On September 25th, my partner dropped his sophomore album, Charlie. Written over quarantine, the album gives us a good feel for his emotions and thoughts experienced over the past six months as well as an understanding of how far he has come as a songwriter and producer. The album is fun and playful and perfectly captures Zuhri’s essence, with features from many of his friends and fellow Temple students. To say I’m proud of him is an understatement; he worked so hard and put so much energy into this project. I sat down with Zuhri last Friday to ask a couple of questions about his thoughts on the project and the music-making process for Charlie.
Can you tell me a little bit about how this album came to be?
I’ve been working on this album a while, a couple of them since last summer, but once quarantine hit, I was just home alone, a lot, and had a lot of free time. I got hit with this wave of creativity where I was coming up with an idea for a song each day for a week straight, so they ended up being most of the songs on this project.
When did you know the project was complete?
I actually thought that it would be ready in May and I had a completely different idea for it, but once the date I was going to release it on got closer, I realized that it was just not at all what it could be. So, I took some time away from it and cleared my head and then came back to it and worked on it more. I added four more songs and reworked some of the ones I already had and it turned out so much better. I actually submitted it about three weeks before its release, which is impressive because a lot of people work on their music right up until it comes out. I knew it was ready and finished about a month before it was dropped.
That’s awesome. How do you think you’ve grown as an artist and producer in the past year since your first album, Ask Me Tomorrow?
That’s a great question, Mol. When I put out Ask Me Tomorrow, and even today, I don’t think I know that much about song writing, but I do think I learned a lot about how to structure music, how to make vocal lines or chords and progressions that really make sense. I think I know how to actually make a real song instead of just making a catchy hook or some dumb beat on Garage Band. I spent a lot of time really learning how to use the software I use for my music, so this project sounds a lot cleaner and clearer. Production wise, I learned stuff like how to balance things, what sounds need to come out, and what needs to be hidden.
What does this album mean to you on a personal level, maybe in the sense of how you handled your quarantine and what’s to come for you as a producer?
This album was very important for me to make. There was a point during the quarantine where I was just in my apartment in my room by myself everyday and that made me miserable. Some of those feelings come out in this project, but a lot of it is masked by my jokes or some lightheartedness. Every song though really does have a meaning and very specific feeling attached to it. I think it’s really important. Like, “I Swear To Gosh…” is about a very real situation. “A Dolla Make Me Holla”, while it’s really funny, is about the reality of not having a job. If I get one dollar, I’ll be excited, but I still only have one dollar. I think every song has a meaning that’s important to me and expresses the way I felt in this crazy time.
Of course, since I’m interviewing you, I have to ask you to tell me a bit more about Track 9 on the album, “Everything is Fine”?
LOL, yes Molly, of course. So “Everything is Fine” was one of those songs that had been around for a while production wise. I had the entire song written without words for maybe six or seven months. It’s this really cool beat and I like it a lot. It’s actually an elevator song that I completely remade and did up in a new genre. Track nine is really special because once I just started thinking about it, I had this idea in my head that I actually talked to you a bit about. We came up with a sort of chorus together, and it just made sense from there about what it should be about. Because the track is really lighthearted, I knew I wanted my friend Eliot on it. His verse is one of the most creative things on the project — so different and not what I was expected at all. Yeah, that song is just really special lyrically and melodically.
What’s your favorite song on the album?
Hm, what is my favorite song on the album? I do love “2 Points!”. It is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever made, but it was a pain to figure out. I mean, you know there were four or five versions of the song before I stuck with the one it is now. Honestly, I really do love the song “And He’s Hot” because I really love that beat and those chords. It started out as a remix of a Charli XCX song, “I Finally Understand,” but it didn’t really make sense as a remix. Once I stripped it down a little bit and decided that I wanted to leave it as mostly an instrumental, I was really excited. I love the last 30 seconds; I think they are so cool. The switch up is so good. I’m proud of it.
You can stream Charlie anywhere that you stream music! This album means the world to both Zuhri and I, so go listen and tell me what your favorite song is!