When faced with an audience of Simon Cowell most aspiring pop stars practically faint. He radiates total, brutal pop power. It may come as some surprise then that when locked in debate with Mr C, backstage at a Louis Vuitton party at which she was playing, the one-name artist you must call Zarif found herself attacking his entire stranglehold on British pop culture. ‘He told me that I should come along and audition for The X Factor,’ she says now, breezily, if from the comfortable distance of it being after the fact, ‘And I told him that I didn’t like anything about the show or the way that it turned pop into a commodity.’
Come again? ‘And I told him that for an artist like me, it was absolutely the worst thing I could possibly do.’ Amazingly, Mr Cowell nodded sagely in agreement. ‘In that case, you are almost certainly right,’ he responded, before fondly and sincerely wishing Zarif luck with her impending pop plans. Zarif does not do things the way others do. She likes the feeling of being unique, both as an artist and a human being. And while she has u-turned slightly on her feelings for Britain’s favourite Saturday night entertainment show since (‘It’s just great TV’), she is resolute in finding her own way without any quick-fix solutions. Zarif is the future pop star who was once deemed – and this is a direct quote from Buckingham Palace – ‘possibly too funky for the Queen’. If the establishment wants her, then permission will be granted on her terms.
Outlandishly dressed, you might call Zarif’s look executive thrift with a touch of early Madonna. Her favourite source of clothing is her Iranian mother’s wardrobe, a needle and thread and her own imagination. Her hair hasn’t seen its own original shade in almost a decade. She says that if she wasn’t blessed with the vocal ability of a diva twice her age she would almost certainly be involved in fashion, in some way.
If she looks the part, then her music amplifies her pop star kudos to maximum capacity. The Zarif sound is a bespoke take on the tailored soul tradition that allows every eccentricity and kook of her character a place in the mix. She called her debut album Box of Secrets for a reason. While the rip and curl of her voice has a distinctively familiar feel, of the kind of vintage that sounds like it might well have been honed in the early 70s, her production and beats are straight from the future. In part it was the classic nature of her vocals that alerted premiere US R&B talent John Legend to her voice. He has already put in the request for a duet at the forthcoming MTV Tommy Hilfiger sessions.
The Secret is that it all works. While the other girls chasing pop glory were busy busting Britney routines in their bedrooms, Zarif was listening to the controlled phrasing of Lauryn Hill and the melodies of her triumvirate of favourite artsists, ever. Prince, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. ‘I have just never understood why people don’t think pop stars should have personality,’ she says. ‘You knew exactly who those artists were from the opening bars of their songs. They inspire me in completely original ways. I never wanted to be part of a tried and tested formula. I wanted to do my own thing.’
Zarif’s deliberate decision to go the bespoke route and her declaration of independence comes preceded by something of a burnt-fingers scenario. Signed to Sony records just out of university, after winding her way circuitously to a science degree whilst playing in esteemed local North London funk outfits, and still only 24, she has been on the verge of major success once before. ‘Being at a major was a mixed blessing,’ she reminisces now, ‘I got to work with some phenomenal people and put together the album that I wanted to make. But...’ Personnel changes at the label whilst she was there meant that the record hung around, release dates fluctuating. Being part of a huge machine suddenly began to feel like it. The marketing schedules seemed to take up more time than thinking about the record itself. The phrase ‘couldn’t you be a bit more like...’ began being used. ‘There’s just a frustrating amount of people involved in the decision making.’ Now freed of her contract and with a tip top soul/pop album ready to launch, she has taken the independent route. ‘I am responsible for everything now,’ she says, temporarily invested with a metaphorical power-suit and shoulder pads. This is all sounding extremely promising from a woman who formed her first three-piece vocal harmony group whilst at the tender age of 11. ‘I like to think that we invented Destiny’s Child before they did,’ she quips now.
