Exclusive: SZN4 Opens Up About Facing Their Fears on Debut Album ‘I Fear’

From Netflix’s Building The Band to their debut album I Fear, SZN4’s Katie, Donzell, Aaliyah Rose, and Cameron have used their musical chemistry to form their first full-length project.

Photo credit: Bonnie Nichoalds

Following the success of “Back to Me,” SZN4 created a 13-track project, forming an open communication between vulnerability, dedication, and relationships with oneself. The group, which hails from different parts of the U.S., including major cities like Chicago, Boston, and southern and western states like Arkansas and Utah, still shares the same drive to exceed their individual expectations for themselves and the group. 

The title was suggested by the group’s manager, which they all agreed not only represented what they laid out musically for the project but also what they wanted fans to create for themselves.

“We love this title. I Fear is an open canvas,” Katie explained. “And we wanted our fans to like kind of have their own kind of interpretation of their own story when they hear our project.”

SZN4 on their favorite tracks

SZN4 explores vulnerability, faith, and authenticity as some of the themes on I Fear with each track blending their silk-like melodies. 

“I would say the song that kind of challenged me vocally in the best possible way, ‘Bayou’ was one of the records we recorded,” Katie shared. “It's the last record we recorded on. Well, not the last record. It's the first record we recorded after the tour. And we kind of all just were going through our own little head spaces after the tour in a good way.”

She added: “It was also just a really emotional time for us. It was our first ever tour. It's the first time I ever toured as an artist. I think the other three as well, I believe, and it was just such an interesting time.”

Cameron agreed with Katie that “Bayou” was also one of his favorite songs on the project, but their unique approach to their first solo project is what he highlighted.

“I really love our solo songs. One thing that we do that's really different on this album than a lot of other groups is we really think about ourselves as a collective. So we want everyone to shine individually as well and just really be able to bring their personality into it,” Cameron explained. “So each of the four of us has a solo song on this album. And I love everybody's, but my solo song is called ‘Time.’  I think that's definitely one of my favorites because it was just so fun writing.”

Donzell’s favorite was “Soirée,” adding that it was recorded on his birthday but that it was a really fun record and is “excited for the world to hear it.”

For Aaliyah Rose, she chose “Run,” noting that “it really been growing on me a lot, especially in like the last like few months but I loved it when we recorded it, too, and I say that it’s a fun like group number that's kind of like different from what we've shown the world so far, too. It’s another cool thing with this album is that we're trying to tap into so many different elements of our sound that  people haven't really heard yet.”

SZN4 on their fears 

I Fear serves as a place for not only fans to take in how they’ve progressed and challenged themselves musically but a symbolic place of achievement for them to have gotten through their own hard fears.

“Being in the recording studio and recording this whole album was such a learning experience for me,” Cameron shared. “ I know we've all talked about it. So I know for a lot of us, it's like a similar sentiment. But I had never really been in the studio that much before working with season four. So recording this album just let me experience a lot of new things, which especially in the beginning were very scary for me. I was just anxious about doing songwriting or recording in a studio because it's so different from live performing.”

Donzell thrived on a place of uncomfortability while recording the project to get over his fears. “I would honestly say being vulnerable and not being vulnerable, being uncomfortable. Like I would say it was a lot like being in my head, and you got to get in the booth, and it's like, ‘oh, my God, I got to turn this. I got to turn it on.’ And  I feel like recording this album, it helped me a lot with the mental side of everything, just being able to accept being uncomfortable because that's where growth happens.”

Aaliyah Rose spoke about the pressure after being on Building The Band where there was a flood of questions by curious fans on the group’s future.

“Just being with the band is there are no fears when we're with each other because it just erases all the doubts or whatever I have in my head that I'm definitely such an overthinker with my crafts and with so many things that are involved in being in this industry. But when I'm with when I'm with the band, it's just like it all melts away. Well, I see, for me, I think after the show came out and things like that, there was like quite a bit of like pressure of like, you know, like people being like, where are they? You know, are they going to release next?”

For Katie, there was also a bit of outside pressure that she had to face given the added spotlight on the band’s success.

“I thought I definitely think being perceived was like such a broad spectrum,” Katie shared. “I think about feeling like I'm being judged or feeling like I'm like someone's looking at me with a magnifying glass.”

She continued: “I think what's beautiful about SZN4 is that we have each other, and I think I definitely live, breathe, and eat music. So when we're in those spaces in the studio, and I'm with my people, I know that I can just show up and do me and do that unapologetically. I know we can make really powerful, magical music.”

I Fear is out now on all streaming platforms.