ZZ Ward – Mother (2024)
Originality, authenticity and innovation, ZZ Ward embodies these concepts bound with a raw passion for music. Inspired by her father’s record collection, Ward’s love of music ignited a flame in her heart and by the age of 12, she was performing blues music. The passion for blues remained a smouldering ember in her career; however, industry demands pressured her to delve into different genres as a young artist. Yet, the blues fire could not be contained with a blast of rebelliousness raging in her current work.
Already established as a prominent force on a national level, ZZ Ward turned heads internationally with her 2012 debut album Til The Casket Drops. Across critically acclaimed singles and albums, Ward has traipsed through various genres lilting to a sonic ebb and flow. While she explored genres from Americana, indie-rock, indie-pop and alternative rock, blues slivers through like a shimmering thread in the dark. Following the pop-tinged ‘Best Friends’ and hard rock ‘WTH Did I Do?’, ZZ Ward shifts entirely to roots blues fanning her flame for the style with ‘Mother’ – a personal anthem capturing the soul of the blues as she turns a corner in her life into motherhood.
Recorded and produced with Ryan Spraker, ‘Mother’ is a nostalgic drag to vintage blues of the 60s and 70s. Combining bold vocals with blues guitar, a backing piano and Ward’s inimitable vocals, ‘Mother’ is three minutes of toe-tapping, heart-breaking, spine-chilling music. For me, the elements that really “hit you in the face” is the searing guitar with gruff vocals; however, just as there is a rebellious brashness to the track, it is a confident embrace as you sway along to an all-encompassing, suffocating (but very good suffocating) spark of sound.
“I didn’t plan to write a blues song about motherhood, it just sort of happened naturally. I’ve always written to get through things in life. Suddenly, I was faced with a new joy that’s 24/7 with no breaks, and that’s what I wrote about… when you get tested, you discover who you are, and this song comes from a feeling of empowerment.” – ZZ Ward on ‘Mother’
In addition to the single, ZZ Ward released an official music video for ‘Mother’. You can view the video below or on her YouTube channel.
Find out more about ZZ Ward on her official website, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Spotify.
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