length
It's Diane here from The Current sitting across from our Artist of the Month, Zora.
Hi!
So glad to have you in the studio with us today. Congrats on the new record, BELLAdonna.
Oh, thank you, Diane. It's so good to be back. And thank you for having me.
Of course. Couple years ago you launched your music career with the album Z1.
I want to say it was now almost three years, which is crazy.
Three years. And we had been spinning “RUNNITUP” and “HAPPIEST I'VE EVER BEEN” – a few different tracks on The Current, and I've just been a big fan ever since.
[Clip of “RUNNITUP” plays]
And now you've released a new album. And that's one reason why we want to bring you into the studio, help promote it and you as our Artist of the Month. So thanks for being here.
Oh, thank you so much for having me, Diane. And yes, I'm so happy to be here. And thank you for rocking with me as well since Z1. I feel like you've seen the puberty stages of my music. So it's like, from here to here, it's just like, thank you.
So I've been reading a little bit about this new album, BELLAdonna, about this alter ego, and letting out some steam and rage from sexual trauma and assault. It's a hyper-pop hip-hop record, and it's so good. Tell me about it.
Yeah, thank you. Definitely, it's been super fun to create this. I wanted to pick up where I left off with Z1 and use songs that I'd written before. I have songs on there that have been in my vault for like seven years that I was able to rework and remix for BELLAdonna. But it just felt like a level up and a step up, in general, from Z1 and just a natural progression. This is where I am now in my life ... I've said on Instagram and everything, "This is my darkest album. I'm emo now, by the way. Yeah, I'm goth." [Laughs] But with the trauma piece as well, that is the driving force of the album. That propelled me to want to write it. But it's also not where I want to stay. So I'm really glad that people are able to see the album as a good body of work and good music, and not like, “Oh, you're a victim." It's like, “You know what? Like. Period.” I love that. Thank you.
[Clip of "THE B**** IS BACK (Press) plays]
Tell me about some of the inspirations behind this. I hear elements of hyper-pop and hip-hop, heavy aggressive beats and bass. I know you grew up on hip-hop music. Tell me about some of the musicality of this one.
It drew from a few different elements. I wanted to create from a musicality element, things from Prince, N.W.A, and things from older hip-hop people that I grew up on, like Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott, people like that. I also wanted to create a character within the album as well. So I was really inspired by Tyler, The Creator's Igor album, because he always has a persona for each album. Even with CHROMAKOPIA. I really like how it's always a character piece for albums. And with Beyonce's I Am… Sasha Fierce as well, where she has an alter ego ... You can hear it in how the music is delivered to the audience. So I think that's where I drew from with BELLAdonna. I wanted to make sure that I kept it true to its pop roots, because I do consider myself a singer, rapper, and producer. But I also wanted to include all the elements that I was raised on and continue just creating through that and everything.
The force of being a producer, rapper, singer, and dancer — your live show is so fun to watch because you just embody a performer. Tell me about finding the balance of being able to present them all and then work them all, because not everyone can do that. A lot of artists have other producers do their work, or they don't set up the choreography, etc. Tell me about the force of being all of these elements coming into one.
You're so sweet. I'd love to do more collaborations with producers this year as well. I definitely would love to, but I think it's very fun to be able to do it all myself for my music. I do all my production in-house. For BELLAdonna, I have samples that are on there that I wrote as songs and then sampled myself. So everything is basically just me that I'm doing and just re-recording. I think it's been very fun to just learn throughout high school growing up in music technology classes and things like that, versus where I am now. I'm super, super happy that I'm able to use my knowledge and put it on things like BELLAdonna.
It does get scary sometimes, if I'm being honest. It can be overwhelming to be like, “Okay, I have to be at this rehearsal for choreography, and then I have to do this band rehearsal, and then I have to go here, and then there.” It can be very overwhelming. So I do feel for the deep, fully DIY girlies ... I just have a lot of fun. Honestly, yeah, that's all it is.
Tell me about your experience with getting press from Rolling Stone. That's such a huge deal. There are certain artists I can think of who are local who have gotten press from Rolling Stone. But it is rare, and it obviously means you're doing something right ... Tell me about getting to that point or what that experience has been like for you.
Thanks, Diane. It was insane, honestly. It still does not feel real, but the first time that happened, I was like, "What is happening right now?" I just remember waking up in my little studio ... I just released an album, or just dropped a single at that point, and it was just like, we're hanging. And then my label head Alex, love them, sends me an email that just says "Rolling Stone" with 18 exclamation points. And I was like, "What are you talking about?" I don't know what I was thinking, but I was not thinking that it was me in there ... It was so crazy. I text my mom and we're both on the phone crying, like, "I can't believe it happened! Oh my gosh!" We have the magazine from 2022 in a frame for us, just because that is such a huge milestone.
You represent the LGBTQ+ community in your music. As also someone who's queer, I find sanctuary in other artists that are out there being themselves and being unapologetic about it. I can relate, because I also sing and explicitly rap about my queerness. Tell me about your connection with the LGBTQ+ community and how you embody that in your music.
