We had a chat with the multi-talented musician.

22-year-old Northern Beaches electro-pop artist Chase Zera is well and truly hitting her stride right now. A former composition and audio engineering student at Australian Institute of Music, she’s just released her debut solo track which has already amassed tens of thousands of streams in a matter of weeks – not too shabby for a first effort.

Take a listen (or twenty) to that banger, ‘Clovers’ below and check out our interview with the rapidly rising talent.

You said you’ve been performing since the age of six, how did you fall into a love of music and performance at such a young age?

The earliest performance I remember doing was an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ ballet dance when I was about 5. I did gymnastics and dance classes from about the age of 4 and I hardly remember anything from that long ago but I apparently loved it and begged Mum to take me to classes, so I’ve been among costumes, choreographed routines, music etc. for almost my whole life.

As I got older it just kept evolving, I kept loving it and branching out into new performance aspects like acting and singing because it helped in the performing arts world to be able to do a bit of everything. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I got the confidence to do singing lessons and really prioritised music and song-writing and wanted to delve into it more.

The past few years you’ve been dedicated to studying music, how do you think this has helped you find your signature style?

Studying music opened doors to researching and discovering music/artists I otherwise probably never would have heard. I’ve gained inspiration from a lot of different musical eras from studying composition. Since studying music, I went from just listening to music leisurely to dissecting what I heard in songs and eventually everything I listened to became an idea or inspiration in some way for my own writing.

The dark, electronic-pop Chase Zera sound came from a blend of production that suits my vocal style and also that I could dance and perform to.

How was it working with the likes of Xavier Dunn, Stu Turner from Set Mo, Wongo, Amastro and some of the other artists you have collaborated with?

I love collaborating and blending styles with other producers and writers. It’s cool how you can hardly know someone then get in a studio with them and both be so genuine and open about yourself and your experiences to get the most authenticity out of a song. By the end of a session it feels like you’ve known each other for years.

Working with Stu has been really cool because I’ve followed Set Mo’s music for a while and to team up, see his workflow and combine our styles has been a great opportunity. Xavier is one of those people that everyone knows as ‘one of the most talented people they’ve ever met’. He can play just about every instrument, produce in any style and he still always values other peoples’ ideas and allows the process to be super collaborative.

’Clovers’ is pulling in some serious listeners, at nearly 50 thousand plays on Spotify – how are you feeling about all the love and what is this release about?

The night before the release I had planned to wake up and ask some friends to share the song on their socials, but when I woke up, an unbelievable amount of people had already shared/reposted it without me even asking. It just blew me away how supportive friends and other artists were being on their own accord. It makes me so happy every time someone sends me a photo or video of them listening to my song in different places, even in different countries.

Often as humans we look for signs in situations, for instance finding a four-leaf clover is seen as a sign of good luck. ‘Cutting Clovers’ is a take on waiting for signs, symbolizing the moment in a relationship I decided to stop looking into signs and using them to make excuses for someone’s behaviour and instead got the courage to see the toxic situation for what it really was and stand up for myself.

Do you have a career highlight so far?

When Declan Byrne played Clovers on ‘Home and Hosed’ on triple j, being added to ‘New Music Friday AU NZ’ on Spotify and most recently, joining Undr Ctrl Agency.

What’s next for Chase Zera and can you share some secrets from the next release?

Your shows have been described as high energy with dancers and choreography to match, do you choreograph these performances yourself and what goes into the live show preparation?

My dancers are good friends of mine that I’ve danced and performed with for years, so the live show preparation is mostly just us having fun and getting creative in the dance studio together. We have quite different styles of choreography so we alternate depending whose choreographic style best suits each song, then we come back in and teach each other what we came up with. Much of my choreography and live show preparation happens in my own living room. I’ve also choreographed song transitions and reworked the arrangement to create some surprises for live performance.

If there was anyone you could collaborate with (in the whole world) who would it be and why?

Kaytranada (my favourite producer) because his basslines are unbelievably catchy and intricate and the bassline is generally my favourite layer of any song besides the vocals. Or, Anthony Kiedis of RHCP because he’s my favourite songwriter/lyricist of all time.

Which track is on repeat for you at the moment?

In the last two weeks I’ve been really nostalgic of Glass Animals’ set at Falls 2017 so I’ve had ‘Life Itself’ on repeat every day.

If you could imagine the perfect career scene what would it be? This could be a festival stage at sunset or a production room alongside some of your favourite artists? … Go!

Performing on stage with Beyoncé.