Noa Zimmerman is honest. The 21-year-old songwriter, producer feels as though it’s her responsibility to be. Having written songs since before she can remember, Zimmerman has always felt that pursuing music was less of a choice and more of an instinct. Her multiple self produced folk-pop records, as well as her acceptance to the University of Southern California’s Popular Music and Production programs are a testament to that.
Her new single “Rapture” delves into the painful hope that so many of us have been feeling. “Rapture” originally started as a poem, inspired by Zimmerman teaching songwriting to foster children with addiction issues. After taking a step back to reflect on both the systemic issues facing the United States, as well as the challenging perspectives she faced abroad in India and Tibet, her words kept flowing and eventually turned into music. The sound of the melancholic fingerpicking of the guitar, mixed with Zimmerman’s strong vocal is representative of the persistence that is necessary to overcome heartbreaking injustice. The beginning of the song starts off soft, similar to how an argument may begin in hushed tones. As the song builds, and the addition of percussion, strings, and layered background vocals come into play, Zimmerman’s tone shifts to that of urgency, pleading for people to look at the great inequity that is present internationally.
Simultaneously Zimmerman had been working on a film about the community organization effort surrounding the oil drilling in Santa Maria. When the production had to stop due to the COVID-19 pandemic she was left with the incomplete footage. Since her final showcase for college had gone virtual, and she had already decided to play “Rapture” during it, she decided to add a visual component, and thus the “Rapture” music video came to be. Though both the song and video highlight the symptoms of injustice, the timing of both creative projects seems almost fortuitous. Zimmerman plans to keep doing the work that she can to shed light on the magnitude of suffering that is occurring internationally and provide a call to action in order to create a better world.
