Photographed by [Taylor Washington](https://www.instagram.com/waylor.photo/)
[Gabby Zike](https://www.instagram.com/gabbyzike/) is here to spread her _Beachroom_ vibes to the rest of the world and beyond. The Los Angeles native came up as a member of the R&B group June’s Diary, and now the 24-year-old is stepping into her own as a solo recording artist (while continuing to play her part in the group). Fusing her own blend of alternative R&B and pop, her smooth and sultry vocals are immediately reminiscent of better times.
In describing herself, she states, “Human, but that’s a copout. \[laughs\] I’m passionate, curious, a little bit aloof sometimes, very loving, and I have a great sense of humor.”
The only thing better than her music is her bubbly, quirky personality, and fans can’t get enough. Currently doing everything independently, the singer-songwriter recently unleashed her 8-track mixtape titled _Beachroom—_which sees her ziplining through a whole bunch of genres. The inspiration comes directly from her father, who was and still is a great musician. The super eclectic bass player listened to everything from jazz and rock to classical and contemporary music—which reflects directly into Gabby’s sound.
Ultimately, Gabby just goes off what feels good. One day she’ll be in super acoustic vibes, the next day she’s writing an 80’s pop song. It all depends on her mood.
_Flaunt_ caught up with Gabby via FaceTime, who was posted in Las Vegas where she went hiking and meditated on top of rocks with her friend. Read below as we discuss her roots in Los Angeles, biggest influences, the turning point for music, being a member of June’s Diary, creating the _Beachroom_ EP, studio essentials, love, and more!
Photographed by [Taylor Washington](https://www.instagram.com/waylor.photo/)
**You’re from Los Angeles, what was it like growing up?**
It was really good. My parents are from completely different places, they separated when I was two. I grew up in different dynamics. My mom’s really African. You can take the woman out of Africa, but you can’t take Africa out of the woman. She’s this super prideful African woman. I got a chance to have all of these childhood experiences where I felt really close to my culture, and still am. Then there’s my dad who’s super all over the place. He’s a European man, he always encourages me to be curious. My childhood growing up in LA was very involved in art, music, and absolutely everything _culture_. I was very privileged to have parents that pushed me to be very open-minded. We always saw live music, and went to aquariums or museums. My parents taught me to really appreciate the little things, I’m grateful for that. My childhood was honestly really great.
**Biggest influences growing up?**
It’s funny you say that because I didn’t want to do music for most of my life. There’s nobody who “I wanted to be like this person,” there were people I admired. Growing up The Beatles, the B-52’s, Sarah Vaughan, and Frank Sinatra.
Photographed by [Taylor Washington](https://www.instagram.com/waylor.photo/)
**At what point did you realize this music thing was forreal?**
I’m in a girl group called June‘s Diary, there was an audition to be in that group on a TV show. I was in college at the time, I was taking child development classes to be a teacher. The audition happened on a random Saturday in 2016, it wasn’t even this big breakout. I was still enrolled in school when I auditioned, then made the show unexpectedly. They chose me for the group, I’m like “oh shit.”
It turned my whole life around at age 19. I was thrown into the music industry. I had no idea what it was or what it entailed. I didn’t even want to do it, so I wasn’t prepared for anything. Didn't do any sort of research, not that you really can, but that’s when I got really immersed. My whole life, the universe or greater beings were pushing me towards music, and I was going in another direction. Finally that situation of making the group solidified that “okay, this is what you need to be doing.”
**How is it being a member of R&B group June’s Diary?**
I’m still in It. We’re still a thing. I love those girls! They definitely shaped me as a performer, as an artist. My fondest memories are performing in arenas, achieving our dreams and doing all of these things, but our powerful, most genuine moments are when we’re making a mess in the hotel. Drinking champagne and making up dumb songs. It’s the best when you feel like you have family outside of family.
**How is the transition going solo?**
We’ve really been working towards branding ourselves as a collective like Wu-Tang or Odd Future. When we’re together, we are that entity. When we're separate, we encourage each other to work on our own music, write your own song. You’re an artist, figure out what your individuality is because we’ve been in this group now for 4.5 years. Anybody in a group will tell you, it’s so important to really know yourself as an individual, otherwise you adopt whatever personality the group’s given you. Whatever role you play in the group, that’s who you are now. That’s cool, it’s fine and dandy when you’re physically with the group, but it’s important to look in the mirror and know who you are outside of that. We’re all very supportive of that. The girls love the project, posting and promoting it. All of us write our own music, some of us are about to put on more solo stuff. Honestly, it’s been a very encouraging positive experience.
