The StarGirlZar Interview & Short Film Premiere
Watch the Dealt Kards video exclusively here!
After years as a model in the D.C. music and arts scene, StarGirlZar is coming out of her shell. This short film, produced and directed by 44:21 co-founders Bisagna Suh & Nabil Abdulkadir, serves as an introduction to her brand expansion as an artist, highlighting her sound and style. Featuring her debut song, the soulful single Dealt Kards, the visual shows the ins and outs of toxic relationships in all of their forms. Zar shares some insight to the short film and breaks down the meanings behind her lyrics. Below you can watch the exclusive premiere of the short film featuring her first ever track, and read the interview to learn more about the story behind the track, card games, and what else Zar has in store for us.
Brian Harrington: Congratulations on the new song and video! It looks great, I’ve been watching it on loop for this interview.
StarGirlZar: Thank you so much, I would have never expected going into this how many things are involved in just making music. I’ve put in a lot over the past three years to be able to do this so I’m so stoked hearing all of the positive feedback.Â
This is your first release, right?
Yes, since I started recording in 2018.
What kind of work since 2018 has gotten you to this point?
Well, before finishing a song was my biggest struggle. When I finished my first song in 2018 I knew I had to hop in a studio and record it. Then my biggest obstacle became gaining enough confidence in executing my art in front of people I didn’t know. Because I wasn’t always recording with friends. The more I do it though, the easier it is to take my passion seriously. Overall I’m at a place where I’m gaining more comfort with executing my art, experimenting more with different sounds and learning how to navigate the technical side of it all.
As you worked all those years and brought different people in and out did your sound change a lot? Or did you always have this sound that you have on Dealt Kards?
In general I tend to experiment with a lot of different sounds and genres but I wouldn’t say that my collaborators have had a big impact on that experimentation. The shifts in my sound are usually inspired by what I’m experiencing in life at that moment. Writing songs is how I figuratively express my emotions. Certain genres of music evoke different feelings and so that helps push me towards the one that relays whatever the feelings are best. I felt betrayed in a relationship in Dealt Kards which is why I moved towards a hip hop/r&b sound for this song. Over the years I was experimenting with a lot of rap, like old school rap because for some reason in my head I can’t mix new school with old school, like old school rap means stuff, you know?
Who are you talking about specifically when you say old school?
I’m mostly talking about the 90’s hop hop sound so like Biggie, 2pac, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, all those people. I was experimenting with that, I was doing R&B songs. Experimenting with those sounds helped me go in that direction and made me feel more comfortable because I wouldn’t consider myself a singer, but I do like to sing. So just finding the middle ground between singing and rapping, I feel like that’s my sound, it’s a very cool little mesh, like I almost talk with the melody. I feel like that’s my go to and the easiest for me to make songs in this singy-talky type of sound. I don’t really know what it is, or would be classified as?Â
You don’t need to know or box yourself into any type of sound.
Yeah and I’ve noticed ever since that song, most of my songs that I fall in love with are of that similar feeling. With my most recent songs, I have like three that I made this year that I haven’t recorded yet but are just in my voice memos, they have the same feel as Dealt Kards. So I’d say that’s one of my main sounds.
The song and video are obviously detailing a relationship that fell apart. Did you want to talk at all about the story behind that?
When I came to 44:21 (Bisagna and Nabil) for the concept for the video we knew we wanted to show a toxic relationship in all its parts: the happy moments, the fights, the making up. We also decided we wanted to shoot it all in one house so the viewer almost feels like they’re living the relationship with the couple. We also talked a lot about the feel we would have in each scene; using harsher lighting for fights and a lot of candlelight in warm/intimate scenes. We didn’t want to spell everything out in the video because we wanted to leave room for interpretation. All that being said, the song itself is me touching the surface on the complicated relationship I had with the father of my child and some of the obstacles I went through with him when I first had her (Z). I express how I felt betrayed, lied to and overall played with. I’ve given you a child and been on your side and lies is the thanks I get. He was out here talking about me to people to the point where it’s affecting my money and just completely bashing my name and discrediting me as a person. It was unfair and I also realized that I didn’t have to choose this. You know people say life dealt your cards you just deal with them, but like I had some type of control at one point and I let him, or I not even let him.. have you played Tunk, the card game?
No, I’ve never played
In Tunk, you have 5 cards and you’re trying to get either three of a kind or three of the same suit in order,  going up or down. So every time it’s your turn you can either choose the card that someone got rid of or you can pull from the deck, but you have to get rid of a card every time. So you don’t know if you’re making the right decision until you keep playing and the other people keep playing, and that’s the feeling. I feel as though I had all of these options I could have gotten rid of seven instead of six but I got rid of six and then someone didn’t play, you know what I mean? It messes up the game for me. I feel like I was in control against that saying ‘life deals your cards,’ I messed this up for myself.Â
You tapped into a really classic soulful sound, so I wanted to know some of your favorite artists that helped inspire the sound?
