Can anyone tell me why I’m just now discovering Zella Day?

Oh, wait – you didn’t know who she was either? Until just now when I said her name?

No worries, we’ll explore this gorgeous up and coming artist together. Because I literally just heard and saw her music video “Hypnotize” this morning. Technically, I think I heard it in a commercial or something before seeing the vid on Youtube (versus everyone else who heard it on that one Gossip Girl meets Twilight T.V. show). But once I saw the whole packaging, I was the one being hypnotized:

I think it’s because she feels like an improvement on the style of other popular artists I want to like… but just don’t. Like Lana Del Rey. Don’t get me wrong. Miss Rey (Miss Del Rey? I dunno) is super talented and gorgeous. Plus I’m jealous that she doesn’t even have to make a duck face for the camera like the rest of us. Not with those fantastic twin mug slugs she’s got sitting atop her chin. But, despite my distant appreciation of her, it’s never long into listening to her stuff before I’ll gaze down and suddenly realize I’ve been running an exacto blade from my elbow bend to my wrist for the last thirty seconds.

Sure, Zella’s singing style is similar to Lana’s. Hell, even the video style is too, with its 70’s-esque wardrobe and filter. In fact, in that one “Sweet Ophelia” music video, I kept waiting for the camera to pan over to Roller Girl as they trolled the street for dudes to invite into the backseat.

Here’s the video:

(Spoiler alert: the Roller Girl scene never happens :/ )

Still, by the end of your Zella binge (which, unfortunately, won’t be a long musical marathon right now because she’s only done a few vids yet), it feels… I dunno… forgivable. Because not unlike Sia’s “Fire” versus Beyonce’s “Halo”, it’s…better. Or maybe better isn’t the word I’m looking for. Because I like to indulge a good depressing mood like anyone else once in a while – and I suppose Lana’s as good an artist as any to add to my “GoodbyeCruelWorldThisIsACryForHelp” playlist during those brief breaks from reality. Mayhaps “happier” is the word I’m seeking. Zella Day doesn’t fit the copycat culprit profile because, for all her similarities, she’s like Lana but with more levity. And that difference alone, I feel, is a drastic enough departure from the morose mood induced by the princess of Summertime Sadness that you almost can’t even put ‘em in the same bucket.

Also, it doesn’t hurt that she looks like the lovechild of a Keira Knightley, Fiona Apple, and Eliza Dushku threesome.

Just sayin’.