Q&A: Zachary Knowles is Crushing in New Single “CRUSH”
THE BUTTERFLIES ARE STILL THERE — even after Zachary Knowles married his small-town junior high sweetheart. In his summer-flavored love manifesto, “CRUSH,” the Texas-native singer-songwriter explores the sweet feelings of falling in love with someone.
Like any romantic endeavor, it’s about going with the flow. In “CRUSH,” don’t blame Knowles if conversations turn to longing or if he starts being more genuinely himself — he’s just caught up in this crush, and he keeps on falling in love. Summer memories, late-night texts, and flustered nervousness all turn this pop-infused diary entry into a recognizable image for anyone who has found themselves blushing over a text or a subtle touch.
Starting as a confessional vocal-only track and progressively growing into a punchy pop explosion, the track mimics the structure of a crush itself and how it begins as something small and sentimental before growing wide and strong like the artist’s own relationship.
In an acoustic performance released on Aug. 31, the song goes back to its initial form. Stripping down the outermost layers of production, Knowles approaches the song as a confession of feelings to his lover — delicate and personal.
The track is the second single released off Knowles’ upcoming EP, GOALIE, following his single “CIGARETTES.” The EP narrates a series of emotions in the singer’s life following the release of his 2021 debut album, tendency to be a loner.
Working on music during homework breaks while pursuing a business college degree, Knowles started out uploading GarageBand covers to SoundCloud. After gaining some traction, he began putting his tracks on streaming platforms, and people came after it.
Read below to learn more about the feelings of having a crush, pursuing music in a small town in Texas, overcoming fears, and his upcoming EP GOALIE, out Oct. 14.
LUNA: “CRUSH” is out! How has the response to the single been so far?
KNOWLES: It has been really good. I always like dropping a happy song because I feel like most of the stuff I put out always has kind of sad vibes. So I'm putting out a happy one that's just straight joy — [it’s] always really fun.
LUNA: It’s definitely a big contrast from your previous releases. How did you come to that?
KNOWLES: This project that I'm working on, GOALIE is definitely representative of where I was emotionally a year ago … kind of dealing with some mental stuff, battling myself a lot. I wanted it to kind of mimic what that looks like. Whenever you're battling with mental health stuff, it feels like there are a million bad days and very few good days. On this project, there are a couple of songs on there, “CRUSH” being one of them, that are symbolic of a really good day among what feels like a lot of bad days.
LUNA: How did your life look like while you were recording the EP?
KNOWLES: Whenever I put out my album, tendency to be a loner, last August, kind of in the midst of dropping that album I started just going through some tough mental stuff where I was kind of shut out. And [that] was also in the midst of COVID stuff and people being on lockdown. I felt really shut out and I started to doubt myself a lot. Putting that album out was bittersweet — it was really cool putting it out and I love that album but emotionally during that time, I don't think I was doing super well. So after I put it out, I took a break for, like, a month, and then just took that time to reflect on where I was and reflect on what I wanted to do with music. I wound up going out to LA for a month and wound up writing GOALIE, the EP, and in writing it I was in a really healthy space where I could reflect back on where I was and felt like I had enough mental clarity to write about those things. I think it's very much me being expressive of how it feels to deal with emotional battles with yourself and stuff like that. I wanted to talk about what I was going through but I felt like I was finally at a place [where] I had enough mental clarity to do so.
LUNA: Let’s talk about the lyrical content on “CRUSH.” When I listen to it, it’s like it’s telling a story. How was the process of writing it?
KNOWLES: That song kinda just wrote itself as far as the structure goes. It starts really slow, like progressively building steam, and then by the end of the song it's just like full out — vocals are going crazier, the beats [are] going crazier. It's funny, I've talked to a lot of people about this but afterward, looking back at the song, we felt like it naturally kind of followed that progression of a crush-turned-serious-relationship where it starts out really slow and then as it goes the lyrics and the melodies pick up steam, and then the beat picks up steam, then, by the end, it's just all out fun and happy, much like a crush-turned-serious-relationship would go.
That session was super fun. I just wanted to write something that was really happy because it’s more challenging for me to write super happy music since I lean toward the more sad stuff, so I always like to challenge myself with just writing something super happy. Originally, the song started straight-up acoustic, and we felt like the whole way through it was a cool song but there was no real growth to it. And so whenever we made the version that it is now, we wanted something that grew as it went.
LUNA: How would you describe those feelings of having a crush?
KNOWLES: It's amazing. I'm married now but we met when I was in junior high, so it very much started from this really innocent young crush, and it never stopped. It just continuously grew, even to this day after being married. What I wanted this song to symbolize was the feeling you can have after being with someone for so long yet still having these feelings like they're your crush, like you just met them. I think it's a really special thing whenever you know someone for so long but continue to learn new things about them that you love and continue to fall in love with them over and over again.
LUNA: You come from a small town, right? What are your thoughts on that small-town living?
KNOWLES: I love where I grew up. The town is called Magnolia, Texas, and it's like 45 minutes from where I live now. But it's very much just a small town, kind of more country. It's very quiet and peaceful. I feel like it had a big impact on my personality. I feel like I'm just a really calm guy, and I think that where I grew up had a lot to do with that. But pursuing music from a town like that was super intimidating. I was scared at the start for sure because no one really does that. It's mainly sports or people going to college for engineering degrees, so to pursue music was pretty interesting. There was a lot of fear tied into it at first, but once I kind of put myself out there and started uploading covers and stuff to SoundCloud, people at my high school just kept pushing me and told me that they loved the song. I feel like that gave me the push that I needed. I don't know where I would really be if it wasn't for my peers and family telling me that I should keep going. I owe a lot to where I come from, for sure.
