Gina Zo was experiencing a massive amount of change in her life when her debut solo album first began to form. It was by no means the way she necessarily intended to write the album, but almost immediately embraced that this was how it was meant to be.
Moving to Los Angeles, making new friends and searching for love all became talking points on burn me into something better. Even though change may hurt at first, Zo learned that change is ultimately for the best.
“Change was inevitable for me, so naturally, it's what I ended up writing about,” she said.
She went into the creation of the album intending to be as authentic as possible. Starting as the frontwoman of a rock band, she took on a persona of someone who was not entirely true to herself. It was a persona she enjoyed, but it came to a point where she wanted to embrace her own individuality.
“I now felt that it was my time to create music that was who I was daily - a bubbly, complicated, goofy individual,” she said. “I think by being myself in the writing room and feeling so drawn to the people I work with, it came very naturally to me to be authentic. I didn't have to put myself in a box because I knew that what I was trying to accomplish wasn't anything I had done. I had no idea what to expect, so I wrote extremely creatively.”
Throughout the creation process of burn me into something better, she learned that she was capable of writing a hit. She is still learning about herself as a solo artist, but making this album gave her the confidence to keep learning.
“While I am still showing the world my music and it will take time to bring it to as many people as possible, I am confident that I have made music that has the ability to be loved by so many,” she said. “I am proud of myself because for a bit of time before I wrote this album I wasn't sure what my fate was, but I knew I wanted the Grammy and the world tour. I learned that when you trust your gut and turn inward, you can make massive strides in your dreams.”
She released four of those hits prior to the album release, including “Fuck Me Then Leave Me”. Originally titled “Take Me Down”, the song was introduced to her team to mixed reviews. The verses were an immediate hit, but the chorus lacked what the verses started. They spent hours trying to find the words before Zo left the writing session feeling frustrated and without a finished product. The next day, she took time before the session to sit alone at the piano. With a fresh new look at what was in front of her, a few ideas led to the final version of “Fuck Me Then Leave Me”.
An 11-track collection expressing change, transformation and finding one’s confidence is exactly what Gina Zo was meant to share as her first body of solo work. It’s an important lesson she learned while writing and recording burn me into something better, and hopes listeners take away the same: it's never too late to do the things you've always wanted to do.