Zoe Wees

A disarmingly honest singer-songwriter with a husky yawp and acute descriptions of her inner life, Zoe Wees (born May 13, 2002, in Hamburg) became known to German audiences in the late 2010s as a contestant on the talent show The Voice Kids. Her breakout single “Control”, a piano-led ballad in which she sang of the “spinnin’ out in space pressin’ on my chest” she experienced because of her childhood epilepsy and overwhelming anxiety, was a sleeper hit in 2020. Its worldwide success led to Wees being named an Apple Music Up Next artist in 2021. In May of that year she released her debut EP, Golden Wings, and tracks like the swirling “Hold Me Like You Used To” and the rage-tinged “Girls Like Us” established Wees as one of pop’s most vibrant young voices, with a pronounced talent for immediate, forthright songwriting. The following year, she released “Daddy’s Eyes”, a searing letter to her absent father, and the EDM-tinged call for hope “Don't Give Up”, as well as a cover of Liam Payne’s holiday cut “All I Want (For Christmas)”. Her debut full-length, Therapy, which collects her early singles and features new tracks, was released in the fall of 2023.