London’s pop-rap scene is saturated with ambition, but few artists have mastered the kind of escapist, colorful world-building that Robbie Z commands. At just 23, the Bulgarian-born artist has already built a distinctive musical identity, blending the exuberance of early 2010s EDM-pop, the carefree energy of surf rock, and the swagger of pop rap. His latest project, Anemoia, is his most ambitious yet, a cinematic summer EP that taps into a universal craving: nostalgia for experiences you’ve never had.
“I found the word anemoia, and it just felt right,” Robbie explains. “Over the last year or so I’d been writing songs that were more conceptual rather than personal. It felt like writing short stories that let me escape into a world of my own. Then one day I realized it felt like I’d lived through these experiences. Why do I feel nostalgic about things I’ve never done? That was the spark.”
The concept is deceptively simple but emotionally complex. Anemoia is dreamy, bittersweet, and strange in its familiarity, weaving together themes of love, heartbreak, fleeting crushes, and the wild, careless joy of youth. Yet beneath its sun-soaked veneer is a careful architecture of storytelling, a musical world built as much on imagination as on memory. Robbie’s approach to songwriting has always existed somewhere between fantasy and recollection. “I’d say it’s a mix of both,” he says. “With Anemoia it was obviously more imagined ones, but usually I do write about my own life. I just change the lens I write from. It’s typically an exaggerated version of what really happens. I also love writing about things I wish existed because it allows me to create a more vivid and fun world for me and my listeners to live in.”
This mixture of imagination and lived experience is reflected in the EP’s sound. Robbie Z leans heavily into the music of his childhood, particularly the pop of the early 2010s. “2010s pop is what I grew up on,” he says. “I’m 23 now and I was 10-ish around those years. It’s everything to me. I love nostalgia, so going back to these eras, especially the 2010s, let me feel connected to my inner child. Surf rock felt right for such a summer-inspired project, and pop-rap is who I am as an artist and what I’ve gravitated toward always.”
His sonic palette is playful yet purposeful. Tracks like “USELESS COOL KIDZ” and “THE SUN IS LOUD” carry a euphoric sadness, a bittersweet energy that is at once celebratory and reflective. “I don’t even think I meant for it to be that way, but now that you said it, I see what you mean,” Robbie admits. “I think the sad reality of these so-called useless cool kids is something we’re all aware of, but I hadn’t heard it in a song. In it, I sound like a billionaire’s kid owning it. It’s so far from what we’re normalizing these days.”
Humor and irony are essential to Robbie’s aesthetic, and they permeate even his most emotional moments. “I’m gonna make fun of myself so you can’t,” he explains, reflecting on the playfulness in his lyrics. “It comes from getting bullied as a kid. I’m just not taking myself seriously so it won’t matter when others don’t. I do think my work is valuable, but I also think nowadays people take themselves too seriously. Using irony or playfulness in lyrics just helps me through writing about the negative things.”
The philosophy of writing for his inner child runs through the project. Robbie sees his music as a bridge back to that unfiltered, unburdened version of himself. “I write music for my inner child, basically what twelve-year-old me would’ve loved to know I wrote. For a little while I felt disconnected from that, but with my EP Dear Diary, I found that version of me again. My inner child reminds me that nothing is that deep. When I write, I can be as unhinged as I want. That’s who Robbie Z—the artist—is. In my day to day, I care too much.”
His journey in music began early. Robbie released his debut mixtape, REBELLIOUZ, at just 15. Since then, his trajectory has been steady but striking. In 2022, his single dream creep from The Butterfly Trap EP went viral, reaching number 13 on the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap chart. In 2024, he released the humorous yet motivational EP Dear Diary, featuring 5 Dollars & a Dream, which earned a Times Square billboard feature. By 2023, he sold out his first headlining show in London at Tamesis Dock and has since performed at venues including The Troubadour, The Finsbury, Soho Zebrano, and Moustache Bar.
Even with this early success, Robbie’s relationship with ambition has evolved. “I think my relationship with ambition can be kind of unhealthy sometimes,” he admits. “I am still trying to understand why I want to do the things I do, but it’s what gets me out of bed most days, so I continue to do them. Back when I started out, I was chasing dreams. Now they’re goals I have specific plans for. I guess I’m a little more realistic about things.”
This realism translates into a thoughtful approach to creation. Robbie emphasizes the process over the outcome, focusing on making music that resonates with both himself and his audience. “I’m learning to appreciate a project regardless of how successful it is. The process of creating is what every artist should think about, not the outcome.”
The cinematic quality of Anemoia is undeniable. Robbie envisions the EP as a coming-of-age film in sound. “It would look like the cover art. All of those colors. I love when movie sets look like sets. Like, you know you’re watching a movie, everything is a little too perfect. Kind of like the Barbie movie. The lead would start getting visions and feeling nostalgic about things he’s never lived through and then he’d magically go to some tropical paradise, Hawaii or something, and he’d get to live these moments he saw in his visions. In the end, he’d still have to go back home though.”
Escapism is a key ingredient in Robbie’s work, both as a theme and a guiding principle for his audience. “I want listeners to feel connected to their silly inner child in my world,” he says. “I want them to remember when they were kids and didn’t take things too seriously. I want them to embrace the parts of themselves that are a little more off the grid than accepted. Just pure fun.”
As for what comes next, Robbie Z is already deep into his future projects. “I’ve already got my next two projects halfway done. I have so many concepts in my brain I need to get out there. I recently started work on the one after that as well. After Anemoia I had a craving to write about my own life a lot more, so my next project is super personal. I would love to write a song in my native language one day, but it’s kind of hard for me to open up in Bulgarian creatively right now. I see it happening eventually though.”
Robbie Z’s music is escapist, bold, and unapologetically fun. It blends sincerity with irony, nostalgia with forward-looking creativity, and the intimate with the fantastical. Anemoia is an invitation to step into a world that is at once familiar and imagined, a place where the inner child can roam freely, unburdened by adult expectations.
In a London scene brimming with young pop-rap talent, Robbie Z’s colorful and cinematic approach stands out. His work does not merely reference nostalgia; it embodies it, inviting listeners to revisit feelings, moments, and dreams that they may never have experienced. The EP is a reminder that music’s power lies not only in storytelling or clever production, but in its ability to create worlds, to make listeners feel something that lingers long after the song ends.
Robbie Z is not only making music for himself; he is building a universe for others to inhabit. Whether it is the playful defiance of “USELESS COOL KIDZ,” the euphoric longing of “THE SUN IS LOUD,” or the heartfelt escapism threaded throughout Anemoia, every track is a portal. It is a summer dream, a fleeting crush, a vision of a life imagined and cherished. And for those willing to step into his world, it offers an irresistible invitation: come remember, come play, come feel something you never knew you could.
Featured Images: Artist Supplied
