Indo-American Artist Zoya is ‘Demo-Dropping’ Her New Album Via SoundCloud

Indo-American pop artist Zoya hates being on her phone but she’s come to understand that “if you can’t beat ‘em, you gotta join ‘em” holds true when it comes to releasing music with a plan that’s focused on social media.

Her latest album, Maybe It’s You, is releasing as a “demo drop” via SoundCloud and its associated music distributor, Repost Network. So far, Zoya has released five singles out of a total of 11 starting from March 16th with “One Way.” The releases run all the way up to July 5th. “Basically, I’m leaking my own demos,” the artist said on Instagram. 

Additionally, late last year, Zoya was also announced as an Amazon Music Breakthrough Artist, and this has helped in promoting Maybe It’s You with music videos in the works. “We’ve shot six videos and none of them have seen the light of day yet… I’m stoked because finally they will so soon,” she mentioned in another Instagram post.

Zoya, who previously released her album Bad Girls Dream in 2020 and had a collaboration with hip-hop artist Jack Harlow on the title track, regards the current times as a “metaverse music economy.” She added in an Instagram post in December, “The music industry is weird and sometimes where the money comes from, talks more than the art. Trying to stay positive though and I’m excited for the day that all this art releases. I’m excited to see hard work pay off.”

Later in February, she talked about how it was “harder for artists to be just artists.” Zoya said, “We’re expected to now be content creators and upload our lives at such a rapid rate that we almost can’t just… live.” It led her to talk about Maybe It’s You and how it gave way to a new release strategy. “One that starts with socials […] I want you guys to hear it and I am going to do everything in my power to come up with creative ways for you to love it just as much as we do,” she added.

A press release states that the partnership between Zoya and SoundCloud “marks a joint effort to recreate the classic SoundCloud Come-Up, a path that popular artists have followed in the past, including Billie Eilish, Post Malone and Russ.” On the four tracks released so far – “One Way,” “Could Be Magic,” “Out of Orbit” and “Maybe It’s You” – Zoya plays up her honed pop sensibilities though her electronic sensibilities are still heard. Thematically, the fantasies of Bad Girls Dream are exchanged for more realistic pursuits. She describes the album to be about her search for love. “The search ended and all I was left with was the girl in the mirror. It wasn’t until I learned to love her that love from others began to make sense,” the artist added.

Writing for Maybe It’s You wrapped up as early as October last year, with singer-songwriter and producer Nick Smith, guitarist-producer Anthony Cammarota aka AC Music and Reggie Baril aka ToBy. Other songs teased from the album include “Life,” which has a live video out and “If I Had A Daughter.” She said about her title track recently, “I was in the relationship I wrote this song about. It’s weird looking back and listening to your own lyrics and realizing how deeply true they can be… sometimes I’m like, ‘Damn, can I tell the future?! What’s happening?’ I think music brings it out of you, though… the truth, even when you aren’t ready for it.”

Prior to releasing Bad Girls Dream in 2020, Zoya has often been in constant reinvention mode. In 2014, she showcased fusion arrangements with an inimitable vocal style on records like Letters To Toska and The Girl Who Used To Live In My Room. From the folk and singer-songwriter space, she turned to electronic pop with the 2016 album Natural Disaster, while 2017 saw standout releases like “The Shaman & The Singer” and “Heart Rates,” her collaboration with producer Chrms aka Veer Kowli. 

It was in these years that Zoya had moved in and out of India from the U.S. after graduating in music business from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Becoming a regular on the touring circuit and performing at festivals such as Echoes of Earth and Control ALT Delete, the artist eventually moved back to the U.S. for good, setting up base in Los Angeles in early 2018. EDM-informed euphoric tracks like “Be Free” and “Collide” were also released that year and they’re counted among Zoya’s most streamed songs to date.