When RANGE meets with ZAINAB at a downtown Brooklyn coffee shop, she’s chic in a long coat and dark oversized glasses, and elegant and sharp in her delivery, perhaps not what you’d expect from someone who recently whipped a sweaty Coachella crowd into a frenzy at the famed DoLab dance stage. But as the former corporate employee, classically trained violist, and dancer starts to open up, it’s clear that her renaissance lifestyle has made her music career possible, leading her to stages across the world, and as an artist who previously performed as ZEEMUFFIN, back to herself.

Earlier this year, she signed with Ninja Tune’s imprint Technicolor and, since then, has been releasing singular tracks that reflect her South Asian roots, all funneled through the lens of a tried-and-true New Yorker. Her debut release on the label, “Jadoo” (which means “magic”), sees her singing in her native Urdu for the first time, her voice echoing over a glitchy electro beat. Not only does “Jadoo” mark her debut for this fresh era, but it’s also the first self-produced original track she’s ever released. “I started producing almost three years ago now,” she says. “I didn’t think I was going to progress to making full-blown songs because when I started DJing, I never told myself I was gonna produce just for the sake of producing. I never wanted to make music from that place. It had to come authentically.”

That push for authenticity and drive to not just make music for music’s sake can be heard in her recent release “Her Eyes,” which samples Libyan-Egyptian singer-songwriter Hamid Al Shaeri’s “Ayonah.” ZAINAB points to Daft Punk, Disclosure, hip-hop, and “sample-heavy electronic music” as inspiration for incorporating the song which she says is a meaningful staple in the Arab world. “I never in a million years thought that it would get cleared because it is such an iconic song,” she grins while thinking of the funky, climbing, dance floor beater.

High-octane dance tracks may be ZAINAB’s current calling card, but growing up, she had a penchant for punk music and rock shows, “The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, all of that,” she says, adding that she even had a stint as a music journalist in college. But when she discovered electronic music, something clicked. “I was like, ‘This is perfect!’ To me, DJing storytelling.  It’s like writing a story with songs. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. It has an art.”

It’s not lost on her that not everyone sees it that way, with the current roster of would-be disc jockeys seemingly growing each day. “I think people’s interests and personalities are heavily influenced and shaped by algorithms and what they see online,” ZAINAB says. “It’s like, ‘Why is there this phenomenon that everyone is a DJ?’ I think it is related to the fact that there’s a low barrier of entry and everyone wants to be the center of attention. You’re getting served this type of content all the time where people have a desire to be seen and feel a part of something. There’s a negative stigma around working a nine-to-five now, which I’ve done my whole life by the way. I’ve been on both sides of that world. It took me 15 years of working in corporate environments and getting fired over and over again to understand, okay, I don’t fit in these settings,” she laughs.

Her pull to the booth may have been undeniable, but it was also in contrast to her upbringing, which favored a more linear, clear path to success. “Growing up Muslim and a firstborn daughter, and an immigrant myself. I’m not even a daughter of immigrants. I’m literally an immigrant. You can just see the pressure.” Still, she leaned into her calling. “I would know it in my core, but I fought it for so long. But the universe will push you into alignment for what’s meant for you. I was always performing for my whole family since I was little. I knew absolutely that I would end up performing in some way. I didn’t know what it was gonna be.”

For ZAINAB, DJing is less about attention seeking and more about playing a part in the communal art of music — something she likens to a service job. “You should do your thing, but you should always be aware that you’re not the only person in the room,” she says. “You’re in the service of the people in the room. You have to be an energy reader. You have to be someone who’s in tune with the room’s emotions and energetic frequency. You have to raise that frequency.” ZAINAB’s ability to raise frequencies has gotten her into multiple NYC rooms, even back in her early days as an opener when fans would come early for her and leave before the main set.

Now, she’s selling out residencies at Public Records — a high-fidelity sound room and multi-room venue in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, and, according to ZAINAB, has the “cleanest, best sound you could possibly get in New York.” “We sold out all four nights, and each night was curated in a way for me to showcase this global music flag I’m trying to fly, but also represent my culture. But. I’m so New York, and we are a global city.” 

With more music on the way and tour dates yet to be announced, ZAINAB is fully leaving ZEEMUFFIN behind and fully embracing herself.  “Zainab is such a powerful name and has such a beautiful meaning,” she says. “In traditional Arabic, it means ‘the pride of her father.’ It also means ‘a flower in the desert.’ It literally symbolizes a rebirth. Blooming in a new place. The woman in Islamic history who I’m named after was a very powerful, brave, bold woman who never followed rules and was always fighting injustice. I feel like my mom knew to name me this name.”