Lolo Zouaï Dishes on Going Independent and Her PLAYGIRL World Tour
American-French-Algerian singer-songwriter Lolo Zouaï is making 2023 her biggest year yet, and it all starts with her PLAYGIRL World Tour.
Her European tour dates kicked off on March 8 in London before she traveled to perform in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, and then started her U.S. tour dates on April 11 in San Francisco, performing the sultry and evocative new tracks from her October 2022 album, PLAYGIRL. The U.S. portion of her tour is also sponsored by Mast-Jägermeister, who is offering pop-up photo booth experiences on her tour stops, as well as putting on a sweepstakes to win exclusive goodies, including an all-expenses paid trip to Lolo's tour-concluding Los Angeles on May 13. And did we mention she also has a stunning, fully wrapped tour bus? We had the pleasure of hopping on a call with Lolo just as she was starting the U.S. leg of the tour to learn all about Lolo's new independent musical direction, touring the album and what it means to perform for her Lo-riders. Find it all in the interview below.
Sweety High: Since the release of your new latest album, PLAYGIRL, you've started releasing your music independently. What led to that decision, and why was that right for you?
Lolo Zouaï: Moving forward, I'm going to be putting out music independently, and really excited about that. I get to decide when I want to put things out. I can make whatever I want, without unwanted opinions from people who don't necessarily know what's best for me. It's just fun. And nowadays, people just decide what they want from their music. With platforms like TikTok and Instagram, it's so easy to be an independent artist, because anybody can discover it.
SH: That also speaks to your work as an artist. Your music has a sense of independence to it.
LZ: Right. I'm pretty hands-on with my career. I know how to edit music videos and how to produce, and I have a great creative team that I've built over the years. The label never specifically helped with any of that. Being independent is a really great way for me to move forward.
Also read about: On Tour With Lindsey Lomis and the Making of the Universe EP
SH: Since your tour kicked off last month, what has it been like to play the new songs from PLAYGIRL in front of an audience for the first time?
LZ: It's so much fun. This new album has a bigger creative vision, and we brought the visual of the album cover to life. I'm really proud of it. I started putting together and editing the tour visuals weeks before the shows. The lighting is just incredible, and to see this entire show come to life has been a dream come true. The Jaegermeister tour bus is unreal. My bus is fully wrapped with my album design and the collab. I'm really living my 2000s pop star dream.
SH: Is there a song you've been having the most fun performing?
LZ: The first song, "pl4yg1rl," the title track, has been really fun, because that's where I come out of the Playgirl box, and it's just really exciting. "Crazy Sexy Dream Girl" is really fun, and also "Gummy Bear."
SH: Is it challenging to write songs in multiple languages? Or does it feel natural because you're also bilingual?
LZ: It's so much fun. I'm bilingual, with French and English, and so for me, it's really fun and exciting to write in both languages. I'm definitely not as comfortable writing music in French as I am in English, but I love challenging myself and expanding on my grammar and trying to find the perfect rhymes and rhyming English with French. In my song "Desert Rose," there's also a little bit of Arabic, because my dad is from Algeria. I would like to write more Arabic, but I'd have to have some help, because I'm not fluent whatsoever.
Also read about: Lolo ZouaÏ Reflects on Her Dreams and Reebok's 'Life Is Not a Spectator Sport' Campaign
SH: What are the challenges and rewards of writing in French?
ZL: I've been writing mainly in English for so long, and speaking most of the time in English, but French has a classic, romantic aspect to it. It's easier to write simple French lyrics in my mind. For me, it's much easier to write classic French music than pop music in French.
SH: Is there anything you're most excited about that you have coming up?
LZ: I'm excited for this tour in general, but I've been working on new music, and I have this commercial coming out. I've been teasing new music on my socials and people are reacting really well, so I'm excited to keep doing what I do.
For more insights from our favorite artists, click HERE to read our interview with Kiana Ledé on her stunning single, "Jealous."