Kieran Webber
Director and Founder of CLUNK Magazine, CLUNK Events, and other CLUNK affiliate businesses. You’ll probably find me tucked away somewhere sending emails, listening to music, and creating content.
Denver based artist Zoe Stroupe talks to us about her debut single ‘Colorado Bruise’, influences, and more!
Some artists are able to awash a listener with a wave of tranquility, instantly transporting you to a world of peacefulness. One said artist that has this ability is Zoe Stroupe, the singer songwriter from Denver, USA. Her captivating vocals and heartwarming songwriting is nothing short of a delight and her debut single ‘Colorado Bruise’ boasts this masterfully.
After successfully tickling our ears with the debut single we had to find out more about Zoe and her music, so we sat down to chat all things Zoe Stroupe.
Kieran: Hey Zoe, thanks for taking the time to have a chat with us today! How are you?
Zoe: Hi! Thanks for having me! I’m good! I just moved across the country to I’m a bit tired from that, but the mountains where I moved are rejuvenating me.
Kieran: How’s 2024 been for you so far? Any highlights?
Zoe: 2024 has been a crazy ride. From simply turning 18 to releasing my first single, it’s been PACKED. In the best way possible. In terms of highlights, releasing ‘Colorado Bruise’ on the day I graduated high school was pretty awesome. My friends were worried about my idea to do that because there are a lot of emotions that belong to the two events, but I figured, why not have them all in the same day? It’s also been really cool to see what playlists my song gets added to. I’m like, “What?? I don’t even know you and you want me on your playlist about grief?” The support for the song has meant so much to me and has only made me want to keep creating.
Kieran: So, when did you start creating music and at what point did you feel confident enough to release it into the wide world?
Zoe: I’ve been creating music for as long as I can remember. I remember writing a song when I was 10 about Rapunzel not needing to be saved by a man, haha. My first real song, though, was written after I wrote a song for my mom’s birthday when I forgot to get her a present. She listened to it and was like, “Wait…. this is kind of good?” and so I wrote another and another and on and on until ‘Colorado Bruise’. I’ve always wanted to release a song before I went to college, and so I’m really glad that I could do that with ‘Colorado Bruise’. I think it encapsulates exactly what I was feeling on the day of graduation; how grateful I am to have so many people that I already miss so dearly. I’m glad that I’m sad to leave a place.
Kieran: Did any artists or particular people influence you?
Zoe: Ask anyone who my favorite writer is and they’ll say Adrianne Lenker. They’re not wrong. I truly believe that she is one of the greatest songwriters of today. Last year when I went to a Big Thief concert at Red Rocks, Adrianne was talking about how grateful she was to be in that space. Me being me, I was taking notes about what she was saying. When I went back to my hotel that night, I was so inspired that I wrote a verse of “Colorado Bruise” based on the notes I took. There are so many people though. I tend to go in phases of who I listen to. This past year, I’ve been obsessed with the album, “In The End It Always Does” by The Japanese House. Someone who inspires my openness for vulnerability in my songs in Moses Sumney. There are so many people.
Kieran: How do your influences affect your sound as an artist today?
Zoe: I wouldn’t be anywhere without my influences. I don’t think any artist would be. Even subconsciously.
Kieran: You recently dropped your debut single ‘Colorado Bruise’, can you talk us through this track and what it means to you?
Zoe: After I wrote the last verse, I wrote the chorus. To be completely honest, I don’t remember how I wrote the rest of the song or where the ideas came from. When this happens, they’re usually influenced by my synesthesia. The song was starting to feel very blue and green to me. The first verse I see as pastels, the second an orangey blue, and the third an icy blue and white. The bridge is blue, green, and reddish, and the chorus is blue and white. Obviously a baby in a cradle didn’t replace me with a cigarette. But all of the lines do mean something and connect with other lines. Ultimately, the theme of the song to me is the idea that grief isn’t black and white. The idea that, someone or something could have been bad for you, but said situation doesn’t necessarily hold regret, for whatever reason. Usually because it taught the narrator something. That’s what it was to me.
Listen to ‘Colorado Bruise’ here:
Kieran: How do you go about writing and recording your music?
Zoe: I’m not a religious person, but my writing and recording experiences are definitely spiritual, for lack of a better word. I usually go into a song knowing what I want to write about. But the real spiritual experiences come from sitting outside and writing down the first words I think of. My sketchbooks are full of incoherent sentences and if I read into some of them further, I realize they mean something to me. It’s crazy how our brains can subconsciously understand our feelings while our conscious is left ignorant. I like to write either in my bed or on a walk. When I’m on walks, it’s important that I don’t listen to music so I can force myself to feel my emotions without living through other artists. I can understand my emotions a lot in other situations with other artists, but my walks are a sacred confrontation with myself. Recording is also a really meditative experience. Not in the sense that nothing is ever stressful, but in the sense that it there is a lot of vulnerability that goes into the production process. It’s the same kind of honesty that I have to have with myself when writing, the same idea that I may not know how I truly feel until I’m in the studio. I definitely feel like a different person in and out of the studio.
Kieran: What does being a musician mean to you?
Zoe: Making music means the same thing to me as listening to music does. The feeling I get when listening to a song, no matter the genre or tempo, is so important to me as a listener. As a songwriter, I feel the same way. To not feel anything is a waste of time. Coming from someone who is learning how to grieve, grief is important. Joy is important. That gray area is the most important. Also, I write and read poetry, and a lot of the lyrical ideas I have come from poetic principles I was taught these past couple of years in my poetry classes. And again, my synesthesia really helps to confirm the fact that music, both listening and sharing, affects brains in such a deep way. I guess overall, being a musician is being able to make people feel their own emotions through a song I wrote about my emotions.
Kieran: What is one thing you wish to achieve?
Zoe: There are so many things! It’s a balance of preparing for the future without making goals too large yet. Not to jinx this goal for me, but I really want to headline at Red Rocks. Opening there would be great too. I’ve wanted to play there for years and seeing Big Thief affirmed this for me. I can’t even explain the energy at Red Rocks. It’s insane and I think it’d change my life.
Kieran: Lastly, what else can we expect from you in 2024?
Zoe: A lot. I’m already working on the 3rd and 4th project, and I haven’t even announced the 2nd. And I have an idea for the 5th. But, what I can say right now, is that you will be hearing at least three new songs this year, all incredibly different from each other. The next one may or may not start with a J. I’m also getting some gigs under my belt in Salt Lake and Denver, and all the venues are so cool. Some are solo, some with other people. I’m so pumped to try out different things at these and figure out what I feel drawn to playing. Finally (maybe), I have some merch that I’m working on. I really want to make the merch stuff that I’d actually like to wear/use. I don’t just want to slap my name and face on a shirt. Again, synesthesia. It always comes back to that.