On Thursdays Del Osei-Owusu sits down with an artist on the FOTN radar and gets them to tell their origin story over tea and biscuits. This week it’s the turn of Zara Smile and they brought white chocolate and cranberry cookies.

Hello Zara how are you?

Hiya! I’m great thanks for asking! As we speak I’m actually just about to go on a little day trip to Hebden Bridge which I’m super excited about!

Congratulations on the release of “Fight Back” how does it feel?

Thank you! Honestly it’s felt very full circle! All of the press coverage of this song has been so wonderful and all the kind words that people are using keep making me cry!

What’s the story behind the song?

I wrote Fight Back when I was feeling really down about my creativity, I felt like nothing I was doing was right or enough and felt like everyone’s successes were my failures, “losing is a skill of mine”. It turned into an anthem of carrying on in the face of feeling like you can’t.

It’s your fifth single since 2023, what have you learned about yourself since then?

So much has changed! I released Happy in 2023, I am a completely different person now! I have developed my sound so much, I can’t believe I used electric guitars in my first song!

Has your writing process changed in that time?

I think my sound has developed! My lyrics have stayed quite similar in the fact that they’re very honest and real, I have had a good time experimenting with different time signatures, key signatures and alternative tunings on guitar.

You’re an artist from Liverpool, originally from London how did it all begin for you?

I grew up in South London yes! I have always been interested in music, I wrote my first song at the age of 6 which went a bit like ‘woah woah woah yeah yeah’ (i was listening to a lot of one direction at the time!) I ended up in Liverpool for University, and I love it here so much, I feel like Liverpool has really helped to develop my sound.

What did you listen to growing up?

I grew up listening to a very eclectic mix of songs! My dad was into German Punk, I listened to the Top 40 on the radio, and then got into folk and singer songwriters through the internet.

You are part of the Next Up North project tell us about your experiences with that so far.

I have loved every step of Next Up North so far, they have been so incredibly helpful with all the releases, so much advice and kind words! We released Misplaced on the 12th June, which was amazing! And there may be another coming soon….

Imposter syndrome is a very real thing for people, myself included. What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to someone that has this?

My advice is you just have to keep going, and celebrate your wins! It’s so hard to live with imposter syndrome especially if you feel alone with it, but so many people struggle with it and the wins and successes you WILL get are so worth it!

Living in Liverpool, who’s your favourite Beatle and what’s your favourite Beatle song?

I can’t lie I did not know too much about the Beatles before I moved to Liverpool! But I’d say my favourite now is George Harrison and my favourite song is Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds!

What are you listening to at the moment?

I have been loving Haley Blais’ album ‘Wisecrack’, and Blondshell’s latest album ‘If You Asked for a Picture’. I recently discovered Miya Folick and Sarah Julia and I’ve been loving those too!

What are you looking forward to doing in the next 12 months?

I am so looking forward to October, got some big things coming up then in Liverpool!