Words by Jason Lee…
Zaya Marz is a Croatian rapper-singer based out of Chicago who after touring with Insane Clown Posse contributed to their joint horror-rap project Dark Lotus and set up their own record label, Billion Dollar Ballers, umm, oh wait, that’s the bio for former Satanist, drug dealer and gang-member-turned-Christian-rapper Bobby Marz (the man behind the immortal 2003 LP Gorilla Pimpin LP) anyway sorry ‘bout that but it’ll have to suffice since no official bio is forthcoming and her brand of luverz ballads and R&B grooves is sure to appeal equally to billion dollar ballers and broke-ass ballers alike (“can’t cash in priceless passion / spend all yr money / you still can’t buy talent” –see “popstar” below) plus sometimes it’s wise to remain a bit of mystery as any good relationship counselor will tell ya cuz the element of surprise is yr friend when it comes to Cupid’s arrow penetrating its intended target…
…with the same applying no less to musicians tho’ building a mystery in that realm is harder than ever in today’s social media-saturated environment cuz if you don’t post a cute and/or confessional story, reel, or DickeryDok every time you cut a fart then suddenly yr off yr content game but it’s our contention nuttin’ undercuts the magic and mystique needed for music to really tug on yr heartstrings like oversharing outside the confines of the music and the art itself cuz just imagine if everyone had known circa 1956 that Elvis ate peanut butter ‘n’ banana sandwiches on the can and owned a pet monkey named Scatter that’d fling its feces at poor unsuspecting female fans then “Hound Dog” woulda flopped for sure cuz people would have just though oh no, it’s that weirdo Southern boy again just look the other way and Big Mama Thornton woulda been crowned the matriarch of rock ‘n’ roll instead which woulda been entirely fair but we digress…
…all of which is highly apropos to today of all days seeing as mystique and surprise were highly crucial to the Valentine’s Day Massacre Day as well (“my kinda town, Chicago is..!“) as our great nation celebrates the 97th anniversary of gangland’s unsolved-to-this-day seminal mass murder (seven dead is weak tea by today’s standards but hey that’s the price of progress) and if you wanna keep that oldie-moldy relationship fresh you better figure out how to retain some of that spark thru whatever methods…
…but for the rest of us we’d like to highlight a new single about singlehood that came out just a couple weeks ago which one could say embodies the mystique of a surprise massacre in spades and that’s Zaya Marz’s “I’m Fed Up and You’re Full of It” which, in case you missed it from the title, is a cutting, caustic kiss-off song encased inna silky modern-day pop ‘n’ R&B carapace co-composed by guitarist Alex King or so iTunes leads us to believe with production by Austin Lara and mixing/mastering by Farin Kautz with the final results crossing the alt-R&B of SZA with the neo-soul of Frank Ocean (August is the tenth anniversary of blond, just sayin’) with maybe more than a touch of Erica Abi Wright mixed in there too perhaps jus’ sayin’ (full official credits below)…
…with Zaya seeking to, and succeeding at, not only verbally massacring her former suitor-turned-booted-loser but also literally massacring a perfectly innocent bystander cake (see further discussion of the music video below) in a song whose ingredients include sinewy breakbeats, throbbing bass lines and libidinous bedroom synths topped off with languorously sticky-sweet vocals and wraith-like harmonies as the *ahem* icing on the cake that taken together would make “prince of pillow talk” Barry White blush should he reanimated one day (which’d be awesome!)…
…but here’s the kicker, paired with entirely non-Hallmark-card-friendly lyrical sentiments like “you’re sloppy / dishonest / the worst / by the furthest / i hate that you / make my skin crawl / make my skin crawl-awl-awl” as ZM gently caresses her upper thorax in an empty bathtub in front of a wall of piled-up old TV’s half of which tuned to static which if yr thinking well that all sounds interesting, but it appears to go against the ‘FU kiss off’ theme of the lyrics, just bear in mind the lyrics open on a scenario of clumsy, half-assed infidelity (I mean, dood, at least learn yr craft!) and resultant anger and jealousy so no wonder Zaya goes for the gusto in turning the green-eyed* tables…
