The Raleigh singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist AŹUL has gained notice in the Triangle and beyond for her delicate yet powerful tunes infused with poppy melodies, pristine vocals and empowering themes.
But when it came time to decide whether to market herself as a queer artist who is also an immigrant, "I don't think it was a hard choice," AŹUL, who also also goes by Aźul Zapata, said during a recent phone interview. "It's a no-brainer for me. If anyone has a problem with it, they probably shouldn't be at my show."
On Saturday, June 22, AŹUL will perform in Wilmington at the Castle Street listening room Live at Ted's with her friend and guitarist Emily Musolino, who will also play a solo set. It will be Zapta's third show in Wilmington since playing at Ted's last year. She also played in Wilmington in April for the Alt-Zalea Festival in downtown's Brooklyn neighborhood.
Expanding on her choice to identify as a queer artist in a front-facing way, Zapata said that "there's been so many situations when I'm going to a festival or I'm playing a new venue and, you know, the lineup is very straight. But because my bio always says queer, I always get people coming up to my merch (table) saying, 'I've come to this festival for years and you're the first person that has ever put queer in their bio and I feel so much more connected to the to the event now.' … If I put myself out there, maybe that acts as a shield for other people to feel comfortable around me and to know that, if I'm there, it's hopefully a safer space."
Zapata was born in Argentina and lived there until she was 3, when she moved to the United States with her parents.
"I wasn't necessarily a quiet child. I loved to sing and love to make music. My parents always had music in their house. My dad plays guitar and I would always sing with him," she said, "so a lot of Latin rock, a lot of Argentinian folk music."
Eventually, however, she graviated toward pop.
"I'm a big fan of 'big' music," Zapata said. "My first love is Whitney Houston."
And even though she was only 5 at the time, "I like to say that 1997 was a big year for me. Celine Dion came out with her 'Let's Talk About Love' album."
It's also the year her younger brother was born. He's now a professional musician.
"We were each other's competition for attention," Zapata said. "We pushed each other a lot and we also kind of nurtured each other. Anything that I learned I would teach him, and now he teaches me."
When she started writing her own music many of her songs had a naturally poppy vibe, but her Latin background "comes out a lot more in my rhythms," she said. "None of the stuff that I write is straightforward. I like to change the rhythm and I think very rhythmically."
Her lyrics are mostly in English but she also writes in her first language, Spanish, like on the song "Brujas" from her 2021 EP "The View From Here."
For her next single, due out July 18, AŹUL is staying with a poppy vibe, albeit a more retro one: disco.
Titled "Disco Never Died," "I wanted to add to the legacy while also paying direct homage to it," Zapata said.
"I have such a connection to disco. If you really listen to the words of a lot of famous disco songs, they're really sad," she added. "They were written and embodied and pushed forward by people that were experiencing so much pain in their everyday existence. But they sped it up and they had a great time and they built this culture around dancing and joy.
"During the pandemic I needed something that I could hold on to because I wasn't able to go out and be with my community. So I started listening to a lot of disco. And it kept me going."
For "Disco Never Died" she wanted an authentic sound, so recording was done on analog equipment, and she and co-producer Alex Thompson even recorded live string and horn arrangements. In addition, she wanted every person playing on the record to be either a woman, a person of color or queer, a nod to disco's history — not to mention what some have pointed to as the reason for the arguably bigoted "disco sucks" backlash of the late 1970s.
"To me, that type of behavior only happens when there's something true and beautiful and bright that people don't understand," Zapata said. "They can't bring themselves to be a part of it, so they want to destroy it."
An overachieving graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Global Studies major and a double minor in Journalism and Hindi, Zapata said she didn't really consider becoming a professional musician until she got out of college.
"I tried to go into a nine to five and honestly just wasn't good at it," she said. "Wasn't built for it. And I realized that it wasn't making me happy. Now, I have several jobs while working at being a singer and making music and writing music. It's just the only thing that makes sense to me."
Want to go?
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 22
Where: Live at Ted's, 2 Castle St., Wilmington
Info: Tickets are $16.50. 910-769-6858.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Queer singer AZUL to bring pop hooks, Latin roots to Wilmington, NC
