Zhavia Ward grew up surrounded by music and her household supported her aspirations from day one. Ward picked up her love for music from her mom, who’d sang lead in a steel band referred to as Xenoterra. And when it got here time for Ward to decide on her personal path, there was no query she’d observe in her mom’s footsteps.“I’ve positively been engaged on my craft since I can keep in mind,” Ward says. “There was by no means a second the place I used to be like, ‘I feel I’m going to do that.’ I simply knew that that is what I’m speculated to do and I’ve all the time felt that approach. I’ve been singing ever since I might get a phrase out of my mouth.”
Photographs by Robert Pho
It wouldn’t be lengthy till Ward received her large break in music, as she was solid within the first season of Fox’s “The 4: Battle for Stardom.” At simply 16 years outdated, Ward might make an impression on not solely Sean Combs, DJ Khaled, Megan Trainor and Charlie Stroll, but in addition on the hundreds of thousands of individuals watching at residence. It’s onerous to think about now, however Ward virtually turned down the chance of a lifetime. “At first, I didn’t actually wish to do a present,” Ward says. “Once I was youthful I used to be positively , however as I received older I strayed away from that concept as a result of I wished to attempt to make it by placing out music. Clearly, that’s actually onerous to do.” Together with her mother’s encouragement, Ward finally determined to provide the present her greatest shot. “The 4”put Ward on the map whereas instructing her that solely the sturdy survive on this enterprise. “[Being on the show] was positively very intense,” Ward shares. “It’s an entire totally different world from what I used to be used to, and TV could be very demanding. I needed to strive my hardest and follow, even once I didn’t have any sleep and my voice was drained. Loads of the time on the present my vocal chords virtually had nodules, so it was actually onerous emotionally, mentally and bodily.”
Regardless of the various challenges {the teenager} encountered through the present, Ward proved she had the mettle required within the cutthroat leisure trade and he or she turned a finalist. Shortly after, she signed a cope with Columbia Information and very quickly launched her first single, “Candlelight.” Nonetheless using the wave of her newfound success, Ward used her debut single as a possibility to take issues again to a time when she expressed actual doubt in her profession. “‘Candlelight’ was a tune I’d written a few years earlier than I even went on the present,” Ward says. “It’s a couple of time in my life once I felt like I didn’t have any alternatives and my goals weren’t going to come back true. On the finish of the day, it was about how I noticed the world from my perspective. And if I might change my mindset, then I might change my world and the place I ended up. I needed to be optimistic about my state of affairs, maintain pushing and combat for what I wished.”
Photographs by Robert Pho
And combat she did. Ward appeared in Diplo and Lil Pump’s single “Welcome to the Social gathering” for “Deadpool 2.” Not lengthy after that first large collaboration, she was given one other life-changing alternative—recording a canopy alongside Zayn Malik for 2019’s “Aladdin.” “Once I discovered Zayn had requested me to sing ‘A Entire New World’ with him, it was actually loopy as a result of I used to be an enormous fan of his,” Ward shares. “I feel he’s a tremendous artist and it was superb for somebody of that caliber to acknowledge me as an artist. The truth that Disney was down with the concept of me singing that, I didn’t actually assume they might decide somebody like me, particularly with all my tattoos.”
Ward isn’t improper that it’s out of the abnormal for Disney to go for a closely tattooed artist to carry out a tune for one in all their movies. Particularly somebody who began getting tattoos as a teen. “Ever since I used to be a child, I all the time knew that I wished to be coated in tattoos,” Ward says. “That’s what I all the time dreamed of. The second I used to be capable of get a tattoo I simply went for it and received my first tattoo on my hand, which is a black and yellow rose. I received it for my mother and it was positively a painful place to get tatted for the primary time.”
As a result of her dad and mom are each closely tattooed, Ward wasn’t afraid to go large and daring. After tattooing her hand, Ward added a variety of sizable items to her assortment together with varied black-and-grey portraits on her arms, lettering throughout her decrease abdomen and a Grim Reaper on her bicep. However the piece that arguably will get probably the most consideration is the massive cross on her chest and neck, which was inked by the legendary Robert Pho. And for those who didn’t already assume she was a badass, enable Ward to alter your thoughts. “The primary day we did my chest for 12 hours after which the subsequent day he stored including and we did one other 12 hours,” Ward says. “I got here again a few months later and he completed my neck. The entire course of most likely took 36 hours in all. It was actually painful, particularly since throughout that point I used to be having well being issues. I suppose I had appendicitis and didn’t actually comprehend it. I used to be actually throwing up each couple of hours and it was actually unhealthy. However I’m glad I did it as a result of I cannot try this once more.”
Photographs by Robert Pho
Ward did her analysis earlier than getting this tattoo and he or she chosen a grasp to craft the gorgeous piece. However that doesn’t imply she’s solely allowed world-class artists to adorn her physique with everlasting designs. Identical to her mom supported her goals by introducing her to the music trade and inspiring her to go on TV, Ward helped her mama to observe her ardour. “My mother is excited about studying to tattoo and I let her follow on my leg,” Ward says. “She did a ‘Pink Panther’ however it’s not finished but.” It’s not each day you hear a couple of mother tattooing their child, however on the identical time, the Ward family was fairly far off from most of our “regular.” Then once more, who the hell needs to be regular?