**What was the creative process behind the _Beachroom_ EP?**
We have a ton of songs. I’ve been working with these two producers OB 1 and Kush. We’ve been working together for the past year and a half, we have an archive of things. A few months before this mixtape came out, we looked at each other like “hmm, we have all of this stuff. Let’s just put out something, an introduction of some sort.” Because we have a million songs.
We went through all of our songs, okay what makes sense to put out first? What makes us put out as an introduction so we can go from there with our other songs? These sounds we chose a strategic project where we wanted it to be a very beginning and go on from there. Really the inspiration was to make some mark, put my name out there so people know it’s happening. Build an organic following and really get to know listeners. The process was literally choosing songs: what goes together? What do we want to do? A pretty long process too, I underestimated how much work goes into putting a whole project together.
**Meaning behind the title?**
When we were first working together we always worked out of a studio room called Beachroom. That was our room, our vibe with the lights, beach stuff everywhere, the fish, we loved it. It’s where we could create the best stuff. We named this project as an homage to create the space that even allowed us to create it.
**What inspired “Differences”?**
“Differences” is me talking to myself: “stay out of your own way please, you self-sabotager.” I know I can speak for a lot of people when I say I self-sabotage or I talk myself out of positivity. That song’s about chilling out and not being so hard on yourself. Don’t over complicate things, don’t be so mean to yourself. That’s what that was, it’s a constant battle for me. I know it’s a constant battle for other people too, but I’m so hard on myself. I really have to remind myself to take space. You’re a human you're not perfect, so chill the fuck out.
**How important is meditation & self-care?**
I just started getting into consistent meditation, there’s a ton of things I do for self-care. I’m a child on the inside so a lot of self-care are things like painting, being outside, playing in the sand at the beach. Making candles, chapstick, lotions, rugs and art. A lot of my self-care has to do with artistic outlets. I’m not gonna sit here and say I do a facemask once a week, I know I don’t do a ton of stuff I should do. I could eat better or go to the sauna, but the emotional stuff is creative outlets.
**What does she think about the concept of love?**
Love is very powerful. It doesn't always have to be romantic love. It doesn’t have to be super fantastical. Love is compassion, empathy, caring for one another, moving in there and the lack of fear. Love can be a very blanket word for power honestly. Not power in a negative sense, but in an enlightened, spiritual sense. Love can be very concentrated. Love makes the world go round, I genuinely believe that. As far as true love, I don’t know. None of my relationships ever work. I can’t speak here and say I believe in Prince Charming’s, or Princess Charming’s.
I heard a Ty Dolla $ign song the other day which said “nobody is truly yours, it’s just your time.” I thought that‘s an interesting way to look at things, other people may tell you differently. My best friend’s married right now. I've never seen two people more perfect for each other. They’re so gross it’s disgusting, but I’m so happy. So many people I know are so in love. They’ve chosen their person and built this life, it’s great for them. I think relationships are subjective. \[laughs\]
Photographed by [Taylor Washington](https://www.instagram.com/waylor.photo/)
**You used to share fun facts on social media, what’s one you can share?**
It’s funny you say that, I need to start back up again. I’m sure people know that Mansa Musa is still the richest person ever to live. He was an African king hundreds of years ago. He’d go from city to city with an entourage of thousands of people with pounds and pounds of gold. He delivered gold to different cities and completely changed their economy. Honestly a really wild time. Definitely look it up.
**3 things you need in the studio?**
A mic, the interface, and Protools. The basics, those are necessities. There’s nothing in the studio where I say “I need the lights to be green or the bowl of Skittles next to me.” I don’t have anything super specific. It’s nice to have a candle, incense, and colored lights.
**What can we expect next music-wise?**
Definitely more sounds, different stuff. I’d like to explore more acoustic. I’m speaking out of my ass because I don’t really know what exactly is coming next. I’m speaking out to the universe because it is what I want to do, I do want to get into more acoustics. We go through so many sounds. You’ll hear a little bit of R&B, you’ll probably hear pop, you’ll hear acoustic, you'll hear music.
**Anything else you’d like to let the people know?**
Listen to the mixtape, support. Tell your friends, tell your dogs about it. Follow my social media Gabby Zike on everything. Listen to the music and show love because I definitely show love back.
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