“‘On The Edge’ came out before I had really finished anything, and after it did, I overthought a lot of stuff,” he tells RANGE, explaining the intention behind the name of his debut EP, Fragments. “I was trying to work with a bunch of different producers, and there were just a bunch of different pieces that I wanted to give a home.” On paper, the concept is risky—a project pieced together from scraps and shaped by a revolving cast of collaborators—but Zackery executes the vision with sharp intent and surprising cohesion, as if the whiplash mirrors the chaos he was living through while making it.

Though he grew up around music—specifically, singing in choirs—Zackery never imagined that he’d become the kind of person who writes and performs as a career. That changed almost overnight when he began posting covers on TikTok in 2020. “It’s funny how the internet works,” he says. “It’s granted me some incredible opportunities that I can look back on and say ‘Wow, that was an amazing thing that happened.’” In fact, early on, he wasn’t even planning to release the songs he was writing—they were more for himself than anyone else. “I’d gone back and forth on putting something out for a while, and when I suddenly got this traction on TikTok, it felt like the right time.”

Raised in Morden, Manitoba—and even studying agriculture at the University of Manitoba—Zackery’s connection to home remains grounded. Despite the constant pressure of turning his personal life into content, he’s found a sweet spot—whether it’s teasing new singles from the back of his pickup or covering Coldplay inside of a grain silo. “If anything, my love for Manitoba has grown,” he says. “Being away from it, I crave being back there, and I think that’s cool… having something to miss.” His music carries that simultaneous pride and longing, rooted in a place that continues to form his identity but never confines him.

The release of Fragments marks the close of a chapter for Zackery—a bittersweet farewell to a simpler, more instinctive era in his process. “I think this next project will be mostly made in London, and the goal is to make it all with one producer,” he reveals, indicating a stark shift for him creatively. “I just want my listeners to feel something when they listen to my music.” Zackery is preparing to enter a new phase—one inevitably marked by his tendencies to dive deeper into emotional resonance.