One of Sweden’s most promising exports, rising singer-songwriter Zikai’s music oozes warmth and vibrance. Textured and intricate, the artist merges R&B, soul and pop tendencies into a style that is rich both sonically and in its lyrical meaning.

The Swedish Grammy winner has just unveiled her new EP, “don’t look at the moon…”, a striking, colourful and emotionally potent body of work that sees Zikai fully cement the sound that she has been building since her artistic inception. Her writing is personal and visceral, touching on tipis of vulnerability, self-perception and confidence, and love and romance. A refined and confident project, it sets the singer-songwriter on a path towards wider global recognition.

To celebrate the release of her new EP, we connect with Zikai , who delved into dazzling her new body of work, track-by-track.

Listen to the EP…

Read Zikai’s thoughts…

“Come Get Me Out”
“Come Get Me Out” is about me trying to get out of an anxious state of mind that usually hits when summer’s over. I would say that “Come Get Me Out” has the same romantic feel as “Super 8” melodically but lyrically they are polar opposites. I used to (and still do sometimes) rely on people around me to get me out of my shitty mindset and tell me everything will be ok instead of telling myself that. I used to blame all my problems on this and that, including the stars and the moon, therefore the title of the EP, “don’t look at the moon…”, is a reminder to look inward.

“Summer 16”
“Summer 16” is the only song I had written before the making of the EP. I thought it had the same feel as “Rush Hour” and last year I thought about the summer of 2016 a lot. If I reminisce about the past it’s usually about 2016 lol. It’s a time in my life we’re me and my friends had no troubles and life was good. I also think the music that was released in 2016 influenced me a lot.

“Rush Hour”
I was pretty sure “Rush Hour” was going to be a fun uptempo song when I first started writing it, but I kept coming back to the phrase “I can’t carry on like this, can’t carry on like this” and the lyrics were eventually built around that sentence. In “Rush Hour” I’m questioning my decisions past 2 am and asking myself if it’s really all fun and games. I think many have experienced evenings like this, and periods where you know it’s destructive behaviour but still have the urge to continue.

“Holiday”
I made “Holiday” together with my good friends in the country side in a big house on a big field. We had so much fun that week and “Holiday” came about so effortlessly. I really felt like I was in my element when I first started writing the melodies. It’s fun and playful and an homage to being in love.

“Super 8”
“Super 8” is probably the most romantic track on the EP. But even if it has that romantic feel it’s really about me finally setting boundaries in love and putting myself first. It’s also the first song I wrote on the EP that kinda set the tone…I named it “Super 8” because during the session I imagined the song in a movie scene – a hot summer day, palm trees, me driving around in the same yellow Cadillac that Al Pacino drives in Scarface. And all of this would be filmed in super 8mm. It suited the sound image.