Boom! Pow! Zowie!

It’s kind of hard not to think of Zowie in cartoon superhero terms: this New Zealander’s first ever single raced up charts in 2010, and now, with just a handful of tracks under her belt and a Bettie-Page-as-a-sexy-robot look, she’s poised to challenge the Ke$has and Gagas for total pop music dominance.

But Zowie, formerly known as Bionic Pixie (and Zoe Fleury in real life) is a far cry from your typical packaged, marketed, manufactured pop idol. For one, she’s a serious drummer who told us she likes “being the beatmaster” and has played since she was three, so with that kind of street cred we really can’t imagine anyone else holding the reins to the Zowie machine. For another, she’s willing to suffer for her art – lying down all day for the “Broken Machine” music video (machines crop up frequently when discussing Zowie), she ended up with a swollen spot on her head.

For now though, this attitude-laden girl with sharp cheekbones, even pointier shoulder-pads, and megawatts of star power is still a hidden little secret. Her first album is due in 2011 and we’ve been patiently (not really) waiting for months. But once it drops, she’s going to rule the airwaves, TV-rays, and internets. So enjoy the catchiest synthpop hooks ever in “Broken Machine” and “Bite Back” while they’re not being played everywhere. Enjoy her updated Blade Runner look while it’s not being imitated by everyone under the sun. And enjoy a sneak peek at this intimidating blast from the future…she’ll never get out of your head, so don’t fight it.