Zoe Ko: Club Kid, Hit Maker and All Around Knock Out

Zoe Ko is a rising alt-pop star redefining her sound with her upcoming EP, Not Ur Girlfriend. This new release marks a bold evolution, blending early 2000s pop influences with gritty rock to create a high-energy, fearless vibe. Each track embodies themes of independence, confidence, and self-exploration, reflecting Zoe’s personal and artistic growth.

With songs like "Furr" and "Lucky," Zoe channels playful defiance, while "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" turns a classic trope into a powerful statement. Her latest music embraces fun, club-ready beats and unapologetic storytelling, showcasing her as a dynamic and boundary-pushing artist.

As she prepares to drop Not Ur Girlfriend, Zoe is more expressive and daring than ever. In this interview, we explore the inspirations behind her latest work, the creative risks she’s taking, and what fans can expect from her exciting new era.

STRIKE:  So, before we get into the questions that I have lined up, I want you to just talk about yourself. What do you want me to know before I go ahead and ask? 

Zoe: I've been a full-time artist for a year and a half now without any other part time jobs. I'm from New York, so I was raised in Manhattan and Queens for basically all my childhood and into college. I'm half Chinese, a quarter Venezuelan, and a quarter German. I was an only child, so I was very independent, going through lots of trauma and stuff growing up and growing up in New York, I think with the stuff in my family, with being in New York, all of it kind of combined, really forced me to grow up fast or try and find who I am really fast and discover myself through, people and, parties and fashion and, music. I feel like all that kind of led me to who I am now and where, where my music is.

S: Can you talk a little bit about the aspects of your production style?

Z: Yeah, I've always been just super into the No Doubt sound and Gwen Stefani's solo sound where it's just kind of a little bit of a combination of 2000s pop with some punk edginess and grit to it and lots of guitar riffs everywhere, leading the charge. I'm really attracted to very dry production. I think that kind of comes from the rock love that I have, but then the indie sleaze love that I have and the music that I would hear dancing out in New York and things like that.

I unfortunately don't really play any of the instruments on the actual recordings, but I mainly work with my main collaborator, Johnny Shore and we just spent a whole year on this last project. We're just really trying to find that more unique blend of 2000s pop melodies, but then with this dance and rock edginess.

I always try to create a little bit of a story within the production and choose the sounds based on the lyrics and concepts I'm talking about and stuff. And so, in one of my songs the whole intro is a little the soundscape of the New York subway train that I like reverbed out in the beginning. We try to capture the feeling of going to school and amping yourself up on the subway.  Just trying to recreate little moments in life and try and create a little atmosphere in a lot of the songs is really a main aspect of production.

S: How do you see your music evolving in the upcoming years?

Z:  I think I really want to keep expanding on the sound of 2000s pop plus this rock and kind of like Indie Sleaze dance element, and I just want to have more fun with it. I think right now I'm just really wanting to have fun, be a little ridiculous, and to say things that I'm afraid to say and kind of just tap into whatever that means; just be a little crazier and messier with it.

S: What aspects of music creation do you find most challenging?

Z: Oh, man I feel like I'm always playing with the concept of like what I want to add to this world and what I want to say, and I get overwhelmed by it and I must journal about it or talk to a therapist or something. I feel like songs can either be a release of getting something out that I need to, or I'm excited to write a song, but then I'm plagued by the intensity of, knowing that I'm going to be saying something that's going into the world.

Being super intentional and like, wanting to just 100 percent enjoy every single lyric and every single decision within a song, that I think is the hardest process to finally be like, yes, I approve, and this is done, and it can go out.

S: What is the most rewarding aspect of music creation?

Z: Honestly, that first day in the session of like, just creating and, picking funny sounds and going through random improv melodies, that is still ultimately my favorite part. Especially when you just have a good session, and you land on this special thing at the end of it after like five six hours that will just never be beat to me. I truly got into it because of the love for just the actual music making process and I still think that is my favorite part.

S: What motivates you to write songs? 

Z: Honestly, I just talk about what I'm thinking or what I'm going through and for some reason, music has just always been there for me in my life, and something that I've gravitated towards.

I've just, like, never really thought about it, I just keep doing it and I still love it. So, my motivation is just that I absolutely adore music, and I feel like it's always going to be with me in my life. So, I just keep writing, because I have so much shit going on all the fucking time.

S: What song are you most proud of lyrically? 

Z: Oh, lyrically. Hmm. I usually would say, Furr, but I think lyrically maybe I'm, I don't know.

In a funny way, dirt for me. Because I think I just really said what I said what I meant and just went really hard with this metaphor and or said what I was thinking you know and they're very simple lyrics but I feel like are very effective and just kind of just risky for me to say anyway and those are my favorite I feel like the verses were just so fun, but said everything that I was thinking and everything I needed to say.