To continue the Destiny’s theme to Zarif’s career, one of the highlights of being at Sony was the gift of a support slot for Beyonce on her blockbusting arena tour of 2009. ‘Unbelievable,’ she remembers. ‘I’d bought tickets to the show for me and two of my backing singers and then I had to call them up and say ‘sorry, girls, I can’t make it. We’re actually opening up for her.’’ You can only imagine the look on the faces of the girls at hearing that. ‘Unbelievable,’ repeats Zarif. ‘We had the best time. I was approved by [Beyonce’s dad and manager] Matthew Knowles himself. Just the thought that he knows my name is enough for me.’
Unusually for pop girls with a major label history, it was on the live circuit that Zarif cut her teeth. As part of several funk outfits she has toured the ramshackle local gig circuit and knows exactly, as a direct result, how to wire a crowd. ‘It sounds like a cliché, but I really do feel most alive when I am on stage.’ The result of her hard work is a fresh, live feel to her recorded material. If there are mistakes on the final cut, she’s cool with that. ‘I was listening to a Stevie Wonder record the other day,’ she says, ‘and it actually slows down at one point, the tempo changes.’ To an ear schooled on the radio programming of the golden age of auto-tune, this sounded almost miraculous. ‘You just can’t believe they left it on the record, but those songs were meant to live. They weren’t made to make money.’ Festival dates have included Glastonbury, Bestival, Wireless, Global Gathering and Secret Garden.
If her live credentials are top-notch, then her recorded CV is looking mightily impressive too. She featured on the dubstep maestro Breakage’s Foundation LP and took on a dazzling solo on The Nextmen’s This Was Supposed to be The Future. Forthcoming guest spots include work on albums by Danny Byrd and Krafty Kuts and she has been remixed by the cream of dance music talent. Irrepresible Sheffield soundsmith Toddla T, Ms Dynamite 2-step cohort Sticky and Redlight have all offered services.
Box of Secrets is already sounding hit-packed. The signature song is a doo-wop stomp with a rocking saxophone line that traces her roaring vocals round the chorus. ‘I just wrote it to a drum loop.’ As a result, the song charges along at full throttle, before breaking down to a jazz-inflected middle 8 which she introduces with the immortal line ‘to the bridge, to the bridge.’ It’s clear that Zarif is working in a historical lineage of immaculately gifted soul singers but her youthful take on tradition is unmistakably 2010. The heartbreaking The Day The Music Left Me compares writers block to the end of a relationship and Zarif delivers it with the mature yearning of someone who has been there. If jazz and funk are in her veins, then there is a little place for rock in her heart, too. ‘It’s all pop music, really,’ she says, without a moment’s care for categories. ‘Pop shouldn’t be a dirty word. The mind-bending catchiness of Over and Let Me Back continue the theme of purging yourself of a broken heart through music but set the agenda to a gloriously uplifting, sunshine bounce. Zarif is not afraid to let rip vocally throughout.
Perhaps that’s why she was ‘too funky for the Queen.’ Can we flip back to that one for a second? ‘I was playing at Prince William’s 21st Birthday party,’ she says, cool as a cucumber. Seriously. In Buckingham Palace. ‘One of the people looking after the party looked through the set list and saw a Sly&The Family Stone song and Superstition and said ‘I think you may be too funky for the Queen.’’ She laughs at the memory. ‘So I had to learn two new songs in two hours. I saw her later by the loo and didn’t know what to do. So I just ran away. I did meet Prince William though, and I just sort of bumbled my way through it.’
If The Queen can take the funk and Cowell can handle the criticism, surely the time is right to embrace Zarif: the newest soul sister on the block.
When faced with an audience of Simon Cowell most aspiring pop stars practically faint. He radiates total, brutal pop power. It may come as some surprise then that when locked in debate with Mr C, backstage at a Louis Vuitton party at which she was playing, the one-name artist you must call Zarif found herself attacking his entire stranglehold on British pop culture. ‘He told me that I should come along and audition for The X Factor,’ she says now, breezily, if from the comfortable distance of it being after the fact, ‘And I told him that I didn’t like anything about the show or the way that it turned pop into a commodity.’