LUNA: How did you overcome the fear of doing something that no one else was doing?
KNOWLES: I actually talked to someone when I first got into it, and they said, “If something scares you, you should lean into that.” That was kind of a quote that changed things for me because I used to make a lot of decisions based on fear and would not do certain things because I was scared of doing them. Another quote my manager has told me before was “You’ll never regret the things that you tried to do, but you'll always regret the things you didn't do.” I think both of those things, mindsets, helped me a lot. Living comfortably isn't fun. It’s way more fun to live uncomfortably and try new things and be adventurous, even if it's scary, because you never know what will happen.
LUNA: What’s a fear you’ve overcome recently?
KNOWLES: A big fear that I've kind of always had is being in front of people. But it's something that I'm proud to say I've grown a lot at — it's just having to push myself to have confidence in front of people. At the end of the day, people that are at the live show aren't there to make fun of you or laugh at you. So I think realizing everyone's got their own thing going on and we're all just doing our best has helped me a lot.
LUNA: For getting over those fears, is it only mental preparation or do you have any type of ritual before going onstage?
KNOWLES: A lot of it goes on in my head, just internal conversations with myself. And then I'll also, like, vocalize it a lot. I'll spend time in prayer and just pray for boldness and courage to be in front of people and not be scared. It's like a continuous thing where I'm trying to amp myself up.
LUNA: Do you pray a lot?
KNOWLES: I do, yeah.
LUNA: What’s your connection like to that side of your spirituality?
KNOWLES: It brings me a lot of peace. It takes me outside of myself and makes me know that I'm not in control and that there are things that I can't control. A lot of the time, we focus on the worst-case scenario and are totally blinded to the best-case scenario. As a musician, if you're performing in front of people, you're always thinking, “I hope I don't hit the wrong note; I hope I don't forget the lyrics,” but I think that we lose sight of the other end of that spectrum, which is, “I could totally crush this right now.” That's something I try to focus on going into stuff. I'm like, “This could go incredibly well so I'm just gonna believe that whatever happens happens, and I'm just gonna have fun doing it.”
LUNA: If you could go back to when you first started working on music, what’s something you would say to your younger self?
KNOWLES: I would probably tell myself to put myself in more uncomfortable situations, like playing music in front of people live. I do look back, though, and I am proud of a lot of the decisions that I made at that time because a lot of them led me to where I am now. If anything, I would just say to do that more because there are still things I didn't do because I was scared.
LUNA: How was your college experience outside of music?
KNOWLES: Super chill. Most of my time was honestly spent hanging out with a couple of close friends. It wasn't anything crazy. Amidst the chaos and stress of school and trying to pursue music it was really tough, but I actually really enjoyed it. It was fun.
LUNA: What school did you attend?
KNOWLES: Texas A&M. I actually just got my class ring.
LUNA: Oh nice! Does it have any special details?
KNOWLES: It's got my name engraved on the inside and my graduation year and a bunch of little details. It's actually super detailed. It's a super big Texas thing, like if people see you in public wearing this… I've gotten stopped multiple times while wearing it, and people are like, “Oh, nice ring.”
LUNA: How do you keep music fun for yourself? What do you creatively surround yourself with?
KNOWLES: I live in Texas, so I'm obviously separated from a lot of creatives — I'm actually about to move to Nashville so I can be closer to a lot of people. But I always try and just keep up with people and FaceTime friends out in LA regularly to just catch up and talk creative stuff. I also really love being outside and working out so I will try and take time for myself to make sure I'm doing stuff outside of just music to clear my head.
LUNA: How would you describe your sound?
KNOWLES: I usually say I make pop music, but it's, like, chill pop music, not like mainstream pop music. I'm kind of experimental with it; I like to try different styles. I'm always kind of trying to push myself, I guess … with my sound.
LUNA: What do you think would be the most unexpected thing you could do musically?
KNOWLES: Screamo, I don't know. I would say other stuff but I really do want to push the envelope with my sound and try to lean into certain styles. I don't want to limit myself too much.
LUNA: How do you explore new sounds in the EP?
KNOWLES: I use a lot of authentic kits and a lot of authentic drums. I really wanted it to stand out from my previous stuff so I was using a lot of live drums and tried to stay away from a lot of digital stuff if I could. At the root of it, I wanted it to be able to convert live really well, so a lot of it is really raw drums, guitars, real bass — all that stuff.
LUNA: How has it been playing live?
KNOWLES: The experience I have gotten has been amazing. It's just crazy to create a song in a room with some friends or by myself and then see it come to the level of playing in front of people. I haven't really done any shows where I'm playing my own songs and people are singing them because I haven't played any live shows in a while, but I look forward to that moment when people have connected with the song enough to sing it together in the same room. I think that's going to be super surreal for me.
LUNA: How do you feel about having people reach out to you and tell you that they love your music?
KNOWLES: It's really weird and really awesome. It's humbling too because it's so outside of myself. I just put a song out there, and then there's word-of-mouth that happens between people, and it's crazy just to see how a song can make its way around the world even — just crazy to think about.
LUNA: What’s next for you?
KNOWLES: I’ve got GOALIE coming Oct. 14. And then right now I'm trying to get started on my next stuff. I think right now I'm just in creating mode, just making new music, trying to formulate a sound for my next stuff. But a lot of new music coming after that. I’ll keep putting out music.
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