S: Looking to the future, what can we expect from this next step of yours? From these future songs?

Z: I feel like I was in a big shift and change in my life and I was single again and moved away from home and from my family and was financially independent. I was really trying to be this baddie who is just discovering herself in her early 20s and you know, that's kind of just an endless journey, but this project, for me, is just capturing the power within yourself and your feminine power and what it means to even be a woman in your twenties and in this world and trying to just have fun and let loose and coming to terms with all of that.

Hopefully the music is something you can relate to, sing to, at the top of your lungs in the shower, or in a club. And I think it ranges from a lot of confident bangers, but then very relatable things, and then, yeah messier parts of yourself. Is it going to change how you, like, what your sound is now?

S: Do you think your sound now is going to change like with this new EP coming out?

Z: It's shifted a bit and I'm always constantly shifting. I feel like but You know, a lot of the singles are out already on the project So I feel like people are ready and they know what's going on and they know it's coming and I’ve teased like not your girlfriend already and Yeah, so I feel like we're just, we've been growing to this part and this point, so everyone's I think ready.

S: Is there a difference between who you are as like, Zoe versus who, the industry sees you as?

Z: Yeah, I think so. I feel like Zoe Ko, the artist, even though it's my actual name, is like, just the bitch I've always wanted to be and the bitch that I always, like, strive to be, you know, she's a little less complicated, she'll kind of just do whatever the fuck she wants and doesn't care and doesn't maybe have as much anxiety, you know?

But, but yeah, so I feel like she's, Yeah, like, I feel like my ideal version of myself since, like, high school, and I slowly become more of that in my own life as I am Zoe Ko, which is so funny. I'm, like, constantly just catching up with her. 

S: How do you interact with your fans and how do you, like, want to interact with your fans in the future?

Z: Yeah, well, I just started like a discord this year and it's slowly growing and I want to like finally end up doing like Bi weekly or monthly events and everything and create just more of like an actual direct like one on one community and we have actual inside jokes and things like that because I feel like last year, when dirt came out, I feel like that. Yeah, it got me like a huge new wave of fans and people. And that was a kind of the start of like little fan accounts and kind of just became like feeling like more real of an actual fan base and like a community. So yeah, just like really want to do more actual like in person events like meet and greets with like Live shows and then yeah, like just definitely do like more events and live streams together,

S: Talk about the visual world that coming with all this.

l I'm creating a little zine right now and it's like a breakdown of the EP and kind of the, yeah, not really the making of the EP, but just the breakdown of what songs mean to me and, and a little bit of like a visual world that I wanted to create. And the visualizers are basically, it's like one long short film, but. It's like cut up into seven, the seven songs. And it's like, yeah, fully seamless, technically, if you watch it all through. And that is the making of the magazine basically, and like recreating the photo shoots and recreating, all the looks and things like that.

So, it's just like you're inside of the pages basically that you see., so yeah, I'm really excited about that. 

S: What are the three colors you think represent this EP for you? 

Z: I'm still fully in my hot pink, just black and white and bright red grind. That's me still. And then in the visualizers, it's not like, yeah, there's kind of still like lots of studs, but it's mainly just kind of editorial and me in the various outfits that kind of follow those colors on the white walls. And sometimes there's like pink or red colors, you know, color washes. 

S: What inspired you to do a zine for this?

Z: I honestly don't know, I've, like, I am such a whore of Pinterest, and I just, like, fell in love with the various, like, magazines and, and the old, like, photos and, and covers of magazines on Pinterest, and in general, like, I don't know, I, my, my cousin, who's like basically my sister, has, is a librarian, which is hilarious, but the exact opposite, and she, like, always She worked at Rookie Magazine and, we would always just like read magazines together, like look at them and like the magazine stores in New York.

 And I've always just been obsessed with magazines and. Just like really wanted to, one day, just like a little dream that I've always had like of kind of yeah Either creating a zine or a magazine and originally that thought came from like, you know, the cool like Brooklyn Fleas that had little zines, but now we can make it into actual merch.

Zoe Ko is fearlessly stepping into her next era with Not Ur Girlfriend, blending early 2000s pop with gritty rock to create a sound that is bold, fun, and unapologetically her. Through her music, visuals, and deep connection with fans, she is building an immersive world that invites listeners to embrace confidence, independence, and self-discovery. As she continues to evolve, one thing is clear—Zoe Ko is not just making music; she’s creating a moment. Fans can expect more raw energy, boundary-pushing creativity, and, most importantly, a soundtrack to scream at the top of their lungs.

Strike Out,

Isabella Preston, Copy Editor