Cenzina's latest Electronica and Pop amalgamating single, "Juice," opens over a heartbeat cadence held by the weight of a kick-drum, to support a fluttering of harmonics centered around resilience and equality.
Over her atmospherically super-charged sonic narratives inaugurating lines, “It was the perfect set up if you ask me, a luscious garden and a budding fruit tree. The creatures whispered warnings into my ear, but curiosity was all I could hear.” Cenzina begins to describe an Elysium of some kind. Stationed between oscillating pads, buoyant back-up vocals, and an 80s nostalgia—indisputable from the tubular tom-tom fills, and saturated synth pads—she buzzes with a soprano-like enthusiasm to evoke profound introspection, chaperoning listeners through a prismatic journey into the pop-infused depths of her catalog's best music yet.
It's a play on the Garden of Eden, where Cenzina lifts the veil off reality with her mystifying sonics to reveal an illustrated egalitarian stance on societies cultural constructs, its genderized pressures, and the taboos appended—in the form of "forbidden fruit"—while implanting an anecdote of "take what life gives you," into the mix with her uproaring anthemic top-line.
When looking back, Cenzina's "Juice" is like a pop-anthem that gathers from the touchstones of Electro, RnB, and Neo-Soul musical influences with a connoisseur's ear, to create a vivid sonic portrait that details and questions the impossible standards society hold for women, and the freedom of thought everyone deserves.
Hello Cenzina and thank you for catching up with us at BuzzMusic, it's great to have you back with us! What were some of the most empowering emotions you found yourself focusing on for the performances you've captured on "Juice?"
Autonomy. Authenticity. Resilience. Rejection of the status quo.
Have there been impactful learning experiences you can trace back to the process behind "Juice," that you still carry with you today?
For sure. There are many layers to my inspiration behind Juice. Moments in life where you are called to your resilience. Some were abrupt and deeply personal such as my struggle with a major health crisis in my mid-twenties while others were more subtle and shared; ones you ‘wake up’ to, or from. Such as social paradigms, catholic guilt, and confusion around my identity as a wxman.
How would you hope "Juice" impacted your listeners? Did you want to challenge them to think from a different perspective?
Definitely. The storyline of the song, which is a twist on the Eden scene, both challenges the cultural implications of that story itself, but is also symbolic. It alludes to the fruit of knowledge not being poisonous at all but rather used as a means of control. The ideologies women must simultaneously bear as both the biblical root of original sin (and all of the guilt, body shame.. etc that ensues), and yet the life-givers, nurturers literal gateways to the universe. These things are so contradictory. Not to mention details behind the story often missed in the mainstream narrative, in which Adam was originally married to Lillith, before Eve. Because Lillith refused to be subservient to Adam she left the Garden and was cast to the realm of daemons. In an old rabbinic culture, it was said that Lillith was made of the same soil as Adam. Eve was a restart for Adam, made of his rib. Any “knowledge” Eve may have later acquired Adam would have already possessed. Seems like an unfair start to Eve’s legacy don’t you think? I feel there is big healing that needs to happen there for both men and wxmen in regards to how we look at and interpret these stories, and how they play out in cultural gender identities and inequalities that are still highly problematic today.
Symbolically, the song also represents all the false barriers we perceive to have in life. Things we are told we can't or shouldn't do, perhaps fuelled by fear or the dissuasion of others. Things deemed impossible. Missed opportunities. This song is about rising to the occasion. It’s about honoring yourself by thinking and acting for yourself. Really engaging in how you curate your own moral compass in life and what you do with the circumstances life gives you.
If you could give us a few words that would prefix the experience behind "Juice," and your upcoming music, what would you say and why?
Juice definitely has those lush, uplifting vibes with a little bit of sass. Felt the subject matter asked for it. My next few singles will be soulful, psychedelic, songs to get lost to. Because it's about time I went there!
What are you working on currently and what can fans anticipate to hear next from you?
Right now I am working on a series of singles leading up to an Album. These songs draw from a range of Alternative Pop genres all tied with a Soulful, dreamy thread. I have to say I am really excited about this next wave of expression. These next few singles really feel like me.