Who Is Zandi Holup? The Story Behind Her Journey to Country Music

Today’s spotlight artist is an artist in every sense of the word. Zandi Holup believes in unapologetically sharing stories through music, while remaining true to her unique sound and style as a singer-songwriter. We chatted with Holup about her upbringing, her newest project, and everything in between.

“My family and I moved to Northern New Jersey when I was little girl, and I grew up there. Then I went to high-school in New York City.” ” began Holup. “I got into music when I was little because my parents put me in plays. Because I was a little bit shy and timid, and I helped me come out of my shell, so they put me in singing lesson. I grew up around music my whole life, my dad, my aunts, and even my grandmothers write songs and sing, and play guitar, so I’ve always been around that type of stuff.”

From an early age, music was a constant in her life. Holup drew inspiration from a variety of artists, finding herself in the music she fell in love with. “ I was really influenced by folk music at a young age, and also I absolutely fell in love with country music. […] I always heard different country music growing up. Dolly [Parton] took my heart, and that’s what got me into story-telling, listening to those artists and wanting to write stories like them,” she shared.

Holup also fell in love with artists like Lorreta Lynn and Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan. “A lot of Dolly Parton’s earlier work that’s a little darker really influenced me. Also Loretta Lynn, I love her as a story-teller and a truth-teller. I love Bob Dylan and Joan Baez as well and Joni Michell, she’s one of my favorite poets. I think different record also inspire different things.” Much like her favorite artists, Holup found herself using music and songwriting as a therapeutic outlet.

The Turning Point:

For Holup, music was always her calling, and the arts was her passion. “I’m definitely more of a creative-brained person than an anything else  brained person,” she shared, adding, “I’ve always had a big case of wanderlust. If there’s a dream, I’m going to chase it. I’ve never been the kind of person to not want to make my dream into a reality, I’ve always just been ready to go.”

At just eighteen years old, the singer left New York and headed to California to chase her dreams. Eventually, she found Nashville and was inspired to chase her dreams in a new city. “I basically just had a suitcase, and I went to Nashville. After about a week of some things I had set myself up to do, I decided to move here. I found myself a little apartment, and I got a job, and I just started waitressing and hosting, and doing songwriting rounds and open mics. I just was doing anything I could to keep hustling and hustling, and making a name for myself.”

Shew as told “no” many times, but still kept with it, using social media to pioneer her music along the way. During the pandemic, Holup would spend several hours a day creating content and growing a massive fanbase who fell in love with her original music. Her efforts caught the attention of Big Loud Records, and eventually, Holup signed her record deal, finding a team that truly supported her unique talent and vision.

“I  had to find myself in all of it, and I think I finally got there, and is tarted posting my music on the internet because a lot of people in Nashville didn’t really notice me or care to notice me. I was told a lot that my music was too dark or too depressing or that people wouldn’t want to hear it on the radio. But I just knew that I didn’t want to change, and not be true to myself and what I wanted to talk about and what I wanted to say,” she shared, “I found people who enjoyed my art when I went on social media, and it was a game-changer for me.”

Today:

Flash forward to day, Holup finally released her major-label debut album, Wildflower. The record features eleven beautifully-crafted songs that speak to the singer-songwriter’s creative spirit and her artistic voice. “There’s elements of country in my music, there’s elements of folks, there’s elements of a whole bunch of different genres that I’ve just kind of put together. I would say it’s story-teller music,” shared Holup.

Wildflower is comprised of songs that Holup has written over the years, including songs that fans have fallen in love with on the singer’s social media. “These eleven songs were really chosen by the people that listen to my music. I had been posting music on social media, and I pretty much put all of the songs that people were really enthusiastic about, that they related to, and that the loved, that they wanted me to record, but that is how this record was chosen,” shared Holup, adding, “There were just a couple of songs that I had put on this record that were chosen by me or someone I worked with, but most of the songs were chosen by the people that support me and listen to my music.”

While each and every song is special in their own right, one of Holup’s personal favorites is, “Mary Jane,” inspired by a true story about one of her friends. “One of my favorite songs that I’ve ever written as an artist is “Mary Jane,” which is on my record,” began Holup. “I love metaphorical storytelling. It’s one of those things that I admire the most in a lot of my heroes, so I was out to write a metaphorically song that could connect to people. “Mary Jane” is a song I wrote about a friend of mine who suffered from drug addiction to heroin, on and off for about fifteen years, and their in recovery now, which is a very big accomplishment, and I wanted to write a song to tell their story because I thought their was a lot of pain and beauty that I wanted to show people. It was a story of redemption and triumph, so I wrote this song to paint his story through my eyes.”

In her blossoming career, it’s clear that the songstress plans to remain as authentic as possible. Her desire to share music is from the depths of her soul and her lyrics are the embodiment of that. While we are not quite sure what is in store for the singer for the rest of the year, Holup put it perfectly. “This is just the beginning.”

Connect:

To keep up with Zandi Holup, follow her on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook.

Zandi Holup’s music is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.