Artist Norzin Chomphel Talks About Her Songwriting Process And Her Debut EP ‘You and Me’

A new artist that you need to know!

With over 50K+ streams on her music so far, singer-songwriter Norzin Chomphel is on the rise. She recently released her debut EP ‘You and Me’.

We had the amazing honor of talking with Norzin about being influenced by pop music, ’44’, and more!

When did you first realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music?

N: “I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I literally can’t remember a day when I didn’t love music. I think that I knew I never wanted to do anything else besides sing before I even knew what a career was so there wasn’t one particular moment where I realized I wanted to make it into a career, but over the course of my childhood it was a gradual, “Oh I really love to sing in my free time more than anything, oh you have to have to get a job when you’re older, oh you can make singing your job!” All that’s to say that I was probably like 6 or 7 when I knew I wanted to do it forever. And in the pandemic I started consistently songwriting more than I ever had before, so when I graduated high school I was sitting on all the songs I had written and realized that I wanted to take some time to get better at writing.”

Tell us more about your amazing debut EP ‘You and Me’.

N: “I made the EP with my awesome songwriting teacher turned producer, Rachel Efron. During the pandemic when I was 16-18, I had written about 20 songs on my own, without the intention of putting them out, and I played the 4 songs that are on the EP to Rachel. Then we started the process of making ‘You and Me’. I had already fully written the four songs so Rachel and I revised and polished them and discussed production ideas. The songs are about four seperate occasions from my life that were made partly as a form of expression but they were also written so that I could deal with my emotions. Recording the songs was so much fun and these are the first original songs I’ve ever recorded, so it was such a new process to me.”

If you had to choose, which is your favorite song off of the EP and why?

N: “Ahhh this is a hard one. I don’t think I have one single song that I like the best out of the four of them because I love them all for different reasons. But I think I’ll always be glad that I put ‘44’ out because I really needed to say everything that I said in that song. Writing and putting that song out really validated my emotions in a time where I felt super invalidated and confused, so that’s really special to me. I also love Restaurant Bathroom, from the backing vocals to the key change. I’m pretty proud of that one.”

Were you surprised by the rising success from the ‘Restaurant Bathroom’ music video? It has
nearly 100K views on YouTube!

N: “Any sort of recognition is always gratifying and surprising to me. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the idea that anyone has listened to my music at all. I’m especially grateful that people enjoyed this music video because I came up with the concept for the video so it always feels extra good when you’re being authentic with what you’re putting out and when creative direction comes from you.”

How would you describe your songwriting process?

N: “Songwriting happens in a lot of different ways and it’s never quite the same every time I do it, but generally, it’s happened in two ways: One way is that I’ll get an idea, whether I’m purposefully songwriting or I’m out with friends or something, it might be a lyric or melody or both if I’m lucky. Then I’ll try to find chords on the piano or guitar that go with the melody idea I got and I’ll try to figure out what I’m talking about in the song. That’s when I’ll write out the rest of the song over those chords. My songs Restaurant Bathroom and Unpredictable came from that process. The second way songwriting has happened for me is that I’ll intentionally sit down and try to write a song without having any sort of idea prior to sitting down. I’ll play random chords and see if they trigger any topics that I want to write and sing about. That’s how 44 was written.”

Who are your biggest music inspirations?

N: “I didn’t grow up in a very musical household and my parents didn’t show me a ton of music, so I clung to anything I could get my hands on as a kid. That meant that I listened to a lot of 2000s-2010s pop music. Artists we’d hear on the radio like Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, etc. And I love Ariana Grande, she’s been my most listened to artist since I was in like the 4th grade. Artists like them definitely  shaped the way I approach songwriting.”

Can we expect more music from you in the future?

N: “Yes! I’m working on some songs at the moment that I’m eager to release soon.”

Where can we follow your amazing journey?

N: “I’m @norzinchomphel on Instagram, Spotify, and everywhere else!”

Stream ‘You and Me’, available now on all music platforms!

Je’Kayla Crawford– Founder and Director– Je’Kayla has been a journalist for years and decided to start a publication of her own, New Scene. When not helping her team and working on the monthly issues, you can find her watching a movie on Netflix or baking using a viral Tasty recipe.