Multi-talented singer, songwriter, and producer Zuloh has recently released his newest single “Feel That Way” out now for streaming on all platforms. This young electronic music act is making a name for himself in several facets of the music industry, with a promising career ahead of him as an industry professional and recording artist.
“Feel That Way” is a raw, emotional track that breaks boundaries in the electronic music world. The harshly vulnerable song features powerful synths and orchestral harmonies in the detailed production layers. The track is then crowned with stunning vocal melodies that bring the track to its polished state.
The fast production process was a new experience for Zuloh, proving the song’s particularly noteworthy qualities. He originally wrote the song back in February of 2022, and after playing it for friends and collaborators and receiving all of the positive feedback, he knew that the song had to be put out.
“The emotional nature of the song and the switch-up style of its drop led the people I played it for to really love it, and it quickly became one of my favorite demos that I knew had to come out.”
Jordan Rosen is a New York rooted artist now based in Los Angeles. Growing up, he often attended music festivals and live performances, contributing to his extremely inclusive and well-rounded musical upbringing. Jordan has developed quite the eclectic music taste, which has undoubtedly contributed to his striking sound as an artist.
Taking inspiration from genre defining artists such as ODESZA, Louis the Child, and
Robotaki when writing “Feel That Way”, in addition to all-time favorites Flume, aldn, and Ramzoid, Jordan brought forth a plethora of influences with an innovative approach while still maintaining a high level of individuality within his artistry.
Jordan’s sound is a euphoric cross between laid back pop and ethereal electronic dance music. At just 18 years old, Jordan holds a level of personal and musical maturity that is far beyond his years. His music breaks boundaries, and Jordan is unafraid to challenge himself and his audience by creating art that steps outside both societal and internal comfort zones.
This motivated creative wears many hats within the music business, taking on several roles for his professional endeavors in order to be as involved as possible in an industry that he is so deeply passionate about pursuing. In addition to being a singer-songwriter and producer, Jordan also founded the music blog The Alien Dynamic, where he works to give artists who he admires a platform to promote their art. Jordan is also incredibly talented when it comes to visual art. He is extremely experienced in graphic design, having produced album art and promotional projects for his own music and other artists. Due to his contrasting experiences, he has quite the broad outlook on the industry, providing him with a well-rounded perspective on the entertainment business.
We were recently able to sit down with Jordan to speak about his artistic background, artistic goals, and the release of his new single "Feel That Way". Scroll down to read the full interview!
This must be a really exciting time for you with the release, walk me through what's going through your head at the moment now that the song is finally out?
“It's kind of like a jolt of energy, because you realize that you put all this time into it and it's for people to listen to now so you can't touch it anymore. I've been getting all that positive reaction from it on social media, and having people say that they're playing it for friends, and the friends are liking it. That interaction makes it so worthwhile to put out the music, and that's the best of it all. So that's really what the release date is about for me.”
Has the process of releasing the song gone as you expected? Is it similar to your experience with past releases?
“Honestly, no. Because I think this time I put a lot of effort into making personal connections with people, and just kind of taking this one a lot more seriously in the pregame stage, rather than the postgame. I've been trying to get playlisted, and I've really pushed the pre saves, so I think there was actually a lot more hype around this one, which was really awesome to see. It really paid off because people knew there was music coming, which is always a great feeling.”
Have you been sitting on this project for a while before the release?
“Yeah! I actually started it in February of this year, and then the song was made really, really quickly. It was practically at the state that it's at right now when it was still wintertime. I would play it around when friends asked to hear demos, because it was so finished and polished. When this summer hit, I was like, ‘this has to come out’, so I mixed on the vocals, and when people heard it, they were like, ‘where's this song?’ So now that it's out, people are really excited and it's being described as summer drive music.”
You’ve mentioned that this song was written in a much more organic way than ever before. Was there a specific moment or experience that made you sit down to write “Feel That Way”?
“I don't think any specific moment really sparked it. But once I heard the piano progression and top melody that I wrote, I was like, ‘I have to build this out.’ From there, it only took a couple hours, but I couldn't leave my desk and I was working on it straight through until the wee hours of the night just working on it. Getting that far in one session was a really new experience. For every one good demo, there's like 12 that were just kind of dead on the scene with an eight bar loop that I couldn't write anything over. The right song has to pique your interest right through, and you will know it when it's there.”
"For every one good demo, there's like 12 that were just kind of dead on the scene with an eight bar loop that I couldn't write anything over. The right song has to pique your interest right through, and you will know it when it's there.”
I know that the process of creating this song was extremely fast, would you say that is what usually happens when you make music?
“No, it was definitely unique. I come from a production background rather than a singing and songwriting background. So when I’m writing, I will finish out the production and then worry about the vocal melody, which is how this one went. However, I've recently kind of flipped it on its head. This summer, I've been starting with a very raw track, then writing a whole song on it, and then doing the production around the songwriting. In the past, production has been a very long and drawn out process that takes months before I can add something on top. I keep tweaking things and I’m often a perfectionist, which is something else I have to drop. But more recently, it's been about creating a song, and then not not adding overbearing production elements on top of the song, but rather keeping it raw and emotional. The new music coming up has that fast songwriting, similar to ‘Feel That Way’, but in a completely different way. These songs are being written, and since the song is already there in front of me, the production comes really quick. So it's like, it was like a long road to get back to where it is. I’m now at a place where the songwriting can happen at a fast pace, because it's happening without any boundaries.”
