Maximal Meets Mod: A conversation with Zinadelphia

Philadelphia can be a difficult place to find your creative footing. Despite the wide array of colleges, renowned music venues, and a flourishing underground DIY scene, artists can often get swept up in the intense pace of city life. Philadelphia grits your teeth, tests your mettle, and tries your spirit, but the creative minds that come out the other side are unlike any others. However, Zinadelphia didn’t just survive this trial by fire, she stepped out looking like the cover of Vogue circa 1964.

Her latest EP, The Magazine, is a collection of all her creative passions: music, journalism, photography, graphic design and, of course, 1960’s mod fashion. At the core of all this, though, are the songs themselves. Throughout the six-song project, Zina touches on topics of love, friendship, betrayal, body dysmorphia, the predatory atmosphere within the music scene, and much more, all seamlessly sewn together by her charming and powerful vocals.

Zinadelphia and I sat down to talk at a pivotal point in her musical journey. She just kicked off her first headlining tour of North America and has sold out shows across the country, all built upon the foundation that is The Magazine. As we talked more about her life, career, and the growing pains of fame, it became clear that Zinadelphia has found her creative footing, and that she’s ready to dive headfirst into the future.

Zinadelphia | photo by Danielle Ciampaglia for WXPN

Music wasn’t always the career path Zinadelphia had in mind though. At Temple University, she began as a photography major before quickly shifting to journalism and ultimately settling on media studies and production. Her first foray into music came by way of the underground; immersing herself in the house shows of North Philly and running a venue called The Backyard during her sophomore year. Zina said she never outright tried to create a band, but that it just happened. That deep sense of community within DIY helped her find her place, find her band, and guided her through the early days of playing live.

“I would make music on the side, just for me,” she said. “Then when we’d go live, and it was completely separate. It was hard because all my songs are very live and maximal … trying to recreate it was difficult.”

As Zinadelphia grew out of the underground, she was met with rising expectations both good and bad. On one hand, she was playing larger shows, circulating around trademark Philly locales like PhilaMOCA and Johnny Brenda’s, but the demand for consistency quickly turned against her. She described her artistry as a delicate trifecta of musical releases, social media posting, and strong live performances, each requiring an investment of time to build up, but too much focus made the others suffer.

“I give every single fuck about everything, and I’m not ashamed of it,” she said. “Every time I post it’s a big deal. It’s a big process and it gets exhausting pursuing it. When it pays off, it’s great, but it never will unless it’s consistent, and it’s hard to be consistent when it takes so much out of you.”

The concept of social media is a concurrent theme throughout Zinadelphia’s new EP. Magazines serve as symbols of time lost, a by-gone era of physical media consumption and the unhealthy culture surrounding modern-day social media. Initially thought of on a walk pre-studio session and inspired by Bobby “Blue” Bland’s cover of “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right,” that concept would manifest in the EP’s namesake track, The Magazine. For Zina, it was one of those “when you know you know” moments, and a feeling that would carry through with each songwriting session for the project.

In fact, every song on the EP was written during a two-week retreat that Zina could only describe as “fate.”

“In December, I wrote ‘Love Over Glory,’ and I was like ‘fuck we have to start all over,’ and that was the foundation for everything,” she said. “Then in January, we did a camp where we wrote every day for two weeks, and every single day I would walk out saying, ‘I love this song … we’re not scrapping any of these.’ It was such a great feeling, and I got that with every single one of these songs.”

Now that The Magazine is out, Zina is looking back on two years of artistry, and she couldn’t be happier with the changes both in her music and in herself. Zinadelphia began as a character, an artist project that would come out during live performances and on record, but she feels as though the character and her are finally becoming one.

“Now every day I am that character, and I love that character,” Zinadelphia said. “She’s so much more outgoing. She’s all the things my previous self wanted to be.”

Zinadelphia | photo by Danielle Ciampaglia for WXPN

Zinadelphia is stylistically bolder as well. Her love for fashion and design pulls from elements of 1960’s mod and maximalism, as well as Quentin Tarantino and James Bond films, and from the world of burlesque. These influences shine all over The Magazine, from her Spotify artist playlists; to the physical magazine issue; to the visualizers for each song on the EP (seriously go watch those if you haven’t); to her in person style, Zinadelphia is unabashedly colorful.

Talking with Zinadelphia reminded me of the beauty that Philadelphia has to offer both musically and creatively, and I learned much more than I ever set out to. You know she’s never had a Philly cheesesteak? She’s a vegetarian. Before we wrapped up though I asked one final question, “What is next for Zinadelphia?” Her response, “I’m not taking any extended breaks. I’m in, so we’re staying in.”

Zinadelphia headlines The Foundry of The Fillmore Philadelphia on Tuesday, November 26th; Harlee Torres opens, more information on the show can be found here. Below, watch Zinadelphia and her band perform live on WXPN’s Key Studio Sessions.