When we speak of Philadelphia and “the charts”, we’re normally thinking of the sales and streams from the local likes of Taylor Swift or Meek Mill or Lil Uzi Vert. Not a hard rock, female and male Philadelphia outfit with mixed ethic and religious roots, releasing rough-edged music on Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records label. I’m talking about Soraia. That just happens to be the case, however, with the newly-dropped single from Soraia, “Tight-Lipped,” from their recently-released album, Dig Your Roots.
Released as a seven inch single, backed by a cover of Aerosmith’s “Angel,” the rugged rhythmic track not only has gained traction at AOR/Active Rock radio stations such as WMMR, Jersey’s WRAT and SiriusXM’s Underground Garage channel. “Tight-Lipped,” when let loose, has jumped into the Top 40 Billboard’s Mainstream Rock charts. A feat not only for Soraia, but a boost for big rock in the area considering how rarely the genre gets a nod in this, the day and age of pop, EDM, hip hop and country ruling the news of the charts. “Tight-Lipped” and Dig Your Roots was produced and engineered for Soraia by Geoff Sanoff who has pulled similar duties for Bruce Springsteen and Fountains Of Wayne. The Boss link continues since Van Zandt penned “Why” for their previous album, Dead Reckoning, and co-wrote two tracks on Dig Your Roots, “Still I Rise” and “Darkness (Is My Only Candle).” In Soraia’s not-too-distant past, 2013’s In The Valley Of Love And Guns, the band co-wrote five songs with Jon Bon Jovi.
Interestingly enough, Soraia will tour in September 2021 with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. A fascinating pairing when you consider Soraia songwriter and singer ZouZou Mansour’s Jett-like vibe and sneer. But that cool comparison isn’t quite enough of an answer as ZouZou and the rest of the ensemble, Nick Seditious, Travis Smith, Brianna Sig – Soria songwriters all, hold a certain swing to go with their heavy gothic sound, a swaggering soulfulness and a spirituality to go with its spidery metal. ZouZou is Muslim and Catholic. And I don’t mean gothic in the now-tired alterna-rock sense but rather a doomy romanticism right out of Wuthering Heights. The new video for “Tight-Lipped” continues my gothic theory with its grand cinematic style.
“I’m all about playing a fun song and throwing myself around. That’s Rock ’n’ Roll at its heart,” ZouZou wrote in prepared remarks on Soraia’s site. “But I’m also about telling the stories of resurrection and life and hope and darkness.”
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