The Brooklyn-born, LA-based artist Zsela is the daughter of Chocolate Genius' Marc Anthony Thompson and the half-sister of the movie star Tessa Thompson. As for Zsela, she has been making music for a long time, flitting around the outer edges of the music business and working with artists like A$AP Rocky and Actress. Her debut album Big For You came out in 2024, and she'll follow it with a new one called The Party early next year.
Thus far, Zsela hasn't shared too many details about The Party. The album has nine tracks, but the tracklist that she shared today is mostly redacted. But we do know that it'll include at least tracks of breezy, Blood Orange-esque pop soul that refract pillowy '80s adult-contempo sounds through a circa-now prism.
Zsela co-wrote and co-produced her new single "Real Romantic" with Tinashe/Dijon collaborator Zack Sekoff, and the two of them also worked together on "Kinda Guy," which came out last month. Zsela and Sekoff made the whole album together, much of it in what a press release calls "a makeshift studio." Both of the singles radiate the same spacey, comfortable feeling, and they suggest that the full LP will make for luxurious vibe-out material. Listen to both below.
The Party is out 2/19 on Nice Life. Zsela will perform 11/19 at LA's 2220 Arts + Archives.
