Wanna See Red

Witchcraft

Away

Please Don't Leave Me

Slay

Gutterlove

Elizabeth Zito contains multitudes.
With an accomplished career leading through the realms of opera, jazz, and pop music, the chameleonic singer/songwriter has finally arrived at the most elusive of destinations: herself. Fiercely authentic, her voice oscillates between sultry sweetness and commanding grandeur, never straying from the intimate storytelling at the core of her art. As she prepares a string of new music to release throughout 2024, Zito tackles love, melancholy, and heartbreak, contrasting vertiginous vulnerability against resilient inner strength. Musing on her mold-shattering journey she defiantly asks, “Why pick one part of yourself when it all shares the same DNA?”
Hailing from York, in Central Pennsylvania, Zito began learning classical piano as a child, later studying voice and opera performance as a teenager. Rigorous training laid a foundation of form and discipline that stretched her dynamic vocal range, while outside of the classroom she soaked up classic rock and bluegrass blaring from the car radio, as well as jazz and country favored by her friends. These expansive influences coalesced into a unique vocal style that borrows from classical text painting and developed timbres charged with synesthesia and geographic significance.
Zito attended university in Washington D.C. and in 2014 relocated to Miami to work with a voice teacher and pursue a full-time opera career. She was instantly seduced by the city’s bustling, colorful energy, and began soaking up the plethora of global rhythms booming around her. She also immersed herself in the local jazz scene, performing side gigs and exploring new dimensions of her voice. During this adventurous and creatively fertile time, songs brewing since childhood began emerging and taking shape, bolstered by bursts of dancehall, reggaeton, and Miami’s pan-Caribbean euphoria.
“Whenever I've denied music, I've self-sabotaged or failed,” she says. “And whenever I've made myself available to music, opportunities rush in. Regardless of genre, it's clear this is what I was born to do.”
Zito's metamorphosis continued throughout the following years, even as a breakup and the global shutdown led her back home to Pennsylvania. The pause allowed her to regroup and find her power once more as new songs began pouring out. One of the first was “Away,” a soulful, reggaeton-flavored dose of nostalgia for the Miami life she'd left behind. She also harkens to the South Florida days on “Slay;” an atmospheric neo-soul track unspooling an all-consuming romance, where her dazzling vocals are given free rein. These cuts showcase a storyteller owning her agency as a woman, powerful and in control of how much of her vulnerability the world is allowed to access.

The new crop of songs are co-produced alongside Peter Riley, of the label FAMA, framing Zito’s soaring emotional vocals within funky electro pop (“Gutterlove”) and tinges of British soul (“Wanna See Red”) that leave enough room for dancing and cathartic singalongs. Zito’s artistic vision is perhaps best synthesized on “Please Don't Leave Me;” an urgent, visceral plea for a lover to stay even as their pendulous relationship collapses. The song’s fearless confessions are cushioned by bluesy arrangements, where levity and tension coexist to produce something fresh and raw, and ultimately more truthful. 
“[With time] you learn to protect yourself and the ones you love,” reflects Zito, underscoring how music has become a precious conduit for release. “But as an artist you need to be willing to reopen those wounds and learn from them to create art. There is so much more inside of me, and these songs capture the experience of me becoming my most authentic songwriter.”

ZITO

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