HEAD ABOVE THE WATER
Performing artist, Zay Nova, released his debut album, Head Above the Water, on January 20th, 2024. Nominated for 2022 & 2024 Music NL Country Artist of the Year as well as Global Artist of the Year and 2021 nominee for Canadian Independent Music Video Awards for Best Country Video, Zay Nova worked with producers, Wynan Aguspratama, Robert Kelly, Matt Dines, Clint Curtis and Daniel Adams to finalize this album. In addition to the four songs he wrote in this album, he co-wrote three of the album’s nine tracks with his friend Jan Duke of Mississippi, USA (It’s Been a Good Ride, In Your Arms and Keep Your Head Above the Water). He also co-wrote two songs with a former Member of Great Big Sea, Darrell Power, St. John’s, NL Canada, (Don’t Tell Me Mudder and Heart of This Town).
The album title, Head Above the Water, is inspired by one of the tracks by the same name. The album cover is designed by Zay Nova using one of his paintings called ‘Head Above the Water’. The painting itself was inspired by the song. There are nine tracks in this album and you will hear expressions of fun, hilarious adventures, tender love, hope, forgiveness and inclusion woven among the lyrics. Zay Nova’s debut album, Head Above the Water, is available now on music streaming platforms.
MUSIC VIDEOS
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BIO
Zay Nova is a new Canadian country singer-songwriter and radio producer. He was born in a small village called Sempan on Bangka Island, Indonesia. As with many kids, one of his teachers asked, “When you grew up, what do you want to be?” He answered the question by saying, “I want to be a songwriter!” As a 7-year-old he knew nothing about songwriting. Zay Nova was just a poor country boy who didn’t know music except for the lullaby his mother sang before he went to bed. He never saw musical instruments and did not know music at all because there was neither radio and nor TV at home where he grew up.
Electricity didn’t come to his village until 1990. However, Zay Nova left his hometown at the tender age of 17 and went to Madura Island in Java to study at an Islamic Boarding School. He was introduced to country music while Shania Twain was very popular in country music around the world. He started to learn and memorize some lyrics from the cover of her album and taught himself more English by listening to western country music.
After finishing school in 2002, Zay moved again to the Special Region of Yogyakarta close to central Java to study Arabic Literature. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the Communication and Broadcast faculty at the State Islamic University, Sunan Kalijaga, in Yogyakarta. In that city, Zay discovered western country music which was broadcast by a local Christian radio station. He fell in love right away with the music and started to teach himself to be a radio announcer and scriptwriter. When he felt confident enough, he applied for a job at the same radio station that played western country music. He was successful in his job application. From the very first day he was hired, he improved his English by bringing a dictionary to the station and practicing how to pronounce each word from many country songs on the daily radio playlist. In 2005, while attending university, he kept working at the radio station as a means to pay his university tuition. At the same time, he started a band and wrote many songs.
After the band broke up in 2010, he played solo at some local events and then moved to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, in 2014. Zay started a new career in TV and as a radio producer, audio commercial production, and video producer. He also worked as a host for a Jakarta TV program. He decided to move to Canada in 2017 to start a new life and adventure. He chose St. John’s, Newfoundland, as his home. To this day, St. John’s is where his heart is.