#Risingartist: We Chatted with Bonzie all things Citrus
Los Angeles, CA – January 24, 2024 – Independent pop innovator BONZIE, hailed as “brilliantly talented” by NPR, has released her dreamy new single “Citrus.” PRESS HERE to listen and PRESS HERE to watch the song’s animated visual simulator, which first premiered with FLOOD Magazine. “Citrus,” written, produced and engineered by BONZIE, follows her recent R&B-infused single “Spiritual Violence” featuring Teo The Artist.
“‘Citrus’ is a song I wrote using a piano loop I played and created,” explains BONZIE aka Nina Ferraro. “Then my friend Hayden Easterling aka Lucent created a homemade synth world for it to live in. I mixed and mastered it to feel like an immersive deep dive into one’s memory. It should feel like a 3D world.”
We had the chance to chat with Bonzie about her song.
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What were you listening to while writing Citrus?
I was inspired by ambient tracks that utilize looped soundscapes, artists like Oneohtrix Point Never and InoyamaLand, and also artists like Jonsí / Alex Somers and Brian Eno. I like the concept of express deeply, not through conscious and clear communication, but through layered noise and loops. Sometimes that’s a more accurate way to express yourself.
I’m curious what influenced you to write a song on a piano loop as opposed to a full piece?
I came up with the piano line and it was inherently beat oriented, consistent, and just was asking to be looped. It was possible to write it the classic way, just playing and singing, but I knew if I looped it before singing to it, I would have the exact right vibe to sing to and express the vocal in the right way. It just helped me feel the song better.
One of my personal favorites about this song is the choice to have the music flutter across the speakers making it feel eerie and distant, creating this third dimension atmosphere. When it came down to creating Citrus, why did you choose to play the way we listen to it?
Thank you! I’m super glad you heard those audio choices and got the full experience. I like expanding the idea of what a song is. It could be a multi-dimensional experience that heals you mentally and physically.
You had a little help from your friend Lucent on this song. Were there any fun moments during the writing and producing sessions?
Hayden (Lucent) was in Germany at the time we were working on this, so the coproduction was me in the US and him in his place in Germany. He sent me photos of these brutalist structures he was seeing, at the time I think he was really into it. He was reading a brutalist architecture book and everything. I think it was influencing how he heard the song, the architecture of it, so to speak. The minimalism and starkness of it. I really loved how he took his own meaning from the lyrics as well.
At this point in the interview, we couldn’t help but ask our conversation card questions. Just a fun way to get to know someone on an interesting level.
Has a stranger ever changed your life?
For the better, every time a stranger says they listened to my music they change my life! Random acts of kindness change life all the time, as cheesy as that sounds.
What is the weirdest thing you are afraid of?
The Shrek DVD Special Features “Technical Goofs”!
If months were people, which one would you rather go on a date with?
That’s a tough one. I’d have to say April 25th. Because it’s not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket.
Since first arriving on the musical landscape as a teenager with her 2013 debut album Rift Into the Secret of Things, BONZIE has endlessly found new forms of expressing her vast imagination. The Chicago-bred and Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist has explored everything from post-rock to folk to fantastically surrealist pop, executing each with extraordinary grace. BONZIE’s latest album, her acclaimed third studio release Reincarnation, continued to redefine the limits of her musicality, ultimately creating a listening experience not unlike lucid dreaming: immersive and infinitely spellbinding yet touched with a transformative clarity. Co-produced by BONZIE alongside DJ Camper, a musician known for his production work with R&B and hip-hop artists like Jay-Z, Big Sean, John Legend, and Teyana Taylor, the 2021 release represented a departure from her past output as it alchemized elements of electro-pop and art-rock, and even gospel music, unfolding in potent rhythms and shapeshifting textures. Reincarnation, the follow-up to her 2017 sophomore effort Zone on Nine, is highlighted by the lead single “alone” – praised by NPR as a pick in Bob Boilen’s All Songs Considered and deemed one of the “Best Songs of 2020” by The New York Times.
To officially kick off 2024, BONZIE dropped a live performance video of “alone” from EastWest Studios in Los Angeles at the start of the month, which has already amassed over 57K views - PRESS HERE to watch.
Follow BONZIE:
Website // Instagram // Facebook // X/Twitter //
TikTok // YouTube // Spotify // Apple Music
