Zendaya talks with Nova FM; drags Hollywood Records
Earlier today, Zendaya had an interview over the phone with one of the biggest Australian radio stations - Nova FM. Although the interview wasn't long and they talked for about from 5 to then 10 minutes because Zendaya had to make an appearance on a TV show in UK, but she definitely spilled some new tea on pretty much everything that is going on in her life at the moment. Besides talking about her current single "Gunshots" going #1 on the official charts and debuting with 664,000 copies sold in its first week, Zendaya also talked about her summer hobbies, fashion, new album, "Cuts Like Diamonds" and she even answered a question about... her ex music label Hollywood Records, and what actually went down between her and that label. Of course, her comment on her current situation with Hollywood Records caused some talks and debates on social media sites, but Hollywood hasn't responded to Zendaya's thoughts about their label. After Zendaya was interviewed, Nova FM radio also played the current number one song "Gunshots", which features American country pop singer Taylor Swift on their radio station as well and they also confirmed that sometime soon Zendaya will be visiting Australia again. Besides that, the radio host also mentioned something about Zendaya being in talks to do Nova's Red Room gig as well.
Host: We are happy to announce that we managed to get Zendaya on the phone! Right from the United Kingdom you are talking with us at the moment. What are you doing at the moment, Zendaya?
Zendaya: I'm sitting in my dressing room at the moment and I'm getting ready for my performance of The Voice UK. Besides that, I'm also trying to contact with Taylor as well, because she was supposed to be here half an hour ago, but she's still doing something somewhere out in London.
Host: So I guess you're kind of busy, am I right?
Zendaya: I'm now used to being busy honestly, this past week was really frustrating as I literally had no time for anything else besides promoting "Gunshots" or recording those last vocals for my upcoming sophomore album. But everything is starting to pay off - me and Taylor promoted really hard, and look, "Gunshots" is number one right now and it sold about 660,000 copies in its first week, so that's huge. Plus, we just picked out my album's tracklist, so that's really amazing as well, and I can't believe that my album is coming out in literally six days. I will announce the tracklist soon, stay tuned.
Host: How do you feel when you realize that you have a new label, and the first single that you've released under this label went number one in its first week and also sold over 600,000 copies as well?
Zendaya: It feels great that Republic Records is believing in me and I'm happy that they trust me by giving me this huge budget, you know, this huge budget to promote the single all over the places, or to shoot that amazing video. Although our video didn't really need a huge budget - we just needed a camera, a director and a car, because basically me and Taylor both directed the music video, we both edited it, the plot was written by Taylor, and that's basically it. We knew what we both wanted, so we decided to do it our way, you know? This song means a lot for both of us, so we didn't want to screw it up with a bad or cheap music video, that's why we did it the exact way we were imaging it.
Host: What do you mean by saying that it feels great that your label is supporting you?
Zendaya: It basically means that. I'm just super happy that Republic Records is supporting me and they're helping me out with my every idea - even if they think that my certain ideas are weird, they still give me budget and they help me out to develop it. It just feels amazing that they're helping me out with everything - and I didn't get that support when I was with that trash label Hollywood Records. Can you imagine what they said to me - they were expecting higher sales when I released my debut album! They literally never gave me oppurtunities to promote my singles or my album, they wanted me to become their puppet after my album underperformed. I really regret signing that deal with them, I put a lot of work in that album, and boom - nothing. That label is just nasty, they're basically want their artists to underperform. They can never promote few artists at one time - they can only promote one artist while other ones have to find their own way of promoting. They promised me a lot of great things for me when I was signing that deal, but I realized how promising they really are after I released that album. Now, I'm just happy I'm out of that label, and I'm happy now that I'm with Republic. They know how to handle and promote their artists.
Host: What are your main summertime hobbies?
Zendaya: I basically just go to the beach, I buy some ice cream, I take a book or something with me, I lay down and I just spend some time in the sun. I actually love sunbathing, it feels really good, well, as long as you're sunbathing for like half an hour or less, because then you have to run to the shadows. But yeah, I spend most of my time in the beach during the summer, I just love being next to the water.
Host: Can you explain how "Cuts Like Diamonds" ended up on your album?
Zendaya: It's a funny story. I've recently discovered this girl, Charli XCX. I remember that she did a song with Icona Pop, "I Love It", but I never really checked her out as a solo artist. But basically I was jamming out to "Fancy" the other day, and I was listening to it on Spotify, and Charli's new single, "Alone In The Dark", started playing. It seemed to be pretty cool song, but then I literally became obsessed with it. Then, I wanted to check out more of her music, and I literally opened YouTube and searched for her stuff. I listened to her stuff, and then I heard her demo version of "Cuts Like Diamonds", and I fell inlove with those lyrics and that melody. So, I showed this song to DJ Mustard, who has been helping me out with this album, and he literally contacted with Charli's label and Charli herself, he asked if he could rerecord this song for me, and they actually agreed! DJ Mustard basically created another version of this song - he kept that melody and that vibe of the song, but he completely changed the instrumental and made it more urban, more R&B kind of instrumental. And I think that it's perfect.
Host: Well thank you for chatting with us! Good luck with your album, good luck tonight at The Voice UK, and we hope to see you sometime this year in Australia once again, we really hope you are coming back, because we love your song "Gunshots"!