Yeah, it's like an act of acceptance and rebellion in one. For me growing up, I wasn't really invited — well, not like the LGBT community was like, "You're not getting a card." [Laughs] It wasn't like that. I was raised in a very religious setting and environment [where] this was not accepted. And that is what I grew up around, and what I was taught to believe. And a lot of my artistic vision for myself revolved around my queerness, my trans-ness, and my femininity. And I didn't feel like I'd be able to express that. I started transitioning and started to write music again — because I took a break for a little bit before transitioning — then I wrote Z1 and that was my first return to being a musician. That is what it means to me to always just write music. It is a very personal journey for me as somebody who wasn't able to express that at a point. So now that I am, I'm like, “OK I have to be the loudest I can be about it.”
I feel similarly. I grew up Catholic, sort of, going to the church. But I was raised in Fargo, North Dakota, which is a really conservative community. And so when I finally did come out, it was liberating and freeing and wonderful. And you found a really amazing community in Minneapolis. Tell me the contrast of going from Los Angeles, studying at Berklee College of Music, and then coming to Minneapolis.
Oh, thank you. You know, I've moved around quite a bit. Actually.
Really?
All around the world — okay?
[Diane Sings] "All around the world!"
So I was raised in LA, and then I went to school in Boston. My mom moved to D.C., so then I moved to D.C. and then lived in Virginia for a little bit as well, just DMV [D.C., Maryland, and Virginia] in general. And now I'm in Minnesota. I say Minnesota is high key my favorite place to live. No shade to everywhere else. It's really between Minnesota and my hometown, Silver Lake. The only problem [is] Silver Lake is so gentrified now. When I was there, it was very much a lower-income neighborhood ... POC lived in that neighborhood, and it was a sanctuary. So like, seeing what's happened recently, where it's just been fully gentrified, I'm like, “Dang my old house [and] everything around it is just remodeled.” … I miss it. But like, I only miss it because it exists in a time of my memory, but it's not there anymore. But it's fine. But Minnesota is for sure, I would say, my absolute favorite place to live. Here, it's just very much a queer and trans sanctuary.
Carbon Sound's Sanni Brown interviews ZoraYeah! I agree.
There is a whole bunch of community here, especially between the ballroom community, the drag community, the larger queer and trans community in general. It's just been really amazing being here and being able to connect with people who are like me, make music, work together, and just hang out. Everyone here lives closer in proximity, as well, than places I've lived before. So it's way easier to just be like, "Can you just come over?" Or like, "Do you want to come hang out?" It's way less stressful to get around.
What is something about this new record that we might not have talked about?
It's inspired by a lot of horror movies. I would say that horror movies are my favorite genre. So I was inspired by Ms .45 ... analog horror things like Skinamarink, indie horror stuff. So that was really what I wanted to draw from and why I had the camcorder effect and things like that included in the visuals … I also produced the whole album myself. I also had a lot of fun with "HUSH" and "LUV LETTERS 2 MY STINK" specifically, because I basically wrote two songs in one for those. So I basically wrote a fake ‘80s R&B song, then looped it, then sampled that, and rapped over it. And then "LUV LETTERS 2 MY STINK" as well, I created a funk song and did it fully acoustic, and then re-sampled and looped it. And then turned it into what it is now. BELLAdonna was very fun to work on, and I'm just excited to keep adding to the universe of her.
[Clip of "HUSH" plays]
What does going into the studio look like for you?
Yeah, so usually I start on piano, just because that's my starting instrument. When it comes to the electronic world, I like to include my own designed synthesizers. So I use Logic Pro and I use their thing called ES2 and basically create different arpeggiated synths, leads, and different buzz saws and things like that to sample. And then usually for my drums and my kicks and snares and hi-hats and stuff, it's either mouth sounds or like things that I'm sampling that aren't drums ... like a hit on the table. I like to use real-life stuff in my music, to just make it sound like it's really there. If it's not that, I'll just use a very basic 808 ... and then I'll add a ton effects to make it sound super weird and distorted and flanged and things like that. Yeah, I just try to make things sound different from how they did as possible. Or just create new things entirely.
Yeah, I'm thinking specifically of "RUNNITUP" ... It's like, where are all these [noises] coming from? That is so playful.
Thank you ... I do have to shout out SOPHIE as well, because SOPHIE has always been my production inspiration. And that was when I started experimenting with different drum packs and things like that. With "RUNNITUP" and "ALL AROUND THE WORLD," that snare in there is like SOPHIE Snare 3.
Tell the audience more about SOPHIE.
SOPHIE? She passed away now … But she's one of the founders of hyper-pop. She is in the same community as A.G. Cook, Charlie XCX, and all of those people. She's just a very powerful woman. She's also a doll as well, like me. I just have always looked up to her. Her production is immaculate. That was where I got my start in terms of more experimental drum stuff ... SOPHIE is like the person who just creates just such weird sounds. And I was like, I want to have that snare in this “RUNNITUP” song. That one for sure.
I also hear the elements of music that I grew up on too, including Rihanna and Missy Elliott, like you were saying, Beyoncé. I worshiped that music when I was a little kid, so to hear all of those elements, I also found such a draw to it.
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for being here in the studio. So excited that you're our Artist of the Month. We'll be spinning you at the top of the 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m. hour every Sunday in February.
Yay. So exciting. Thank you so much, Diane. I'm gagged!
Pleasure. Anything else you'd like to add?
Just make sure to check the politics. Check the state of the world. Our rights are getting stripped away, y'all. Trans rights. Queer rights. We have to make sure to stay active and stay vigilant. Stay vigilant for the people who are next to you as well.
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