Born Julia van der Torn, the up-and-coming singer/songwriter Julia Zahra was born in Indianapolis and raised in The Netherlands. In 2013, Zahra auditioned for the fourth season of The Voice of Holland with an acoustic cover of Britney Spears‘ “Oops I Did It Again” that has since amassed over 6 million steams of Spotify; as a result of the popularity of her cover, an 18 year-old Zahra became one of the show’s youngest winners to date.
After winning The Voice of Holland, Zahra released her full-length debut. The following year, Zahra competed in the Dutch TV singing competition show, The Best Singers of The Netherlands, a show in which each artist performs covers of each competing artist’s material — and she wound up winning that show. “Just an Illusion,” which she sang on the show shot up the Dutch iTunes charts in 2015, and by 2016 the song was picked up in Fiji, where it’s still a Top 10 song, and eventually across much of the Pacific. Recently, the song was played on radio stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and parts of Canada, amassing over 4 million Spotify streams. Building upon a growing international profile. Zahra spent 2 months touring the Pacific including Fiji’s Vodafone Arena and a sold-out Club Royalz show in Auckland, New Zealand.
Last year, the American-born, Dutch-based singer/songwriter released the Something New EP, a collection of stripped down, acoustic versions of her previously released material. And since the release of Something New, Zahra has been busy playing sold-out live dates across Holland while gearing up to release new material, including her latest single, the empowered, “I ain’t taking your shit anymore” anthem “Do You.” Centered around a slick production that pairs looping acoustic guitar with thumping electro pop, a rousing hook and Zahra’s emotional, pop belter-like vocals, the song is about recognizing when you can’t trust someone you’ve been involved with, trusting your own instincts and doing what’s necessary to move on.
