Artist Spotlight ~ Zahna

Artist Spotlight is a segment that we started to introduce our readers to some deserving up and coming artists/bands. They have made an impact on us for all of the right reasons. We think they kick ass, and we hope you do too! Today we’d like to shine the spotlight on Zahna

Zahna spent the time off during the COVID-19 pandemic off the road buckling down to write her strongest songs yet, supported by her husband and collaborator Patrick Madsen. The couple enlisted the skills of industry leaders Cory Brunnemann (Through Arteries) and Kellen McGregor (Memphis May Fire). The refining fire of the trials she’d lived ignited a fierce creative energy, creating a series of songs that will be released as a full album.

“It’s deeper than just music,” Zahna shares. “To me, the songs I write are stories, written with purpose and intent. If you dissect them, you’d see that they always lead to some universal truth. I think my purpose and drive is to help others identify that truth, or to inspire them to seek the truth about themselves, or a higher power.”

The vitality of Zahna’s music has been forged through professional experience as well as personal resolve. Her musical resume includes an acoustic, worship-focused project called Our Divine Romance that served as a creative outlet through college, followed by time fronting ILIA and bringing songs to the table that would become their high-charting Reborn EP, and ultimately burning up the charts with songs “Underneath” and “Drown” from her 2018 debut solo album.

Zahna has taken her hard-won experience and turned around to generously invest it in other artists through vocal lessons, cowriting, branding, and artist development. As Zahna navigated the challenges of the pandemic, she came alongside other artists to help them do the same. “I had always had a heart to help anyone I could in this business, since I know how intimidating it is to navigate obstacles and find trustworthy people to work with,” she explains.

Her role as a mentor and consultant are just another mark of all the ways Zahna’s voice is only getting louder as it becomes increasingly her own. “The reality was I was always capable, and I needed to stop waiting around for someone to tell me I was,” Zahna reflects. “When the world is in chaos around you, when your physical body is failing you, when people betray you, you simply have no choice but to take control and find out what you’re made of. Whether it was anger, a deep sense of purpose, faith in a higher power, or some wild idea about personal destiny… some survival instincts I never knew I had came to life.”

We sat down with Zahna for a short, but fun Q&A session.

Every superhero or villain has an origin and a band is no different minus the radioactive spiders and secret government experiments. What is the origin of Zahna?

ZAHNA: Once upon a time, the gods looked down upon the broken world, and felt sadness and despair that their creation was fallen, sick, and corrupted. In order to heal and restore it, they devised a plan to incarnate warrior messengers to battle the dimension’s evil. One of their messengers landed in difficult and rough terrain, as a flower seed. Dirtied and obstructed, the world’s challenges almost suffocated her path to the sun and the gods. Yet the gods in their greater good and wisdom allowed this to develop warrior strength. She refused to be crushed, for she sensed her destiny overground. Once she was strong enough, she burst forth from the earth, her petals taking the form of a human woman. The earth rose as she trumpeted all the song and sound she could muster, all elements resonating with the victorious song as their foundations quaked! Although she had element bending as an inherited super power, her
charge-up was far from over. Born to face-off with The Defiler, (the adversary of her world), watch how her warrior destiny journey begins on the next episode: “Worlds Collide.”

Band/artist names can have a meaning or it can be a name pulled out of a hat. What’s the story behind Zahna?

ZAHNA: Zahna is the English pronunciation derived from the last half of my full name: Susana (Soo-Sah-nah). In its original Spanish pronunciation, I’m Mexican, haha, it sounds a lot more like Zahna. I moved here as a kid from Mexico, so my Hispanic heritage is very important to me!

Are you working on anything right right now?

ZAHNA: Finishing my new album! Only thing left is drum tracking, mixing and mastering! Also choosing the order of songs, and selecting the singles, writing music video scripts, etc. We have a whole campaign to plan!

Who was your first celebrity crush?

ZAHNA: Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys.

What was your favorite cartoon growing up?

ZAHNA: SpongeBob SquarePants, matey!!