Zach Palmer is going to be your new tender lover boy. I found singer/songwriter Zach Palmer on TikTok, and he became my new obsession. His soft voice is infused with such emotion that it feels like you’re being gently rocked. I was first introduced to Palmer from TikTok, I found a video of him singing his song, “I think I waited for you.” I fell in love with the song, with such specific lyrics that personified such honest emotions, how can you not?
His image comes off as a little mysterious and moody. He tends to favor the aesthetic of blurry black and white images. Yet, when in conversation, he was open and charming. Palmer was warm and welcoming and made any nerves I could have disappear. At the start of our conversation, we got to talking about his background, bonding over how he grew up on the east coast in Fairfield County in Connecticut, and then moved to Los Angeles, California when high school came around. While in high school, he studied jazz, taking early influences from Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sam Cooke. His music influences started to focus on more modern contemporary artists as he got older, proclaiming, “I am like the biggest Lana Del Rey fan, probably her out of anyone. She is my Jesus.”
Over time, we bonded over our love for boygenius and MUNA and how the two are able to blend yearning and upbeat anthems together as one. When the time came, I gushed to him about how much I adored the song “I think I waited for you.” We eventually got into how he especially enjoys writing about his personal life experiences and translating these situations into his lyrics.
“I feel like saying something so literal [in a song] that it’s kind of ugly in a way. I have a song that’s coming out soon where I talk about a friend who was having a mental health crisis, and she had a moment where she thought she was God, and I sort of said that. The lyric is ‘I have a friend who swore she was Jesus.’ Some reason being as visceral and literal as possible in writing is my favorite thing. Just because I think when you are so specific in your story, you get more people that come out of the woodwork.”
In his song “I think I waited for you,” I mentioned how his lyric “your mom calls me Zachy and I like that better, there’s magic in her rosaries kept to protect her” felt like it could be categorized into poetry in songwriting. It felt so personal. When I first listened to it, I felt as if it was a song about yearning–an unrequited love. Yet, the more I listened and really tuned into the lyrics, I realized how it’s also a love song. I asked him if he felt the same way while writing the song.
“That song just came out of me. My boyfriend was on tour, and I was alone in the apartment we lived in for three months, and one night it just vomited out of me basically. It was true – being away from someone and being in love. It’s kind of a love song and the absence of a love, love song.”
When it comes to songwriting, his approach is one that feels specific to him. “I will write down a word or phrase that I love, and I will ruminate on that for months at a time until I can finally use it in something. I will go through my notes again and find it. One lyric I did that for was ‘an early snow in November.’ If you’re from the East Coast, you will most likely get how magic it can be. It reminded me of kissing someone for the first time.” For reference, he did actually use that phrase in his song, “the seconds before,” with the lyric “maybe his lips taste just like an early snow in November”.
From there, we discussed how the LGTBQ+ community deserves more music that isn’t just House or EDM influenced, even though we both love those genres. Instead, we need more love songs about yearning and falling in love. Personally, I want to be romanced by other queer artists, and he agreed.
“I just spoke about this on my TikTok. I think the music industry pigeonholes queer artists into making these pride anthems, which I love, but there’s more to queer people’s stories than getting drunk and having fun. I like to make music that I would have craved as a child. Nothing was around when I was growing up in the 2000s that really spoke to me. I’ve been told before that people don’t want to listen to my stuff unless it was pop. I’m so tired of that.” I couldn’t agree more.
At Daybreak, we always give the chance for our emerging artists to spotlight other artists. Palmer was more than eager to list off names. “I have so many friends. One of my best friends, Casey Tutton, is incredible. I’ve written a lot of records with her. My friend Armida is incredible. Sara Phillips is awesome. Ghostryder is incredible too. They all give alt-pop vibes. I hope people aren’t like, ‘why didn’t you mention me after reading this?’”
Towards the end of all my Emerging Artists interviews, I have to ask what their go to coffee order is. Palmer loved the question. It was a new one for him. He said he’s been on a “nitro kick recently,” but he also loves a mint mojito coffee from Philz. At first I thought he was talking about an actual cocktail. What it is is muddled mint with sugar mixed with coffee and cream. I was unsure of how I felt about mixing my cocktails with my coffee, but Palmer was persuasive when he said it was really good. Not to sound too LA, but he would prefer a Philz over a Starbucks.
I truly enjoyed my conversation with Palmer. We got to connect in many different ways, and I think that it shows. His songwriting is poetic and with his voice, all of his songs feel like a dream. As a new artist with a smaller catalog, I was eager to know if there were more songs to come. He assured me that new music is on the way. In fact, he has a new single that’s slated to be released on August 11th titled, “The Cattle.” You can go to his TikTok and Instagram to get a little taste of what’s to come. Zach Palmer is going to make waves in the industry, just make sure you’re ready when it comes.
You can follow Zach Palmer @zachpalmer and listen to him on all streaming platforms.
julia falcone
yelling about something
daybreak 