Zeph’s debut studio album, character improvement, is nearing nearer. By means of brutally trustworthy introspection and a willingness to overshare, the viral alt-pop artist is feeling extra assured than ever earlier than. That’s why it might be arduous to imagine that in her youthful days, she hardly spoke in any respect. Learn an excerpt from the quilt story beneath, which seems in our 2023 summer season difficulty, and seize limited-edition vinyl of her new album right here.
Zephani Jong didn’t actually begin talking till she was 13 years outdated. Nicely, that’s a little bit of hyperbole — she did converse to shut relations minimally when mandatory, however everybody else was out of the query. “The way in which I discuss at this time, folks would by no means guess I [didn’t speak before]. It’s loopy as a result of now I sing for a residing,” Jong, who performs underneath the stage identify Zeph, tells Different Press over a Zoom name following her first-ever cowl shoot.
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“I bodily couldn’t make sound come out of my mouth, irrespective of how arduous I attempted. It began with me being actually, actually shy and anxious, after which I couldn’t get out of it as a result of everybody knew me because the quiet one — not even quiet, however utterly silent. I by no means spoke in entrance of individuals, and that’s all they knew of me,” Zeph remembers. She didn’t wish to disturb folks’s notion of her, which in the end left her feeling trapped.
Now 24, Zeph later discovered her situation was resulting from an anxiousness dysfunction known as selective mutism. It wasn’t till her senior yr in highschool that she lastly began talking candidly out loud. Metamorphosing from the “quietest individual” in her good friend group to the “most talkative,” Zeph credit social media for serving to her open up. “As a result of I went on the web loads to speak to folks, I discovered my very own pursuits, beliefs and inspirations on-line. The web actually gave me a way of independence.”
Social media has at all times been a essential a part of Zeph’s journey. Earlier than she ever uploaded even one track, Zeph had already amassed a big following from sharing her artwork on-line. She started importing fan artwork of musicians like Conan Grey and Billie Eilish to Instagram round 2017. A yr later, she went viral when BuzzFeed shared her collection of Publish-it Word doodles impressed by well-known viral Vines.
In the present day, Zeph has over 203,000 Instagram followers, and her posts are a smattering of colourful selfies and anime video clips set to snippets of her music. Her Twitter is rather more chaotic: an ever-growing assortment of cringe memes, inane shitposts and relatable overshares to over 186,000 followers. The one factor you received’t discover on Zeph’s Twitter anymore is just a little blue checkmark now that account verification has shifted to Elon Musk’s controversial Twitter Blue. “I don’t care that it’s gone. It’s simply annoying as a result of now the one individuals who have it are the individuals who pay for it. All the level of it’s destroyed. It’s a fucking ego factor,” she says.