Your last single release “Lost and Found” featured your own vocals on the track. You mentioned that you have more of a production based background, but is placing your own voice on songs something you hope to continue doing in the future?
“Yeah, absolutely. I'm still going to be open to working with other vocalists and artists, because collaboration is such a key part of music. But for the foreseeable future, it's gonna be my own voice, lyricism, and my own vocal melody writing, which is really, really exciting. The feedback that I got on ‘Lost and Found’ was incredible. I've written vocal melodies for other singers, but hearing people sing your vocal melodies when it's your voice, and knowing your lyrics that you wrote is a whole other level of special that I didn't really have before then. It's also another way to creatively express yourself, so I think it's really important to keep doing that, and I think it is something I'm going to continue in the future.”
If you had to describe “Feel That Way” to someone who has never heard the song before in three words, what would they be?
“Organic, ethereal, and punchy."
Would you say that you identify with a certain style of music? Or do you think you're more fluent and ever-changing with your sound?
“I definitely see myself changing around in genres and trying to find my own place. I think it all has an underlying sense of unity in the production, percussion style, and just the way that I put together the songs, but I tend to describe it almost as organic electronic music. I've heard a couple other artists describe their music as this, and it feels much more raw and organic than other styles of electronic music, where there’s a lot more rough synths and stuff like that. So if there were to be one underlying or umbrella genre that I'm identifying with, I guess organic electronic music would be a really cool way to describe that.”
How do you think you have evolved as a musician over the last few years since your debut release?
“It's been two years, so I hope that the technical aspects have gotten better. Besides the mixing and mastering getting better, the songwriting itself is much more standard, and it's easy to follow along with and get drawn into. In my first release, which was ‘Mirror’ , I was more experimental with different sounds. I think that with every release, I keep reining in a little bit into more digestible, segmented music, where it carries in emotion with much more weight. As I evolve, I want to keep adding weight to the songs.”
You take on many different roles in the music industry, including being the founder of music blog Alien Dynamic. Can you talk a little bit about your background and interest in music journalism?
“I've been fascinated with the music industry since I was a little kid. I used to volunteer at concerts and shows with this one organization called Love Hope Strength, and from there, it blossomed into this love of the industry. Every passion or hobby that I had ended up having has found itself right back to music. I started doing graphic design a couple years ago, and I ended up doing cover art for friends and freelance work for other people within the music industry. With music journalism, it was a really natural way to spread that love of music and break new artists that I love by featuring them. I'm with Alien Dynamic, and in the next couple of months I’m hoping to blossom into a whole company where we can start throwing shows and have showcases and stuff like that to break these artists.”
You are also extremely talented in visual art, is that something you hope to do as a career in the future as well?
“Yeah, absolutely. I really want Zuloh to be an audio visual project. Some of my favorite artists have this entire visual aspect of their projects. People like Flume wouldn't be Flume without Jonathan Zawada's graphic design, and it's so intertwined that you can't remove one from the other. Still Woozy for instance, has album art that is really tied into the music, and it adds to the experience. That's definitely something I want to keep with. I want to showcase the art behind the songs with the music instead of on top of it.”
You are going to college for music at USC this upcoming semester. I’d love to get some of your insight on what role a college education plays in an industry heavily based on networking and experience.
“I view it as a set of connections you can gain and an experience where you're constantly bonding with all these other people that have aspirations and goals that align with yours. It's about finding the people that you can take off and climb with. A lot of times, if you didn't get anything like that towards the end of high school, or whatever you had going on before college, it's an invaluable experience to be able to form all these connections and form a community around yourself where you're all ambitious and trying to accomplish something. That's what is really special.”
Do you come from a musical household? Was music and performing something that was encouraged of you as a child?
“My dad actually was a keyboardist for most of his life, and his dad was a musician as well. Also my uncle on my mom's side was a musician, so I definitely had a musical family on both sides. It was definitely encouraged growing up. I took drum and piano lessons, and I ended up playing saxophone in school from fourth grade until high school. All of those different aspects influenced my writing ability and stuff like that. Being surrounded by music is always good for writing music.”
What kind of music was playing in your house growing up that might have impacted your style now?
“Funny enough, in the younger years, there was a lot of punk and rock music, so definitely not like this electronic music that I'm making now. I think it was a lot more going to like shows and festivals growing up that influenced me, because I had an older brother that was going and parents that would allow me to go along to these crazy festivals at such a young age. That's really where I first found the electronic music that I'm listening to now, and it's really where I gained my appreciation for the industry. I think going out and seeing shows growing up was hugely fundamental in everything that I'm doing now.”
If you could take credit for any existing album, what would it be?
“Skin by Flume, easily. It's just a masterpiece. Everything about it with the visuals and production. It's an amazing album.”
What are your goals? Where do you see yourself and your career going in the next few years?
“Within the next year or so, I'm definitely going to do a lot more shows. I've played a couple of DJ sets now, so I'll have that under my belt, but just working on a live show. So I guess the five year plan includes having a really involved live show with lighting setups and visuals to really lean into that audio visual idea. But within the next year I wanna do lots of shows and put out a lot of new music that has more weight to it. I wanna keep adding to the heaviness of the music to get more depth.”
Click HERE to stream "Feel That Way" out now for streaming on all platforms.
Make sure to follow Jordan on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to keep updated with all of his upcoming projects.