UnPOPular by J Hacha De Zola

J Hacha De Zola on the “UnPOPular” EP:

“A few years ago, I covered an Ariana Grande tune, ‘Bad Decisions,’ as an experiment. It’s a dance-pop tune which I wanted to make sound like a J Hacha De Zola song. Ya know, make it sound ‘creepy and dark.’

Musically or lyrically speaking, that song is very different from what I do. It couldn’t be any more different and was quite challenging for me, especially vocally. Obviously Ariana Grande is an ultra-amazing vocalist - a real song bird - and then there’s me!

I had a lot of fun turning that song into a ‘Tom Waits-esq barroom roar’ as Cover Me put it. Fast forward almost three years later and I’ve decided to keep experimenting and pushing the boundaries of what I do by covering some more pop tunes. However, interestingly enough, this time things are a bit different.

During my Icaro Nouveau recording sessions, I recorded what I thought would be another one-off pop cover, ‘Writer In The Dark’ by Lorde. It has a dark, moody, and almost even slightly ‘dangerous’ feeling.

I have always admired Lorde’s songwriting prowess. There has always been something cynical and maybe even a bit dark about her songs and ‘Writer In The Dark’ is no different. I was able to really connect to the darker overtones of the lyrics. I could totally relate to that whole ‘scary love’ vibe.

The version on her album was pretty stripped down. I didn’t play with the tempo very much on my version, but wanted to make it a bit of a party when the listener least expected it. Adding some Cumbia vibes, Farfisa, and Saxophones picked things up a bit without taking away from the darkness of the song.

I was quite happy with this cover and put it under my hat for a bit, hoping for the right moment to release it. Suddenly, some new pop artists emerged with even more tunes that I felt like I could relate to.

A friend of mine passed this song along to me – ‘Bury A Friend’ by Billie Eilish – who I didn’t know about at the time. As he passed it along he said ‘You should do this song! This could be a legit J Hacha De Zola tune!’ When I finally put some ears to it, I couldn’t agree more.


Billie is truly making some moves that ya just don’t see very often for a pop star nowadays. This song is an exploration of the darker side of songwriting. The instruments on the original tune are electronic, so we decided to have a go at it and put my brand of creepiness on using some interesting folk instruments like a Kaval, Gadulka, and Banjo. Also that’s an Upright acoustic Bass thumping away on there! It almost feels like a strange Balkan Bluegrass folk-music type of thing. I hope folks will dig it.

Another tune that came to my attention is ‘Nightmare’ by Halsey. I try to stay ‘current’ on things, and I asked my friend’s little sister ‘Hey what are you listening to? What do the kids think is cool today?’ This kid gave me a laundry list of pop artists that she really liked and from this list, I found ‘Nightmare,’ another song which I could relate to. It is a song of coming into one's own power and owning up to what one is. It's about self -acceptance despite one’s imperfections. It is a song of liberation. I love it!

Production wise, we took the tune into a different direction. It’s got this strange mix of a Latin – 80’s Christopher Cross – ‘Kokomo’ thing going on complete with Bass Sax, Latin Piano, palm muted Guitars and Clarinets.

We had a lot of fun making this EP. I have developed a big admiration for all the artists I have covered over the last few years, especially these ladies! They are all incredible vocalists and performers. I can’t sing anywhere near as good as they do, so it was very challenging for me to even try to do what they do!

Why is the title of the record ‘UnPOPular’? Well, we had a lot of fun with these, trying to apply my own filter to these wildly popular and accessible songs, just to see if I could make them sound like J Hacha De Zola. In drawing out their own inherent ‘darkness’ or ‘creepiness,’ adding my style of croonin’, and applying ‘old timey’ sounds using instruments, I think in some ways maybe what I’ve done is take hits and made them LESS accessible!

“The kind of alluring character found in old children’s books.”

— UTNE

“A wild man in the vein of such fire breathing artists like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Captain Beefheart.”

— Paste

“A fantastic power that is as carnival-like and playful as it is possessed and cacophonic.”

— Atwood Magazine

Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
plus.google.com
SoundCloud