Honestly, it’s just the way the song came to me. I feel like if I had to compare this track’s sound it’s giving very much Ari Lenox, Jhené Aiko, and Amy Whinehouse.Â
I can definitely hear some Amy in this track.
Macy Gray too, she’s like the queen of that kind of that sound. Growing up in my family I always loved singing, I was always singing to everything and I didn’t have a very supportive family when it came to the arts so I was just told to like shut up, you can’t sing, be quiet. I was just going through life like oh yeah I can’t sing so I would never try. Then I would hear people like her that I was like ‘wow I feel like I could do that’ laughs. They definitely helped me get my confidence for trying to sing and it’s all about just knowing your boundaries of your voice and finessing what you can do and not trying to sing like other people. I mean in the shower it’s fun trying to sing like other people, but in reality you want your own sound so focusing not like on the average what people would say are singers, and I feel like also with this day and age it’s becoming more popular for people to have different singing voices or like not the average normal singing voices and still get plays or acknowledged for their sound.
You’ve done modeling before, did that experience help with being on set for the music video?
So that’s super funny. Modeling for me was only easy because I don’t have to speak, I don’t have to talk. I feel like what made the music video easier is the fact that it’s my music video, I paid for this, people are showing up, I have no other option but to get this out of the way laughs. Also most of the people there were my friends so it was a comfortable space I was familiar with. But I see it in a sense— modeling, the more you model the more you kind of know your body, how your body looks on camera, what to do with yourself, what looks awkward, what doesn’t look awkward. So subconsciously it probably did help. But also I took a theater class for like one semester in 9th grade which was really impactful for me. I went from not being able to speak on stage to actually being able to speak on stage. I get really bad stage fright and it’s like so bad. But for the video I was less nervous because I was just like it is a camera, there’s not a huge audience right here, everybody that is here is not just watching they’re actually working, so super comfortable in that regard, but yeah modeling has helped me with being comfortable in front of a lens.
You got a lot of looks off in the video, do you have a favorite fit from the shoot?
Most of it was the kimono, the kimono was so fun! My favorite fit was the piano scene when I have on the purple with the white button up. It’s not an outfit honestly laughs but I just like the contrast, the purple with the white. The coat at the end was fun because it was my grandmas and I always grew up playing dress up in that coat and I finally got to wear it in something significant so that was cool for sure.
A lot of what I do on this blog is trying to put people onto new artists so I wanted to ask if there’s anyone you’re listening to that you wanted to shoutout?
Oh okay! I would say my friend Joony. He’s blowing up, we made a song at the beginning of 2020, unreleased and I’m probably never gonna drop it because laughs be very careful what you say in your songs cause I was like 2020 I’m on beast shit so I can never drop it any other time!
You gotta re-record just that one line!
Right, literally! 2030 I’m on beast shit like I’ll take ten years to drop it laughs. But yeah he’s making noise, he’s a rapper, he just recently has been collabing with Brent Faiyaz, super chill. MoDope is good too, they were very supportive of me making music. Mo especially cause MoDope put me on with Joony. Mo was the main person when people were throwing me beats that was just like ‘you should execute your own stuff’ when I was second-guessing my art. For a while I was like maybe I should just be a ghost writer, I don’t mind not being in the spotlight, I don’t want to perform like none of that. So I was like that might be the easiest, but I’m so anal I’m just like a fucking control freak sometimes so although I don’t mind being a ghost writer, I would appreciate executing my stuff how I envision in my head and they were like yeah you kind of need to. He was one of those people who was like super super in my corner and super helpful - they both make hip hop, rap/trap. As well as the whole 44:21 team, who literally directed and produced this video for me, and have been by my side from the start.
It’s good to have those people in your corner
Yeah for sure! Cause like bruh, trust me. The way I was raised was just, I second guessed myself on my art.
What’s up next for you?
What’s up next is just getting into the technical aspect, getting comfortable with recording myself. Next is leaning on myself, I don’t want to have to wait on timing stuff, I want to just drop my own music whenever I want to. What’s next is more visuals. Next is living through more experiences so that I can make more art. I took my time going through the obstacles of my music journey and because of that I’m a bit more organized, I have stuff in waiting which I didn’t have before, so that’s good. I’ll probably just work on getting these next few songs recorded and curate some type of EP, I want it to come out right. I want to do something that has my sound that we were talking about and just get that sound out before I start dropping too many different genres. I mean I love, love, LOVE being able to be sporadic, but I also know that it can be intimidating for people especially with me being a new artist, I don’t want to scare any listeners off. So what’s next is just figuring out how I can stay consistent these upcoming months.