We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zed And Ace . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zed And Ace below.

Alright, Zed And Ace thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

Zed: Growing up as a homeschooler being misunderstood was/is not out of the norm for my life/lifestyle. Graduating college at 16 and living a nomadic life I found myself fitting the “loner” title more often then younger me was a fan of! To this day I rediscover how this also presents in my adulthood as well. Although! This truly allowed me to go full force into creating my art and figuring out who I am and what I intend to do. Through that I found complete and utter fulfillment from expressing myself with what ever medium best suited what I was feeling in that moment. This was truly where being a multi creative was born for me. From photography to Film Directing to Sculpting to Music creation and Performance art you will find me doing anything I can to share the things I think and feel, This tends to make my personal work and working along side Ace in FAVORIT a very vulnerable and cryptic experience. although I wouldn’t say my goal with creating art is to be “understood” . Everything I make is created with the hope of inspiring someone want to be Brave in their life, to gain a Greater Perspective of others and the world around them, or to simply offer my Love to the world for someone to find for themselves one day when they need it or see it, i have learned that people can only understand you to the lengths at which they understand themselves, and there is truly no greater comfort then knowing exactly who you are.

Ace: Being misunderstood felt like part of my charm all growing up, the older I got the more I felt out of place growing up in suburbia. I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to find pockets of acceptance in the world. The more curious i was the more I found my self feeling connected to myself. Looking back on my life i find the more I hid who I was the more misunderstood I felt. As I found friends and followed my intuition I felt more and more comfortable in my skin to start expressing myself more and more. I found myself in my writing, music, and filmmaking. I finally started to feel like the missing information the world couldn’t see was inside of me. Then at 24 coming out as trans felt like a liberation of being misunderstood and a solidarity in who I am to push me through any fears I had of the world rejecting me. And even-though most days the world does say that i’m not welcome, I finally understand who I am and what I stand for. living authentically has given me the space to explore my creativity and my art, and for that i would be misunderstood any day. Misunderstanding comes with being close-minded and solidifies their point of view. I stopped caring what others thought, well most days as I’m not perfect. everyday I am proud to be misunderstood as it is my litmus paper that im being true to who I am.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

FAVORIT was formed in 2018 in an ally way behind Zeds first apartment, two people coming together to try and push their art to a new level and stepping into something that both of us were not quite sure where it would lead. Favorit found their sound in electro pop R&B and is filled with provoking lyrics, hypnotic synths, and funky beats. Favorit first started as a way for the two of us to come together and show people the possibilities of living a creative life, pursing your dreams and favoring things that make you feel limitless. With our backgrounds both being in film making, it only made sense that our music would be highly influenced by visuals. We create a world and a short story behind every song or release drop we create. FAVORIT has very quickly become our home for most of our creative endeavors, with a podcast on our horizon, short films, a clothing drop, and more music in the works. We are only in the new born phase of what is to come for Favorit.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

ACE: A lesson I had to unlearn was the toxicity of hustle culture. In most industries especially creative it is expected and respected to completely lose your life to working, not creating art but working. Peers look and judge by how much you are getting called for work and who you were working with. of course it is also has a lot to do with what crews you are working with. I found my self slowly finding better circles with healthier ideals and honestly the more queer and women focused crews/sets the better I was treated and the more I would feel truly apart of making art as a collective. However, most of my experience with harsh treatment or unreasonable expectations came from crew obsessed with clout and money only. It made me fall out of love with film making for a period of time in all honesty. I never felt good enough or like I was creating meaningful art. life felt like a competition that I didn’t know i signed up for. Fast forward to the birth of Favorit it was a huge change. life became more about slowing down and taking the time to find inspiration and to live life. It wasn’t about the numbers, it wasn’t about the likes, or the sickest guitar riff. it was about us being vulnerable and finally saying our truth and making things for ME not the masses. never had i found an art so therapeutic and thrilling without any pressure that came from outside judgment. Making music was the portal back into creative endeavors. It reminded me of my passion for painting, film making, and writing-not only music but scripts, short stories, and much more. the independence that comes with music was a release of a toxic mindset, and the birth of a waterfall of creativity. Favorit was the catalyst to losing the hustle culture, and being brave enough to finally be seen for more than my hustle .

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Zed: I would say the one of the things that always feels the most rewarding with being an artist is creating/connecting with community. Connection is such a vital part of being an artist its fuels not only daily inspiration but it brightens the light that is inside us all that is begging to be shared with another person. when creating art, its one thing to have your own personal experience and feelings towards your final product but sharing and witnessing how the Community around you receive and experiences it alongside you can truly be such a overwhelming feeling of joy and fulfillment. Along side that, having countless opportunities to be brave and push myself to new places and versions of myself is also a very rewarding process. I feel as though Bravery is a skill you develop with time and determination, it’s not something you can expect to be born with as our bodies and minds are doing nothing more than protecting us from our personal fears. Only by pushing past fear and being brave do you truly see how free you can really be in life. Bravery is the first step to creating belief in yourself and your abilities. And by TRULY believing you can face anything means you can concur everything you have ever wanted .

Contact Info:

• Website: https://favorittheband.wixsite.com/favorit
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/favorit.mp3/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/484CGPrAvXakmtI4F3JNPa?si=_Qy7CcUxQteNHSfsQYUT3Q

Image Credits
@coatsmagoats @zed_project