Come again? ‘And I told him that for an artist like me, it was absolutely the worst thing I could possibly do.’ Amazingly, Mr Cowell nodded sagely in agreement. ‘In that case, you are almost certainly right,’ he responded, before fondly and sincerely wishing Zarif luck with her impending pop plans. Zarif does not do things the way others do. She likes the feeling of being unique, both as an artist and a human being. And while she has u-turned slightly on her feelings for Britain’s favourite Saturday night entertainment show since (‘It’s just great TV’), she is resolute in finding her own way without any quick-fix solutions. Zarif is the future pop star who was once deemed – and this is a direct quote from Buckingham Palace – ‘possibly too funky for the Queen’. If the establishment wants her, then permission will be granted on her terms.
Outlandishly dressed, you might call Zarif’s look executive thrift with a touch of early Madonna. Her favourite source of clothing is her Iranian mother’s wardrobe, a needle and thread and her own imagination. Her hair hasn’t seen its own original shade in almost a decade. She says that if she wasn’t blessed with the vocal ability of a diva twice her age she would almost certainly be involved in fashion, in some way.
If she looks the part, then her music amplifies her pop star kudos to maximum capacity. The Zarif sound is a bespoke take on the tailored soul tradition that allows every eccentricity and kook of her character a place in the mix. She called her debut album Box of Secrets for a reason. While the rip and curl of her voice has a distinctively familiar feel, of the kind of vintage that sounds like it might well have been honed in the early 70s, her production and beats are straight from the future. In part it was the classic nature of her vocals that alerted premiere US R&B talent John Legend to her voice. He has already put in the request for a duet at the forthcoming MTV Tommy Hilfiger sessions.
The Secret is that it all works. While the other girls chasing pop glory were busy busting Britney routines in their bedrooms, Zarif was listening to the controlled phrasing of Lauryn Hill and the melodies of her triumvirate of favourite artsists, ever. Prince, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. ‘I have just never understood why people don’t think pop stars should have personality,’ she says. ‘You knew exactly who those artists were from the opening bars of their songs. They inspire me in completely original ways. I never wanted to be part of a tried and tested formula. I wanted to do my own thing.’
Zarif’s deliberate decision to go the bespoke route and her declaration of independence comes preceded by something of a burnt-fingers scenario. Signed to Sony records just out of university, after winding her way circuitously to a science degree whilst playing in esteemed local North London funk outfits, and still only 24, she has been on the verge of major success once before. ‘Being at a major was a mixed blessing,’ she reminisces now, ‘I got to work with some phenomenal people and put together the album that I wanted to make. But...’ Personnel changes at the label whilst she was there meant that the record hung around, release dates fluctuating. Being part of a huge machine suddenly began to feel like it. The marketing schedules seemed to take up more time than thinking about the record itself. The phrase ‘couldn’t you be a bit more like...’ began being used. ‘There’s just a frustrating amount of people involved in the decision making.’ Now freed of her contract and with a tip top soul/pop album ready to launch, she has taken the independent route. ‘I am responsible for everything now,’ she says, temporarily invested with a metaphorical power-suit and shoulder pads. This is all sounding extremely promising from a woman who formed her first three-piece vocal harmony group whilst at the tender age of 11. ‘I like to think that we invented Destiny’s Child before they did,’ she quips now.
To continue the Destiny’s theme to Zarif’s career, one of the highlights of being at Sony was the gift of a support slot for Beyonce on her blockbusting arena tour of 2009. ‘Unbelievable,’ she remembers. ‘I’d bought tickets to the show for me and two of my backing singers and then I had to call them up and say ‘sorry, girls, I can’t make it. We’re actually opening up for her.’’ You can only imagine the look on the faces of the girls at hearing that. ‘Unbelievable,’ repeats Zarif. ‘We had the best time. I was approved by [Beyonce’s dad and manager] Matthew Knowles himself. Just the thought that he knows my name is enough for me.’
