Zach Zoya, one of Quebec’s rising rap stars, recently announced that he had moved to Los Angeles to launch his career. He will also give his first concert there on Thursday March 7. This bet does not seem to worry the young man too much. “What do I have to lose?” ” he asks. “The real loss would have been not to try. »
Indeed, for several years, we have been saying here that he has everything to make it: he raps, he sings, he composes, he is handsome and young… He was also recruited by Universal Canada just before the pandemic. Great hopes are placed on him, particularly following the excellent reception of his first single, Who Dat?in 2018.
Born in Rouyn-Noranda to a Quebec mother and a South African father, Zach Zoya grew up speaking French, but chose English as the language of artistic expression. It is clear that the Quebec market is limited for an English-speaking urban music artist. His relocation to Los Angeles therefore seems to make perfect sense. “I see it in the same way that I saw my move from Rouyn-Noranda to go to Montreal, but now, it’s from Montreal to LA: it’s about aiming bigger, higher, wider, more opportunities. But all this without neglecting Quebec. »
Zach doesn’t pretend he can get to the top of the music food chain by shouting scissors. On the contrary, he is downright ready to fail if necessary. “I tell myself it’s now or never, […] because I only have a work visa for three years at the moment. The Americans don’t throw it like that. I don’t take this lightly. Not just any Canadian artist gets this. So, I give everything I can. All in. »
Zach learned a lot about the reality of leaving his country to try his luck; his father himself fled apartheid. “I already had this conversation with my father. He always encouraged me in what I do, and we always made the parallel with the idea that he too had to leave his family and work very hard. When we go to Africa, my father and I, we have conversations about privilege, about what a society is changing about education, about an individual’s perspectives. »
So his Californian dream is not just an impulse. It’s rooted in the idea that the music industry is now concentrated in Los Angeles. And if there’s any place in the world where he can reach the next level, it’s there. “Basically, this whole process started when I signed with Universal Music Canada at the beginning of 2020. It was already part of the strategy to go to the United States, but the pandemic hit, the borders closed. There were several people at Universal who pushed me in the behind to get me to go. On the Quebec side, Steve Jolin [des Disques 7ième ciel] also knew it was next step logic in my career. »
A (sometimes) deceptive sun
At 25, Zach is unaware of the Quebec dreams that were shattered in California. This is because from the beginning of the 1960s, the fad was inviting; the Beach Boys and their surfer contemporaries were among the first to depict beaches, sun, hot rods… An exotic paradise where rock’n’roll was essential as a soundtrack. At the center of this setting: the Capitol Records building, the first major record label based in Los Angeles, on Hollywood Boulevard.
A few years later, once the British invasion had run out of steam, it was San Francisco and the hippie movement that brought back the idea of a Californian holy land for rock. The Golden State has become a place of pilgrimage where celebration, opulence and glamour shone to make us forget the ghettos it shelters. Charlebois sang it to us cheerfully. But in 1979, Quebec became disillusioned. In the midst of nationalist fervor, Harmonium experienced a bitter failure, under the eyes of René Lévesque himself, who traveled to the American west coast to greet the hoped-for triumph of Fiori and his band.
In short, we can ask ourselves, in 2024, what are the real chances for a young man like Zach Zoya to make a name for himself there.
We asked the question to Pierre-Luc Rioux, guitarist and studio man, half of the Chiiild project, who divides his life between LA and Montreal. There he worked on pieces by the biggest pop stars, including David Guetta and Selena Gomez most recently. Here, he notably worked with Loud and Charlotte Cardin. According to him, the task will be difficult for Zach Zoya. “I can’t pretend that no one has a chance to succeed. Everyone has it. One thing that works in his favor is that he jumped into the void. But rappers, in LA or in States, there are thirteen to the dozen. Will he make it as a rapper? I don’t know. »
According to Mathieu Aubre, programmer of the M showcase for Montreal, which gives local artists the chance to be discovered by those in foreign markets, there are convincing examples of success. “There are Mac DeMarcos, Grimes, who moved from Montreal to there. But these are artists who already had followings fairly established before leaving. »
“In rap, there are a lot of people who try this adventure, sometimes after six months to see the vibe. I think of Kallitechnis who did it. Nate Husser did it. Ragers tried it for a few months. There’s a big attraction for rap there, but the prospects of breaking through if you’re not already accompanied by a big team, I don’t see many. The upside for Zach, at least, is that he already has an established team. »
Concretely, therefore, rap is not an easy avenue, but “in pop music, the good thing is that there is not really a cultural aspect,” explains Pierre-Luc Rioux. “Selena Gomez, Tate McRae or Dua Lipa, they are all the same. These are not people carrying messages. They are performing artists. […] If Zach Zoya wants to become a kind of artist like Armani White, who wants to make viral hits like TikTok, I believe in that. »
Zoya understood that. TikTok and social networks are already his playground and he plays there strategically. “What people in the industry will tell you is that music happens in real. The entire promotional part is in the hands of the artist. It’s a whole different learning experience for me. I’m actively working on this. »
The Californian experience
This is exactly the kind of learning that Zach needs to benefit from, according to Mathieu Aubre. “It’s never wasted as an experience. It introduces you to another market, another environment that is much more competitive, even if you don’t break through there. »
According to Pierre-Luc Rioux, anyone who knows how to reinvent themselves, question themselves and adapt to the realities of the industry can find their place in the sun. One of his main interests is to create an artistic corridor between Quebec and California. “Mainly, what I want is for the world to recognize Quebec talents. I was raised at a time when I was told that we were born in a context where Americans had everything they needed and that we were like “silly” compared to them. »
“We still sometimes hear in the media, on the radio, things like “it’s good for a Quebec product”, and for me, it’s the expression that bothers me the most,” he explains. “I don’t want it to be well done for Quebec, I want it to be a Quebecer who did it and for it to be world class. I want Quebecers to export to Los Angeles. Or elsewhere. But I want them to become world references. »