ZOLA JESUS
Electronic Goddess, Genre-Bending Visionary
Zola Jesus is a little diva, a little goth, and very badass.
Born Nika Rosa Danilova, the fiery creator who would later become known as Zola Jesus, grew up in the Midwest. She invented her stage name while in high school –– a mashup of monikers of the French novelist, playwright Émile Zola, and the Christian Messiah. Danilova hoped the strange and vaguely sacrilegious title would scare her classmates away. It probably worked.
Danilova began writing and recording music while studying philosophy and French at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and its main campus in Madison. She used a keyboard, drum machine, and more to create music from home. Her sound is individualist and genre-less, and Danilova has cited a range of artists from Joy Division to Mariah Carey as inspirations.
During her second year of college, Danilova released her first two singles through the indie label Sacred Bones. Soon after came her debut album, The Spoils. It was all uphill from there.
In the following years, Danilova graduated from college and recruited a few other musicians to tour with her. She supported Swedish star Fever Ray during a slate of shows in Europe and also toured with the electro pop icons The xx. In 2010, she performed at SXSW.
From then on, Danilova was a staple of indie electronic and related genres. She’s done her fair share of genre-bending, and in 2010 collaborated with another essential electronic band, M83. Regular album releases and collaborations have made her a constant groundbreaking figure in her field.
More recently, Danilova released her fifth album, Okovi, in 2017. It was widely praised as some of Danilova’s best work. After moving from Los Angeles back to Wisconsin and dealing with depression, she composed much of it. The record paints an intimate portrait of hardship through a collection of searing goth-pop tracks. Interestingly, it was Danilova’s first album to feature a guitar.
Danilova has been relatively quiet since the release of Okovi, but in 2020, she made a return. In June, Zola Jesus released a live album recorded in the Netherlands during a 2018 concert. We might be speculating, but we think that might indicate there’s new music to come.
