BUKU Artist Spotlight: Zack Villere

Zack Villere, formally known as Froyo Ma, is a 22-year-old artist from Louisiana whose living life making music and hanging out with friends in his now-home California. The “Cool” singer produces his own beats, writes his own songs, plays guitar, and even draws slightly obscure but totally awesome, wiggly drawings which are featured in his works.

The son of a social worker and the town’s (Covington, Louisiana) former mayor, Villere attended Loyola University in New Orleans where he started messing with Ableton software, which led to his first EP titled Pants as Froyo Ma. He decided to drop out and pursue music professionally, moving to LA and switching back to Zack Villere. He’s collaborated with artists such as Mulherin, J’von, Charlotte Day Wilson, and more. His earlier works which consisted of a plethora of sounds – from jazzy electronics in “Spent Missing”, to dark, pop-electro in “Fish Socks”, Froyo Ma drew quite the following online, but gained even more popularity after switching to his birth name and dropping the video for “Cool”. Tyler the Creator, a huge inspiration to Villere, even retweeted the video on twitter.

His 2017 album, Little World, has earned acclaim since its release in June. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform at Houston’s small bar, Satellite for Wayvy Wednesday along with Mulherin, where the crowd sang along to basically every song. Filled with child-like voiced adlibs over guitar riffs and light synths, Villere delivers really chill music that flows perfectly with his low, calming voice. Don’t miss your chance to see him at this year’s Buku fest, get your tickets here.

Follow him on Twitter and especially on Instagram so you can see funny posts and his really cool drawings, which will honestly probably be featured in a museum one day.

Listen to Little World on iTunes, Spotify, or Soundcloud