THE BREAKDOWN: ZIKAI ‘DON’T LOOK AT THE MOON…’ [@IAMZIKAI]

Reflecting on her relationship with love over the years, rising Swedish singer songwriter Zikai delves into her take on self confidence, sensuality and vulnerability, in her new EP ‘don’t look at the moon…’

Having spent over a year in the studio perfecting her sound this EP fuses the magic of R&B, soul and pop to form this captivating five-track project.

“This EP is about my relationship to love and how it’s changed over the years. I’m taking back my power in some ways while trying not to blame everyone and everything (including the moon) around me for feeling some type of way. After a break from releasing music I’m so glad to finally be able to show this new chapter of myself and the music I’ve been working on during this time. There’s lots of more to come!!”

Whatever You Say

This one’s my favorite song of the EP right now. I love how the production turned out and the various ambient sounds that sort of floats throughout the song. Lyrically the title kinda says it all. It’s about loving someone unconditionally and putting them on a pedestal to the point where you’d do anything they say. It may be toxic or romantic, or both, depending on how one interpret it.

Come Get Me Out

I made this song on a gloomy evening in Los Angeles together with my favorite writer Trey Campbell and production duo The Wavys. It was one of those sessions where the process felt super effortless. The moment I heard the CGMO chords I knew what I wanted to do both melodically and lyrically. I’ve come to notice that even though most of my songs got a sad storyline I tend to cover that up with uplifting melodies and a feel good production and that’s exactly the vibe of CGMO.

Summer 16

Summer 16 is the only song that I didn’t write for the project, in fact I wrote it like two years ago together with my good friends Simon and Gustav. I’m a very nostalgic person in general (I could cry from looking at a random photo of me and my bff that was taken a year ago) and I was in a very nostalgic mood the day of writing Summer 16. 2016 was a year that defined me in a lot of ways. I was 18, I fell in love, I fell out of love and yeah everything felt possible. It’s nice to reminisce about that from time to time but I feel like I’m done reflecting on 2016 now, I got it out of my system after writing this song.

Super 8

Super 8 was the song that started the whole project. We made it in the beginning of 2023 and I knew the moment the song was done that it would be the first single. It’s about my relationship to love and how I’ve come to realize what I want and what I deserve. I felt like a true woman when I recorded it since it’s the most confident song I’ve written and even the production is giving mature (shoutout to my producer Agrin).

Holiday

This song has a special place in my heart. I wrote it in the countryside somewhere in Sweden together with friends. It’s a feel good song about being euphoric about someone. It’s not super deep like that and I don’t feel like every song has to be, it’s just about making you feel good when you listen to it. I also love the guitar riffs that comes through here and there.

Rush Hour

Rush Hour is also one of those songs that came about super effortlessly. I started singing the hook ”no I can’t carry on like this” as soon as Erik Hassle played the chords. It initially felt like a sad song cause that’s where I was headed lyrically but once again we wanted the production to go in a different more uptempo direction. Rush Hour is about making bad decisions past midnight and not being clear minded enough to stop. It’s almost in the same pocket as my song ‘Twenty Something‘ (from 2020) meaning I think I was in a similar sad girl summer headspace writing both of those songs.

You can stream her EP below and discover more from GUAP’s Music section here!