Sweet Pill's Zayna Youssef Shares Her Fave Femme Artists

Philadelphia alt-rock rising stars Sweet Pill are getting ready to bring their unique blend of emo, pop and hardcore down under for the second annual instalment of New Bloom Fest, the East Coast-roaming mini festival cheering on the new wave of alternative rock music. Not only will the five-piece be making their Australian live debut alongside Basement, Balance & Composure and more at New Bloom, which kicks off in Brisbane next Saturday, 8th March, they’ve also announced a trio of their own headline dates hitting Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide, supported by Brisbane’s Bad Neighbour.

In honour of their imminent maiden voyage to Australia, Music Feeds asked Sweet Pill’s powerhouse frontwoman Zayna Youssef to tell us about which femme artists have inspired her most on her journey through music. You can read her words, and suss all the band’s Australian live dates down below.

Sweet Pill – Starchild EP Music Video

Zayna Youssef: A lot of the people on this list weren’t around when I was younger. It was Avril Lavigne and No Doubt for me, and Miley Cyrus, that was about it. Those were the females that I was like: “yeah!! Rock!!”. But I mean, Avril Lavigne; yeah, okay, she’s rock. But I’m talking about what the boys are doing, like playing that gig to a Taking Back Sunday kind of crowd. I grew up listening to Taking Back Sunday, I grew up listening to that third emo wave. There was Evanescence around that time too, but that’s not even in that emo-ish genre really.

Hayley Williams’ era, Paramore’s era took that whole: “girl! You’re a girl in a band” token thing…they took it and ate that so that for the next generation – it’s not a thing anymore. Now it’s like: you’re listening to the band because you like it, not because of: “oh, it’s a girl singer”. It should be an afterthought. It shouldn’t even matter! If I like music – I like it! And if a dude’s singing it? Great. The dude’s powerful and rocking too. I’m all for empowering women, but there’s some guys that inspire me too. And there’s no reason to draw a line and to separate. Everyone can inspire people regardless of what you identify as!

Kimbra

The first artist I have to say is Kimbra, who’s from New Zealand, which is of course very near to Australia. I love Kimbra. Kimbra just sits there and records herself. And she is an unbelievable vocalist, a captivating band, great show, improv – incredible! She is the instrument.

SZA

In that same pop vein, I love SZA so much. She actually just performed at the Super Bowl here in America, go Birds, the Philadelphia Eagles! SZA has such interesting melodies, she rhymes her words halfway through her sentences, and just has such a great flow. I love it!

Deux Visages

In the more alternative world, I love the band Deux Visages. They’re fairly new, they had like one song out for a year, and I was like: “I need more!!”. They’re from Florida and they just moved to Philly where I’m from. I actually just went and met them and I was like: “guys, I’m a big fan”, and they were like: “oh my god, we love you too”. It was insane! But they’re great, I love them. Daphney [Hanono], their singer, is commanding without being in your face, which is hard to do.

Gouge Away

I also love Gouge Away, they’re incredible. I was a fan of Gouge Away before Sweet Pill even started. They’re also from Florida, but we’ve seen them so many times. We actually saw them at Outbreak Fest in the UK, and we just played Something In The Way Fest in Boston together. Their show…I want to take that energy and I want to steal it! I feel like I could punch a brick wall after watching Gouge Away perform, like “Hulk Smash!” stuff. They’re incredible, mad respect for what they do.

feeble little horse

I love feeble little horse, they’re very different to Gouge Away, but I love the lyrical content of this band. It’s very modern, I would say. But I also love the way it makes me feel, they have such a good way of saying what I feel alsoI go through. It’s just cool, interesting and refreshing music, but it’s still emotional. Sometimes, I just hear melodies, I’ll hear the singer sing and I’ll be like: “oh, that’s a great melody”, but I’m not really listening to what they’re saying. But I’m listening to everything they’re saying with feeble little horse. And I know that because I don’t have to look up the lyrics after, I can just recite them. feeble little horse, if you’re reading this, let’s play a show together!

Freshwater

Last year’s New Bloom Fest had Fleshwater, and I love that band. Recently I met Marisa [Shirar] from the band in Philadelphia when they were playing at a venue nearby. And I just have mad respect for being able to be a girl in that genre, the alt-metal/hardcore/gaze genres, and play and sing and just be badass. I really love Fleshwater, they’re one of my favourite bands that have popped up recently. And I know a lot of other people love Fleshwater too. They’ve already surpassed us, and it’s just gonna keep going. I mean, they’re playing with Deftones, they’re on tour with Deftones and The Mars Volta right now I’m pretty sure. They’re doing a stadium tour, and I’m just like: dude, that’s awesome!! They are literally so good, and they deserve it.

Lemuria

Another band I want to mention is Lemuria. They’re not doing anything right now I don’t think. But they’ve been hinting and teasing on their Instagram, they’ll be active sometimes.That is a band I am so impressed with musically, the weird, odd timings ,the singer captivates,I love the energy – everything! Even just the whimsy of the lyrics. And it’s not so serious, but it still hits. I love the dual singer with the guy and girl vocals too. I’m so impressed by them. I don’t think enough people listen to Lemuria, so they should get on it!

Doja Cat

I do wanna brag a little bit here for a moment: Doja Cat shouted us out! Jayce [Williams], our guitarist, shared a screenshot with us in the group chat. And I was like: “Doja Cat, what does that have to do with us? This is not funny”, I thought it was a Photoshop thing. I didn’t answer it, no one answered. And then the next day he posted it on our Instagram, that Doja Cat had us in her Top Artists that she was listening to. But I still didn’t know it was real, I was about to text and be like: “what’s the gimmick? What does this have to do with us?!”. And then someone in the comments was like: “is this real?”. So I fact-checked it on her Twitter – and it was real! I was literally running in a circle around my room when I realised!

Hayley Williams/Paramore

And lastly, you may have heard of this little band called Paramore. Hayley Williams…I will never stop talking about it, because that person is so important for so many women. I could talk forever about her, but she is the reason why I felt like I could do what I wanted to do. And even if I didn’t want to be a musician, just to see somebody confidently be themselves and display it, it means so much. And she talks about not being perfect, she advocates for mental health, she advocates for LGBTQ – everything that I align myself with, she advocates for. And that’s not usually the case. People are afraid to be vocal a lot of the time because it affects you, or it can affect the way people view you. Some people keep things to themselves, but for me, I’m really glad I grew up with someone like Hayley out there. And I hope that generation that she’s inspired continues to inspire the next generation as well.