On a sunny afternoon in early June, the south campus section of Western Washington University is bustling with activity. A makeshift stage has been set up against the looming backdrop of the Communications Building, dotted with instrument cases and stray cords as anxious student volunteers dart back and forth to the accompanying sound tent. Behind them, tables displaying artist merchandise are in the process of being assembled, amassing a pile of beaten and bruised cardboard boxes on the neighboring grass. It’s the first time since 2019 that the university’s annual spring tradition, Lawnstock, is set to occur, and the humid summer air is thick with nervousness and excitement.
When I arrive, Teza is already onstage, working through her soundcheck. We’re a bit behind schedule, so I take my place behind the sound booth and observe. The Seattle “hardcore popstar” is animated even when there’s no crowd watching her, dressed down in casual loungewear. In just a few hours, they’ll be dominating the stage in front of hundreds of university students, tearing through a set of fiery pop-rap tracks including one powerfully angry response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade (“Not Your Body” will be out October 25th). But until then, they finish their check, and we head upstairs to her classroom-turned-dressing-room in the Communications Building to chat about her forthcoming album.
Raised in Oahu, Teza spent an eight-year stint in Los Angeles learning to write and record before moving to Seattle in 2017. It was here that Tezatalks, as we know her, was introduced to the public, with their breakout single “STFD” (which as of now, has amassed over twenty-six million streams). Their electro-alt-pop sound is infectious, earning the songstress some of the region’s greatest musical achievements including a KEXP live session, performance slots at Capitol Hill Block Party and Treefort Music Fest, and national praise as the opening act for Danish singer-songwriter MØ’s 2022 Motordrome Tour.
Her latest single, “Lex Luthor,” is a powerfully villainous track in the same vein as pussy rap icons Flo Milli and Meg Thee Stallion, hitting those tight vocal punches mixed with the nasally high-pitched shrieks of Rico Nasty. Here, Teza takes on the form of the ‘Ice Queen,’ a blue-haired, cold-hearted character they channel for live performances. “You know how like Meg Thee Stallion introduced different characters and whatnot, being a theatre kid, how can I not?” Teza laughs, brandishing her intricate light blue fingernails. “Ice Queen kind of evolved from this character, so the blue and everything represents this like, villainous, don’t give a fuck [attitude].”
But with this new era marked by her upcoming album, Black Girl American Horror Story (expected fall 2022), Teza is stripping down to her roots. “You’re getting the story of not just Tezatalks, the narrator I created and the character I created. You’re getting Tasia, from the beginning to where we are now and where I want to take you.”
The name of the album is obviously a reference to the popular horror TV series, which Teza is a huge fan of (“I have an appreciation for the aesthetic and knowing everything that goes into it.”), and the album’s subject matter will focus heavily on their experience as a Black woman living in America.
“The title came about because of course being Black in America is another thing, but being a Black girl or a Black woman is often a story that is told through pain and told through a negative stigma,” Teza explains. “And sure, maybe some of those things are true, and yes, maybe that is a part of the story. But Black Girl American Horror Story is the triumph through the horror and being able to find resilience and power in it.”
Though Teza hasn’t shared any teasers of the album, she does tell me that we can expect to see some of the same powerful electro-hyperpunk of “Lex Luthor” mixed with soul-bearing ballads and traditional Teza alt-rap flow. She also hopes the record’s subject matter will resonate with other young Black women who are often told they have to fit into a specific mold. “I think it’s not only giving girls who look like me a sense of peace and a sense of self in a world where you may be told that you’re one thing, I think people will start to see parts of themselves in that story. And my story, too, to where that empathy can have a ripple effect.”
Stream Tezatalks wherever you listen to your music.