MEET ZALE

Meet Zale!

Here at Madison Records, we are lucky to work with a lot of talented musicians, each with their own unique personalities. To start off our new blog, we wanted to introduce you to one of the newest members of our group of artists, Zale.

MR: How did you start out in music, and what led to it becoming your career?

ZALE: I have a very different background than a lot of artists I know. A lot of times people will say they grew up in households where their parents were always playing instruments, or friends would come over and jam. I grew up in a family of doctors, lawyers, and accountants. They appreciated music, but it wasn’t a career option. But then I got involved in musical theater when I was in middle school, and fell in love with the idea that you could tell a story through song. That’s when I started taking voice lessons, and I was classically trained in opera since I was eleven years old.

MR: Your style today isn’t at all operatic. When did that change?

ZALE: When I got to college at the University of Georgia, I started listening to a lot of rock music, especially the grunge rock of the 90s, and I became obsessed. It was so raw and so real. It was just me. Then I found a flyer advertising for a female rock lead, and I auditioned and made it. So that’s where I got my start. As I child I never thought I could have a career in music, but I realized in college that it was a real possibility. I’m so lucky to be doing what I love.

MR: Speaking of a love for music, what about it do you love?

ZALE: I’ve broken down my love of music to three main things. It’s something I think about a lot, because sometimes this job is hard, and remembering what I love about it is what keeps me going. First, I love that music is a universal language. I’m able to speak to people through my songs in a way they maybe haven’t be spoken to before, and communicate with people I wouldn’t be able to otherwise.

Second, it brings me joy to know that music is the ultimate healer. Sharing my vulnerability and pain with others in an original way can be cathartic, for me and the people listening. And finally, music brings me ultimate satisfaction. There’s nothing else I can do that leaves me feeling as completely satisfied. When I’m done singing a song I wrote, I breathe the last breath and the microphone hits back to my side, I feel totally at peace.

Zale’s love for music is obvious once you see how hard she works. She has one EP, Pussywillows, coming out in September 2016 with collaborator Carly Gibson. She is also hard at work on her second EP as Zale, one she is working on here in our studios. We are excited to be working with this talented musician, helping her second album with Zale take shape.