Unusually for pop girls with a major label history, it was on the live circuit that Zarif cut her teeth. As part of several funk outfits she has toured the ramshackle local gig circuit and knows exactly, as a direct result, how to wire a crowd. ‘It sounds like a cliché, but I really do feel most alive when I am on stage.’ The result of her hard work is a fresh, live feel to her recorded material. If there are mistakes on the final cut, she’s cool with that. ‘I was listening to a Stevie Wonder record the other day,’ she says, ‘and it actually slows down at one point, the tempo changes.’ To an ear schooled on the radio programming of the golden age of auto-tune, this sounded almost miraculous. ‘You just can’t believe they left it on the record, but those songs were meant to live. They weren’t made to make money.’ Festival dates have included Glastonbury, Bestival, Wireless, Global Gathering and Secret Garden.
If her live credentials are top-notch, then her recorded CV is looking mightily impressive too. She featured on the dubstep maestro Breakage’s Foundation LP and took on a dazzling solo on The Nextmen’s This Was Supposed to be The Future. Forthcoming guest spots include work on albums by Danny Byrd and Krafty Kuts and she has been remixed by the cream of dance music talent. Irrepresible Sheffield soundsmith Toddla T, Ms Dynamite 2-step cohort Sticky and Redlight have all offered services.
Box of Secrets is already sounding hit-packed. The signature song is a doo-wop stomp with a rocking saxophone line that traces her roaring vocals round the chorus. ‘I just wrote it to a drum loop.’ As a result, the song charges along at full throttle, before breaking down to a jazz-inflected middle 8 which she introduces with the immortal line ‘to the bridge, to the bridge.’ It’s clear that Zarif is working in a historical lineage of immaculately gifted soul singers but her youthful take on tradition is unmistakably 2010. The heartbreaking The Day The Music Left Me compares writers block to the end of a relationship and Zarif delivers it with the mature yearning of someone who has been there. If jazz and funk are in her veins, then there is a little place for rock in her heart, too. ‘It’s all pop music, really,’ she says, without a moment’s care for categories. ‘Pop shouldn’t be a dirty word. The mind-bending catchiness of Over and Let Me Back continue the theme of purging yourself of a broken heart through music but set the agenda to a gloriously uplifting, sunshine bounce. Zarif is not afraid to let rip vocally throughout.
Perhaps that’s why she was ‘too funky for the Queen.’ Can we flip back to that one for a second? ‘I was playing at Prince William’s 21st Birthday party,’ she says, cool as a cucumber. Seriously. In Buckingham Palace. ‘One of the people looking after the party looked through the set list and saw a Sly&The Family Stone song and Superstition and said ‘I think you may be too funky for the Queen.’’ She laughs at the memory. ‘So I had to learn two new songs in two hours. I saw her later by the loo and didn’t know what to do. So I just ran away. I did meet Prince William though, and I just sort of bumbled my way through it.’
If The Queen can take the funk and Cowell can handle the criticism, surely the time is right to embrace Zarif: the newest soul sister on the block.
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10 of 1932Morecheck out http://lnk.ms/LmLdn for my music and follow me on twitter http://lnk.ms/KpPzq I follow you back
http://ladygagametro.com/us/view/r9/Why_were_you_born_this_way
Hey everyone! Could you please go onto this link and click "like" its for my friend who is in a competition to meet Lady Gaga and become a guest editor for The Metro... We need people to click "Like" on this link! Thank you so much!!! :D
Thanx for your comment! Hope you enjoy our tunes!! We are planning the "UPON THESE ASHES TOUR 2011" and we are lookin' for gigs! If interested in booking us write at thrash@irreverence.it
Ricky
www.irreverence.it
im also get excited of ur next single, ill support and i hope its coming into the charts :D.. we need more soul from a beautiful female artists :D
Thank you, I appreciate that :)
Hey Zarif :)
Just wanted to say thank you for the pictures you signed for Parissa and I!! She loved it, apparently the best Birthday present ever :)
Xx
hi)
no worries :) i don't know what kind of music you like but feel free to give my stuff a listen! x
hi )))thank u kiss))
Thank you :)
Thats good, sometimes to chill and/or writing is good for the soul,
Im creating otherwise some sounds :D ..*give u hug* Happy Valentines Day!