Zoe Ko Isn’t Your Girlfriend — She’s the Main Character

Zoe Ko’s latest EP was a happy accident.

The singer-songwriter has been steadily releasing songs as a follow up to her 2023 debut EP, Baby Teeth.

“Lucky.” “Dirt.” “Furr.” “Kiss My (Ah).”

Ko never planned to have the songs live together on a specific project. She just made them to make them.

“I don't like to super plan or do a super hyper concept — especially when I'm like in EP world,” Ko says. “After a whole bunch of songs get made, then it feels right to pick and choose and put it all together.”

The result is Ko’s new EP, not ur girlfriend — a seven-track project that documents different aspects of the “female experience.”

“Any type of feminist take I usually am writing about,” Ko says.

Take “Lucky,” for example. The song describes “the most common female experience,” Ko says, of being inappropriately hit on and touched when you don’t want to be.

Look to “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” to hear Ko flip the character trope on its head. A manic pixie dream girl is an often quirky character who serves the lead male role, usually entering his life briefly to accelerate character development. Think Sam from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, who Emma Watson played in the movie adaptation.

"We love these characters but don't actually really know that much about them. Often they're very tortured,” Ko says.

She says these characters’ ability to shape the male leads is an unnoticed superpower; something only a woman could do.

And, of course, listen to the title track to be reminded that Ko isn’t your girlfriend — and isn’t afraid to break the rules of songwriting.

“The songwriting rules are not necessary and it's always way more fun to create more of a landscape,” Ko says of the track.

The song — which opens the EP — starts with a phone call between Ko and an unidentified man. Sound effects make it sounds like your phone is ringing. The conversation makes it feel like you're overhearing someone getting turned down.

“That's always been important to me: setting the mood, setting the landscape, giving you a visual feeling of what's going on,” Ko says.

The mood of the EP feels rebellious and gritty. Ko may be sitting on black trash bags in the cover art, which was photographed by Carianne Older, but that doesn’t mean she’s not exactly where she wants to be.

“Even though everything else around me is like a hot fucking mess, I'm thriving,” Ko says. This speaks to Ko’s ability to pull herself out of a funk, usually, she says, by partying.

“That's why I gravitate so much to upbeat music,” Ko says.

To expand further on this visual landscape, Ko is creating a 20-page zine to accompany the EP. One page includes “10 tips for when you drop your man.” Another page shows Ko as a cutout doll that readers can customize with different clothes.

“I just felt like that was a really fun way to create the world even more,” Ko says.

She’s also bringing her artistic world to life on the road, including her festival debut at Lollapalooza in Chicago. (She plans to decorate the stage with hot pink trash bags.)

If you want to experience the not ur girlfriend universe, don’t hesitate. Ko’s sound won’t stay the same for long.

“My journey with finding ‘my sound,’ that whole thing — oh my god — I've literally struggled with it so hard,” Ko says. “It’s really really hard for me to be one thing.”

It makes sense that her musical inspirations include Lady Gaga, Madonna and Gwen Stefani — artists known for their reinvention.

“I don't think I will ever have one super, super distinct thing,” she says.

The one constant she’ll strive for in her music?

Authenticity.

“It will always be me. It will always be my experiences,” Ko says. “Writing is an outlet for me.”