Photo by Megan Courtis
“I should be the happiest woman ever alive, but right now I don’t feel like it,” Zoe Wees raps in her raw and heartfelt new single, “Lonely.” Listen to “Lonely” and view the lyric video, which received a YouTube Premiere earlier today, HERE. The nineteen-year-old is grateful for the incredible success she’s had since the 2020 release of her debut single, “Control.” The songs from Wees’ first EP, Golden Wings, have amassed over 1.2 billion combined global streams. She’s appeared on numerous late night talk shows, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, included in Forbes’“30 Under 30” Class of 2021 and featured in Billboard’s “21 Under 21: Ones To Watch.”
Yet a life on the road and in the public eye, Wees has discovered, can make it hard to find someone who loves her simply for who she is, apart from the material trappings of success.
“Releasing music has created so many new, great friendships and given me so many opportunities, however, I’ve often found myself in a lonely place even in a crowded room,” says Zoe Wees. “And many of my friends felt the same way. I realized that you could have great people around you but still feel lonely. I also realized that your own feelings are more important than anything physical and that I want to be loved for being me and not for anything else. I’m growing day-by-day and feel hopeful even though sometimes it makes me sad. I hope this song helps people notice they’re not alone in thinking the same.”
Wees wrote “Lonely” with Patrick Pyke Salmy, Ricardo Muñoz and Hight, who collaborated with her on “Girls Like Us,” which was highlighted in this feature tracing the lineage of “the sad banger,” from Dusty Springfield and Otis Redding onward, in the “Music Issue” of The New York Times Magazine. Salmy and Muñoz produced “Lonely” and Serban Ghenea mixed the song.
“I started writing the song around Christmas, which was a tough time for me and can be a lonely time for so many,” recalls Wees. “At first I didn’t like the song at all and I stopped the session and went home. But a few weeks later, I couldn’t get it out of my head and started working on it again. It took me a while to be comfortable with it but now I love the song and its honesty.”
Her first-ever EU/UK headline tour, which kicks off on March 29, includes numerous sold-out shows. Tickets and itinerary are available HERE. Wees has already earned 15 Platinum and Gold certifications globally, include a Gold plaque for “Control” in the U.S., where the song was a top 20 at Pop radio. “Girls Like Us,” her follow-up single, was praised by People as “a vulnerable pop anthem that pushed for togetherness and solidarity to girls around the world.”
Wees wrapped up 2021 with the single “That’s How It Goes” (Feat. 6Lack), a new web series, “Learning to Love Myself,” and a trio of televised performances – the American Music Awards, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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