LAZY AND IMPROPER, DOING AS SHE PLEASES — AN INTERVIEW W/ IZZA GARA
I’m welcomed into Izza’s home in South Stockholm, where she lives with her childhood best friend. I’m late, but relieved when I’m met by Izza, whose left hand is on the door handle and whose right hand is filled with a bunch of hair on top of her head. She thanks me for being late because she is, in fact, also late. We both sigh in relief and talked about how it’s disrespectful to arrive at the exact time you’ve agreed to meet, or, God forbid, earlier. She offers me a selection of tea (I pick peppermint) and gives me a tour of her home, decorated with books, candles, and her own paintings. Long after our tea has seeped into a dark yellowish colour, remaining ice-cold at the bottom of the cup, we’ve discussed far more than what we’re here to talk about. I contacted Izza to discuss her latest EP, Young because I can’t stop listening to it. It’s new age, relatable, and feels sort of like the songs that play in the background of a dream. It relies on a bold bassline, dry drums and lightly toe-flirts with pop and jungle (one foot each). Her vocals are inspired by neo-R’n’B as a whole and carry the other instruments to another level with smooth contrasts. I originally looked for answers to my questions surrounding the theme of the EP. Is it a commentary on youth? Does it showcase the coming-of-age process or deny its existence? I did not know that I would have more questions than answers at the end of our meeting.
Izza’s demeanour is homely and calm, and it feels like we’ve known each other for ages. I first met her when she played on the Dialekt stage at Malmöfestivalen, a festival I was working at last summer. She looked so comfortable on stage, as if she was born on it, knew it on a first-name basis, and had built a little house for herself several feet above everyone’s heads. She moved across the stage, wherever her feet took her, as naturally as one would move through their own bedroom late at night when no one is watching. It caught the attention of the whole room I’m sure, because by her second song people of all ages were moving, all doe-eyed and smiley-faced, entranced not only by her voice and music but by the mere opportunity of being invited to her party. In between songs, she talked to the crowd and assured us that her voice didn’t only produce tones that thrive in the highest levels, but also conversations between friends.
Izza’s story and artistry don’t start with music. Her journey takes turns, back steps, and leaps, finally ending where we are today. She was born and raised in Gothenburg to a Turkish mother and Swedish father. Before becoming a musician, dance was how she spent most of her days. She studied dance in London, New York City, and Los Angeles and reminisced fondly about her experience in the dance industry. She explains that it was through dance that she found community in music: “I feel like it helped me a lot because I’ve been exposed to music within dance culture and not just commercially. And I’ve luckily been informed on where it comes from and how it grows into what it is. I’m thankful for the dance experience that I’ve had and that I’ve grown up in a community where the history has been very important because it’s very commercial nowadays.”
Izza kept dancing for years, but despite her interest and later career in dance, it slowly became evident that it wasn’t the only art form she wanted to dedicate her time to. Izza has always kept music close to her heart. “I’ve always been a fan of music and I started to play the viola when I was 6 years old. I played for six years and then I played a little bit of guitar, but I’ve always loved to sing and write, ever since I was a kid.” Working as a dancer, in 2017 she began to feel dissatisfied with expressing herself fully through dance. That was when she started to take music more seriously. “I started to take singing lessons because I was bored and dancing just wasn’t… giving. So that’s when I started to write music because I needed to express myself through another art form because I didn’t get everything I needed from dance.”
From here on out, things start to take form pretty quickly. She began writing songs and released her first music project, Lonely, too? in 2021. LT? is an EP containing seven stripped-down songs heavily focused on vocals and a generally more acoustic sound. When asked how she reflects on LT? she simply replies, “Aw, cute.” She continues, “I released LT? before I started school, and those were like the first songs I wrote. I took the songs to some producers, but I wasn’t happy with the outcome of the production, which is why it’s almost acoustic. I had a vision but I wasn’t able to explain how I wanted it to sound because I didn’t have that vocabulary back then.” Despite LT? being more stripped-down than what Izza would’ve liked it to be, the inevitable focus on her vocals throughout the album feels more like an accidentally honest introduction to the world. It’s relatable because it’s the first time you try something and it turns out clumsier than you intended. But it’s also its rawness that makes other people connect to it. It’s part of the process. Izza says she would like to reproduce it someday, now that she produces herself.
Izza Gara and Tor Wilén at Tukio, Stockholm 2024.
Soon after the release of LT? Izza’s journey took a second leap when she enrolled in the music school Musikmakarna. “I don’t regret releasing LT? because I don’t think I would’ve made it to the school if I hadn’t done it.” Musikmakarna is an accredited music school that hosts some of the present and future’s strongest players in the Swedish music industry. What’s most attractive to many students, however, isn’t actually what they’re taught; oftentimes, students have already developed a sound and some technical talent. What’s enticing about the school is that it’s located in a place with few distractions. The school can be found in a small town named Örnsköldsvik with fewer than 35,000 residents in the north of Sweden. Here, students get to live cheaply, have access to their very own studio, and meet and collaborate with other musicians. “It was dark as fuck, it was cold as fuck, and we only had each other. I was surrounded by a lot of creative people. We helped each other and I got the vocabulary and the basic understanding of production. I had the time to experiment, and I was isolated, and that was great for a year. I think if I had stayed longer, I would’ve gone crazy; no sunshine, bad food, cold, you know.”
