What attracted you to making music?

 

Zara: The expression and the opportunity to express yourself. I love listening to other artists and their stories and what they convey.

 

Zoe: The way we were brought up around music. Our dad used to play old school songs like Soul and Motown, so it’s always been inherent within us.

 

How did you train vocally in order to progress?

 

Zara: We had a singing teacher about five years ago and she taught us to open our mouths because we were mumbling a lot. We also did a lot of exercises yawning, scales and diaphragm workouts. Then I went into Jazz and Zoe was trained in Drama and that really helped with our music because it helped us with the storytelling aspect.

 

Zoe: Singing is a lot to do with confidence. You have to believe you can hit a note.That’s 50 percent and then the training supports that.

 

In your music videos you often use still photographic images to showcase your music instead of motion visuals, why did you make this decision?

 

Zara: Oh that was when we first started out, for the My Man video. We are working on motion videos at the moment. When we first started we really wanted to emphasise that the track speaks for itself and we were also quite shy about being in front of the camera.

 

Zoe: Yeah we wanted it all to be about the music and the message, not solely about us. That’s what our dad would always say ‘listen to the message, what is the song telling you’. We kind of took it literally (laughs).

 

Zara: I know we can be quite loud characters and quite overt but ideally the aim is to have listeners engage in the content rather than just the visual.

 

Zoe: We’re now working on motion videos for our most recent release of songs. But I think there was a stage in our lives where we didn’t really know how to be in front of the camera. Now we feel ready and it’s exciting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'My Man' still motion image music video written and sung by Zoe and Zara

 

 

Earlier this year you toured the States. What was your experience there?

 

Zara: How long you got? It was crazy! There were highs and there were lows. The highs were epic, like in Orlando singing and being on stage doing what we love. When we went to Atlanta, the ambience and the energy was so amazing, at the end of it I started rapping. The lows were Nashville because we didn’t really get a good reception. It really taught us what reality is. Before we left were a bit more naïve and once we were there we woke up to real life.

 

Zoe: It changed our lives, going to America. Before we went away we lived in a world where we weren’t really aware, just going day by day through what was on social media. We came back really grounded.

 

Who have been some of your sources on inspiration and in what ways have they inspired you?

 

Zara: For me definitely Lauryn Hill. She has inspired me in the sense that there is no wrong or right in music. It's an opportunity to showcase your feelings, whether it is to one’s taste or not it’s literally putting your feelings out there. That’s cool. 

 

Zoe: In general we like to listen to people who tell stories, who are real, who have been through stuff, who are sending a message.

 

People like Lionel Richie, The commodores, Clarence Carter, Tina Turner, and James Brown, they say what they want to say and they do what they want to do. Free, real, inspirational.

 

Zara: I loved Mick Jagger’s performance at the Grammy’s. He believed every word he said. Absolute nutter and I loved every second of it.

 

Zoe: And Adele is another one…

 

Zara: …she has a beautiful voice, she writes her own lyrics…

 

Zoe: …she has a message to share.

 

What have audiences at your stage performances and listeners of your music online been able to teach you about yourselves and your music?

 

Zara: They’ve taught me that there’s some beautiful people out there because we’ve got support from Canada, from Japan, Miami now, from Jamaica and from places I didn’t think would know our music. When someone messages us from Japan to say their playing our song in their bar and a few months ago someone messaged us saying they heard our song playing in Brixton we were grateful that those people took time to message us and that made our day! It always makes our day when someone takes time to share, talk about and promote our music.

 

What have been some of the most gratifying moments of your career to date?

 

Zara: When we first had our song played on in2beats radio. We were staying in Wood Green at the time and the presenter was amazing, he gave us such a good intro to big us up.

 

Zoe: I think because we’re independent, every gig we get, and every venue we get…It so feel good when you get that text or email and its confirmation of an event and then when we actually perform at them, it’s just the icing on the cake..A dream.

 

Zara: ...The Vortex in Dalston was an amazing gratifying moment. That was the first official gig wasn’t it?

 

Zoe: Yeah, that was fun although we couldn’t stop crying midway. We really wear our hearts on our sleeves when we sing!

 

Zara: I also love being interviewed because it means someone actually wants to know about you.

 

Zoe: I think when you’re doing it yourself everything is gratifying.

 

Zara: Yeah every little step forward is a step forward.

 

Zoe: It’s only when you sit and think about it that you realise everything is gratifying because when everything is going fast paced you don’t really think about it.

 

Zara: That’s why I love interviews, it gives us a chance to embrace it and reflect. So thanks! (Laughs)

 

What advice would you have for budding artists wanting to enter into a singing-songwriting career?

 

Zoe: Do what you want to do. You can get caught up in what society is telling you to do but always stay true to yourself. Sing how you want to sing, dress how you want to dress and be who you want to be.

 

Zara: Keep it real.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Get up now' by Zoe and Zara

 

What’s coming up for Zoe and Zara in the future?

 

Zara: We’ve got Westfield Presents in Shepherd’s Bush on the 29th of August, 2pm.

 

Zoe: And we’re performing in Esquires in Bedford on the 12th of September. And then Cambridge the following week. So what’s coming up is more gigs, more modelling, more interviews…

 

Zara: more songs…

 

Zoe: …but also more fun. Just living, going crazy and just meeting as many people as possible…

 

Zara: …deliberating more tattoos.

 

Zoe: …and changing our hair.

 

Zara: So the short term is to do as much as possible…

 

Zoe: …. long term is to keep motivating people on the same journey. What motivates us is seeing other people shine because that makes us think if you can do it, we can do it too. Teamwork makes the dream work! 

 

So yeah that’s us, Zoe and Zara. Watch this space...

 

To discover more about Zoe and Zara visit their website www.zoeandzara.com and find them on social media.