Seven years after their first collaboration set Montreal alight, Zach Zoya and High Klassified are back in the studio together. Misstape 2, out now via Disques 7ième Ciel, picks up where the duo left off in 2018, but with a sharper focus and a deeper R&B pull. The EP is built for after-hours listening, the kind of record that fills a quiet room or a long drive without ever asking too much of you.
For Zoya, the reunion came down to geography. “It was as simple as me moving back to Montreal,” he says. “High Klassified and I never really lost touch, we kept working here and there throughout the years. I was even featured multiple times in his previous projects. When I finally moved back, it only felt right to get back in the studio with him first.”
The R&B lean of the new project came together through a combination of intention and instinct. “It was a mix of both. Part of me wanted this project to feel more cohesive and intentional,” Zoya explains. “I have a track record of offering a variety of genres on my past projects, and I really wanted this one to feel like one big playlist for the songs to flow into one another. However, the beats HK was showing just happened to be in that lane in the first few sessions we had, so kind of a happy accident as well.”
That cohesion is what gives Misstape 2 its late-night identity, an EP designed for specific moods and specific rooms. “I call it bedroom music, or baby-making music,” Zoya says with a laugh. “I think love stories, sensuality and yearning are pretty universal subjects. Anyone can find a piece of their story in there, or at least I hope so lol. This is most definitely inspired by my own… encounters.”
His most recent solo EP, It’s Always Sunny in Glendale, was born from his time in California, and the experience reshaped how he thinks about audience. Where that record reached outward, Misstape 2 zeroes in. “For It’s Always Sunny In Glendale, I think I shot wide, trying to appeal to my very diverse audience,” Zoya reflects, “referring back to my repertoire being made out of different styles/genres. Not that I didn’t love my last EP, but this one is meant to be very specific, nailing down one specific sound and sticking to it, regardless of who it might or might not appeal to. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from my time in California is to listen to what I want to do first and let people who enjoy it come to me, not try to please the whole world at the same time.”
That confidence runs through the partnership itself. High Klassified, a multi-platinum producer who has worked with The Weeknd, Future, Metro Boomin and Damso, has a famously intricate sonic signature, but here he pulls back. The chemistry between the two does the heavy lifting. “The chemistry is just instantaneous,” Zoya says. “We both work fast and without complicating the process too much. Sometimes, studio sessions can feel very laborious, like trying to crack the code, make the perfect song. Very few questions asked in a ZZ-HK session. The first idea is usually the good one. We made like 5 out of 7 songs on the first 3 days back together in the studio. We’re also actually homies, so we can just crack jokes in the studio, not take it too seriously, and that actually helps a lot. No pressure, easy-going, only good vibes.”
The polish on Misstape 2 sets it apart from the looser, more exploratory feel of the 2018 original. Zoya hears that as growth, plain and simple. “Most definitely growth,” he says. “First of all we got Gaëlle, a brilliant vocalist to come in and do back vocals and layers on pretty much all the songs, which gives everything much more depth and texture. To that same point, I think I learned a lot about harmonies, vocal layering and song structure in the last few years. LA did help with that. Being around world-renowned and terrifyingly talented, hard-working artists in the US does help get to that next level.”
That growth also comes from the radio success of tracks like Start Over and Upper Hand, which reached the Top 40 and shaped how he now approaches the craft. “I acquired quite a bit of experience with those successes and totally incorporated that into the music-making process,” he says.
Asked whether the new EP feels like a continuation of what they started in 2018 or the closing of a loop, Zoya frames it as something more alive. “It feels like an evolution, a teenager who’s now a young adult, with responsibilities, lived experience, kinks in the armour. I do strongly feel like it’s in the same universe. Hope the listeners can feel that!”
Misstape 2 is out now via Disques 7ième Ciel.
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