It was during her time at Musikmakarna that Izza began producing music herself, and she says that once she started, she became somewhat obsessed. The technical growth is showcased in Izza’s second EP, Young, released in 2023. Musikmakarna is also where she met her co-producer, guitarist, and close friend, Tor Wilén, who produces or co-writes four tracks on Young, as well as her latest single, “Winner,” released in May 2024. Tor also accompanies Izza at her live shows and was on guitar when I saw her play for the first time last summer. At that time, she had just released Young.
Izza thinks a lot about youth. She refuses to tell her age, a move she believes is necessary for a woman in the music industry. She was once told by a label that they would never sign a woman around 30 because they believed that at that point in a woman’s life, she is naturally more inclined to give up her career to raise children. She was told by another label that they almost exclusively sign 16 or 17-year-olds. The music industry is plagued by an obsession with female youth (or teenage girls) so she reflects on what youth means. Is it good or is it bad? Who is the perpetrator? Who is the victim? When asked about the inspiration for Young, Izza looks back on a time when these questions were at the focal point of her inner thoughts. Izza explains that the inspiration for the project came to her when she was travelling back home from school.
“I think I was on a 12-hour train from Örnsköldsvik to Gothenburg. I had time to think and started thinking about these past few years because I’ve been thinking a lot about growing up. Because I’m in my mid-20s, I have a lot of stressors and feel like now is the time that you have a lot of pressure on you, but you still don’t know who you are exactly, and you haven’t settled down, but you’re still a grown-up, so you have those expectations from family and friends.” She continues, “I’ve also come to understand that grown-ups don’t know shit. People don’t know shit. When I was a kid, I always had so much respect for my elders, and whatever older people said, I believed them. But they’ve used me sometimes. I’ve felt used in ways which made me feel stupid and also angry. I’ve come to accept some things, and other things I haven’t.” Izza also finds a sort of comfort with not making too much noise that grows parallel with age. The older you get, the more tired you become and the more you begin to project onto others what has been projected onto you. In this case, being improper is not a choice as much as it is the only choice. She repeats the lyrics to the track which shares the same title as the project, “So yeah, I’d rather be young,” she continues. “I’d rather be young and challenge the way I think and not hold onto what’s wrong just because it’s comfortable.”
The introductory track to Young, "Ten Feet Apart," is about a friend who passed away by suicide in 2021. The original plan was to scratch it off the record. “I wrote it kind of fast. I wrote it in a room with a guy I have never met before.” It’s still hard for Izza to play the track live. “She dealt with drugs, and yeah, there were a lot of years that were tough actually.” As you listen through the following tracks, it becomes evident that this record isn’t just about youth. All the stories on Young are about relationships. The relationships to who doesn't matter as much as the fact that all tracks can be read as letters to family, friends, lost ones, new ones, lovers, and sometimes oneself. "You’ve Done" is about being treated unfairly in a relationship and realising that you’re worth better. “Came To Dance” encapsulates the feeling you share with your best friends getting ready to go to the club. "Water" is the aftermath of leaving a bad situationship; it represents the feeling of leaving a really bad situation. The relief of weight lifting off of your shoulders, just like water takes the form of gas and evaporates into nothing. It’s a story about breaking free.
Izza speaks about an obsession with youth, but Young is truly a piece for and about relationships and how we as humans interact. It’s how our stories intertwine with each other and ultimately become so alike that we might as well be the same. It’s about the relationships we have in our youth. The bad fights with situationships you never should have had from the beginning, the desperation felt when throwing a bottle of nail polish down the stairs, and the frustration that overpowers the nervous system when it breaks and explodes everywhere. It’s about best friends gathering in a room in a foreign city before a night out. It’s about losing your loved ones and being forced to not only find light somewhere but experience it too.
Izza’s journey from dancer to musician is a testament to her pursuit of self-expression and authenticity. Since the release of Young, Izza has released two more singles. In autumn 2024, Izza plans on releasing her third EP since her debut just three years ago. Each release thus far has meant a new sound narrating the exploration of a lived, relatable experience, oftentimes a reflection on the complexities of growing up and the intricacies of human relationships. Through her music, Izza invites us into her world, sharing both her vulnerabilities and strengths, showcasing them in the same way as they are felt. The more you discover in Izza’s songs, the more is revealed and I can’t wait for the future to be just as adventurous as the past.
Photography by Julia Sixtensson @guldkatt