…and btw we’re struck by the striking thematic parallels with the previous single-themed single we wrote up just a few days ago and how beautifully and coincidentally these have both landed around St. Valentine’s Massacre Day—despite their equally stark musical differences—with Firstsex’s debut single “Diet Cheat Lite” as its title suggests likewise dealing with the trauma of romantic infidelity by throwing a rapturously messy cake-smashing party (just be careful, kids!) that while acknowledging the appeal of the pleasingly-yet-toxic empty calories of carnal desire set to rapturous melodies and beats—romantic revulsion, meet sonic salacity…
….while also acknowledging the reality ofhedonic adaptation cuz not only do both songs and musical videos indicate that its narrators have pretty quickly returned to a baseline level of happiness if not even elevated levels as a means of returning to homeostasis and good for them but you can bet the same holds true in the opposing direction for the hapless cheater doofusess** who provoked these songs in the first place who no doubt regretting their dalliances not just cuz of the songs but also cuz if statistics hold true, cheating didn’t improve their self-perceived level of well-being past a brief bit of surreptitious monkey-business, more than likely doing the exact opposite…
…which may reasonably lead one to observe that it’s all a case of having one’s cake and stroking it too—and why not, it’s freaking VD Awareness Day!—not to mention plunging your fingers and your face deeply into it and smearing its crumbled remains all over your torso and bare legs and basically just making a big ol’ mess of things when is obviously meant as a lofty metaphor for a crumbling relationship that must be systematically broken down, analyzed and absorbed into one’s skin and psyche, before one can be fully and truly prepared to move on with minimal psychological baggage so smash dat cake grrrl (!) and wronged guyyyyz too (a few no doubt exist, but we don’t see gender!) and in the end we gotta give credit to the actual maker of the cake in question…
..that being Jenn from Custom Cakes NYC, a Latina-owned independent bakery, and oh the horror! it looks like it’s most likely one of their Tres Leches cakes that was sacrificed for the video (it so easily coulda been donated to the Deli after all!) which on the surface may appear as refined and elegant as the pearl necklaces gracefully embroidering the cake but as soon as Ms. Marz maliciously smudges the words “fed up” in cursive atop the cake’s surface all bets are off…
…and how fitting that it’s the hidden filling that’ll kill ya what with TLC being a vanilla cake soaked in milk with whipped cream filling which reminds us how back in the day NYC indie pop & rock & alt-r&b went hand-in-hand with a venue called the Cake Shop which towered over (or more literally under) Ludlow St. from 2005 to 2016 (they really did sell cake and other sweets!) which was tangentially recalled at Zaya’s single-release party recently held at a downtown empanadas spot so keep bringin’ the food ’n’ music mashups we say (!) and in the meantime we’ll confess to having our cake and eating it too by pretending not to know the first thing about Zaya Marz tho’ to be fair we didn’t when we first starting writing this (and only a little now and second-hand at that) cuz V-day stands for veracity don’t it (NOT!) but anyway this V-Day 2026 it’s Zaya and Firstsex’s party and yr funeral so may as well treat yrself to the cake below, Anna Mae…
SONG CREDITS:
Artist: Zaya Marz (@zayamarz)
Produced by: Austin Lara (@austinlaramusic)
Mixed and Mastered: Farin Kautz (@farin.kautz)
Guitar: Alex King (@alexmking_)
MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS:
Directed by: Leila Chaib (@hotelwindow01) and Zaya Marz (@zayamarz)
Director of Photography: Evan Werner (@evanvverner)
Gaffer: Saara Al-Sawah (@sals.cine)
Lighting tech: Jessie Curzio (@jesscurzio)
Production Assistant: Lauren Bretl (@whoislaurenbretl)
BTS: Maia Dreishpoon
Editor: Leila Chaib (@hotelwindow01)
Colorist: Evan Werner (@evanvverner)
HMUA: Jess Lindsay (@jesslinds_)
Nails: Monica Mckinley (@nailed.bymo)
Cake: @custom_cakes_nyc