UPDATE 10/7:
"Last Love Song" is a powerful ballad written by bluesy singer-songwriter ZZ Ward and produced by Brent Kutzle and Ryan Tedder from the group OneRepublic. The song is a farewell note to a past lover. On working with Kutzle and Tedder, ZZ says, "I was so honored to have Ryan and Brent produce 'Last Love Song.' For being such a monstrous artist and producer with so much success I was amazed at his ability to support the song rather then change it. It takes a true genius to be able to produce a song in a style that is not your own. Ryan is one of the most incredible talents of our generation." The song combines beautiful, poetic lyrics with an emotional melody that shows you a softer side of ZZ Ward. Says Brent Kutzle from OneRepublic. I think that says it all. "ZZ Ward is the type of singer that you want to keep hearing.' Last Love Song' is a classic and it was a great experience being able to produce this song with Ryan. Her lyrics are just insane." ZZ Ward's debut album 'drops' on October 16.
You can stream the song below and pre-order ZZ's debut album Til the Casket Drops: http://smarturl.it/zziTunesa1.
The original article follows below.
I don't always listen to the radio but when I do, I usually hear the same five songs. I know the radio strives to play music that will get them listeners, but whatever happened to the best 'variety'? I do not think it's unfair to say that most of today's most popular music all sounds the same, because it does.
I'm from the Discman generation. Growing up, I loved buying CDs. CDs were so much better than tapes and there was something about buying a new CD that made you feel grown-up. Life as a CD buyer wasn't all lollipops and rainbows though. The plight of buying a CD was that if you only liked two or three songs on the CD, you were stuck. CDs made the radio special. When you heard your favorite song on the radio, it was a great a moment in your car ride.
The invention of iTunes and the iPod solved this problem, now it was easy to only purchase the songs you liked off an album instead of buying the whole thing! How convenient for everyone. The trouble was that the 'everyone' includes younger kids. With iTunes, it's the younger kids who really help to decide what is popular and thus, what gets played on the radio. This is why we hear the same five songs on every station. My entire life I've always heard about how bands like The Beatles revolutionized the music industry back in the 1960s. These days, it seems difficult to try to 'revolutionize' anything (especially music) because people will just call you a poser, say you are following a trend, and tear you down all over the Internet. This is why we have the popular artists we do and why everything sounds the same on the radio; people are scared to make original music. The music industry desperately needs someone to stir things up and make the radio worth listening to again. We need an original sound.
Enter ZZ Ward. Zsuzsanna Ward was born in Abington, PA and raised in Roseburg, OR where she joined her first band when she was only 12 years old. I discovered her after watching a promo for the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars in which her song "Til the Casket Drops" played. I was blown away with the cryptic lyrics and insanely beautiful melody. I instantly went to iTunes and downloaded it and found her EP Criminal was available too. It took me about five minutes to fall in love with her voice.
Four months later, I have seen ZZ in concert twice and watched countless performances and interviews of her on YouTube. She sounds as good (if not better) live as she does recorded, that alone should be reason enough to check her music out. One of the things that I admire the most about ZZ Ward is how every song of hers is unique, yet relatable. Her ballad "Last Love Song" is about letting go of a past lover, and "365 Days" tells the story of man leading his lady on and not giving her any kind of concrete answer. Some of my other favorite songs of hers include "If I Could Be Her" and "Put the Gun Down." The latter is about a relationship that is falling apart, predominantly because of another woman. I suggest YouTubing it, you won't be sorry.
I feel like I've painted this picture for you of ZZ Ward as an artist who sings mostly about boys and relationships. There is some truth to that, but who says that's a bad thing? What sets Z apart is her sound. With a voice like Adele and a classic (yet edgy) style, Z is about to take the music world by storm with bluesy, hip-hop tunes. She also seems like the coolest person ever and an artist who genuinely cares about her craft and her fans. In a recent interview, ZZ said the most important thing for is to connect with people through her music, and she definitely succeeds in doing just that. I have not felt this connected to a musical artist since Taylor Swift. Look for ZZ Ward's debut album Til the Casket Drops 'dropping' on October 16th.