‘The emotional core isn’t revenge — it’s reclamation’, says PIA

Following the attention around Follow the Toad, her music film featuring Abhay Deol, global EDM artiste PIA has released Zukacoa, a gothic music video rooted in cinematic fantasy. Directed by filmmaker Joe Sill, the film draws visual inspiration from the dark, emotionally textured worlds of Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro. Zukacoa follows a woman reclaiming her power from a figure who once controlled it, framing the journey as psychological rather than vengeful. By performing all her own stunts, PIA reinforces the film’s themes of embodiment, resolve and self-trust. The music video is now streaming on all major platforms.

PIA talks about her gothic music film Zukacoa

In an exclusive conversation with Indulge Express, PIA opens up about the foundations of her music and visual storytelling. Raised in an academically rigorous and culturally expansive environment, she developed an early affinity for immersive worlds over mainstream pop formats. With limited distractions, she gravitated towards books, video games, foreign cinema, anime, and music discovered online, alongside formal training as a competitive pianist and in Indian classical music. Exposure to multiple cultures and languages—Hindi, French, Japanese, among others—shaped her instinct to think in atmosphere and narrative rather than singles or trends, a dual grounding in discipline and emotional intensity that continues to define her cinematic approach to music.

Your latest release, Zukacoa, has a dark, atmospheric tone. What emotion were you trying to capture through this song and video?

It’s layered. On the surface, Zukacoa plays like a gritty action piece—almost a love letter to games like Bloodborne—with dark streets, hostile territory, and constant forward motion through danger. But the emotional core isn’t revenge; it’s reclamation. We don’t explain why she’s seeking the figure at the top of the castle, because the backstory isn’t the point—the choice to move forward is.

Each adversary represents a moment where she could be derailed by fear, rage, or distraction, yet she stays focused and uncovers strength that was already there. Physically, I wanted that commitment to be real, which is why I trained in sword choreography and performed the stunts myself. Psychologically, it’s about confronting the uncomfortable parts of yourself and realising you don’t need to retaliate to reclaim yourself. Even lyrically, there’s a knowing, slightly cheeky “I’m on to you” energy. What begins as a reaction becomes clarity. The production mirrors that—drum and bass propulsion, electronic weight, flashes of flamenco—urgent but controlled.

How closely do music and visual storytelling go hand in hand for you?

They’re inseparable. Every time I bring a song into a visual space, it feels like a privilege. These projects demand relentless, self-generated passion. Without that internal drive, it wouldn’t be possible to keep doing this at the scale I want to.

As an independent artiste, I stay close to every stage, from the first lyric to the final edit. I don’t have synesthesia, but when I hear music, I immediately see where it lives—its world, its emotional temperature, where the camera might linger. Being able to create the music and then physically step inside it feels like alignment. It stops being separate disciplines and becomes one unified expression. At that point, it feels less like production and more like purpose.

Your previous track Follow the Toad featured Abhay Deol. How did that collaboration come together?

From the start, Follow the Toad carried a cinematic weight that demanded scale. It was the first time I allowed myself to build a story around something I created, which felt like a turning point. Getting Abhay Deol involved wasn’t strategic—it was instinct.

He had been a close friend for a couple of years and was always supportive of my work. I called him one day and asked if he was free for a shoot. He said yes. He trusted director Joe Sill and me, and that trust shaped everything. It became a rare level playing field—a seasoned actor, a visionary director, and an independent artiste experimenting together. He showed up fully present, and being met as an equal on screen was incredibly empowering.

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