Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter Mitchell Zia delivers his boldest artistic statement yet with “nicotine” (released October 3), a dark pop single that turns desire into obsession through provocative lyrics and immersive sound.
Known for his low-octave delivery and dynamic “voice drops,” Zia continues to push pop into darker territory while grounding his work in meticulous craft.
“The idea is that desire can be like nicotine: intoxicating, addictive, and destructive,” he explains.
Built around the lyrics “And when you wake up / Praying on your knees / I’ll be your savior / I’ll be your nicotine,” the track combines Zia’s signature sultry vocals with cinematic production.
He co-produced the song, with Lawrence Blackwood handling mixing and mastering.
“When you sing in low registers, you need someone who knows how to make them cut through,” Zia says. “Lawrence helped the voice pop while keeping the atmosphere moody.”
The result is a soundscape both hypnotic and dramatic. When listening, you’ll notice very intentional moments designed to put listeners in a trance and then to jolt them back to life. “That shift keeps the song alive,” Zia says.
Zia’s artistry traces back to over a decade of classical piano training, with Beethoven as a formative influence.
“I loved how Beethoven could swing from playful to forceful in a heartbeat,” he says. “That intensity shines through in this track. It’s never flat, always dynamic.”
His favorite piece to play remains Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata Op. 13, renowned for its dramatic shifts from tender to forceful, a quality that echoes throughout his own music.
Outside the studio, Zia’s identity has been formed in part by his time as a bass in the UCLA choir, where he often felt overlooked.
“The tenors always got the spotlight,” he recalls. “I want to show that deeper voices deserve their own place in mainstream pop.”
That mission resonates with his TikTok audience of nearly 200,000, who know him for flipping popular songs into low-register reinterpretations.
His viral Måneskin cover has earned millions of streams, while his original “accelerating” appeared in a Warner Bros Movie World campaign.
Fans across Mexico, Germany, India, and Egypt continue to add him to playlists with names that, he jokes, are “probably too explicit to say here.”
With “nicotine,” Zia unites his technical foundation, global reach, and dark romance vision into a single addictive package. It’s not just a song, it’s a mission statement.
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