Victoria Justice hopes her viral hit “Love Zombie,” a song 15 years in the making, continues to resonate with fans for years to come.
The 33-year-old actress-singer-songwriter first had the idea for the tune when she was 17, but it took a long route to finally reaching fans last year. Now, she’s released a remix that “breathes new life” into the song, she tells The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’m drawn to things that are like a little campy and just fun, and I’ve always loved Halloween,” she says of the idea she had for the song as a teen. “I just thought it was a fun, different, unique title and angle for a song.”
However, the team she was working with at the time wasn’t interested. “When you’re signed to a label, sometimes you work on a bunch of stuff, and not everyone’s going to like everything. A lot of songs are just never going to see the light of day, and that’s what happened with this song,” she says. (Justice was previously signed to Columbia Records.) Ultimately, “I asked to be let out of my deal, and I kind of took a break from music for a while.”
Justice began putting out music independently in 2020. But at some point, a demo of “Love Zombie” leaked and went viral on TikTok. “People seem to really be liking and responding to this song,” she recalls. “So spur of the moment last year, I was like, I’m just going to revamp the song. Better late than never.”
She released it ahead of Halloween last year, and she received such an overwhelming response that she decided to remix it and release a new version this year. “I hate to see creative energy or a cool creative idea of any kind go to waste, and I have so many songs that have never seen the light of day, but it really makes me happy to feel like I’m able to honor my younger 17-year-old self and her creative vision and, however many years later, finally put this song out into the world,” she says.
The remixed version has the same spirit of the original, Justice says, but also has a fresh feel that “leans into this very dance club, dark, sweaty world,” she adds. “I just envision people in a club jumping around, whipping their hair back and forth, dancing and going crazy.” Justice doesn’t know if a remixed version of “Love Zombie” will become an annual event, but she hopes that fans continue to enjoy it for years to come, especially at Halloween.
Of course, when Justice was 17, she also was starring in her breakout role as Tori Vega in Nickelodeon’s Victorious. She marvels at the fact that the show, which is now available on various streaming platforms, continues to find new viewers all these years later. Asked why she thinks that’s the case, she replied: “We never talked down to our audience; it was never kid-ified, if that makes sense. It’s inspirational, and the music still stands the test of time. I don’t know if I would have thought that it would still be talked about [years later], but I’m so proud to have been a part of something like that.”
As for going independent for her music career, Justice said she feels like she’s able to be a bigger part of the songwriting process than when she was signed to a label. She’s also able to write songs that are more authentic and personal to her, rather than simply being given songs that label execs want her to record, she says.
“Don’t get me wrong, a great song is a great song, but sometimes I just didn’t really feel fully supported like creatively,” she recalled. “And I just don’t think I was ever given like the shot that I would have liked to have had; I was never taken to radio. So I asked to be let out of my deal.” She turned her focus to acting, but “I always knew I was going to come back to making music because it’s just such a huge part of who I am.”
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she released her first single, “Treat Myself,” as an independent artist. It’s a tune with a positive message about not being so critical of yourself and learning to love yourself She felt that it was a message that people really responded to at that time of isolation and anxiety.
Now, Justice is focused on making new music and is in the midst of several different sessions with producers and songwriters. “I love a good pop song, but I also love pop songs that have like a point of view and a personality, and I feel like the music that I’m making right now definitely feels like very much in my own voice and songs that only I could really sing,” she says. “Some of them are sexy and, some are more vulnerable and honest, and I think the through line is that they all just very much feel authentic to me.”
In the acting world, Justice filmed the horror movie Send a Scare, opposite Robbie Amell, which was directed by Josh Trank (Chronicle, Fantastic Four), who co-wrote the script with Andrew Ryan. The film is still awaiting a release date, but Justice said she “can’t wait for people to see it,” noting it has a lot of “twists and turns.”