Cenzina Challenges the Age of Surveillance with “Citizen4”

Vancouver’s own Cenzina has never been easy to put into a box—and that’s exactly the point. Her music lives in the in-between, fusing the rawness of rock with the dreamy haze of psychedelic pop, while weaving in the modern textures of electronic sound. The result is a style that feels at once nostalgic and new, borrowing spirit from the ’60s while staring unflinchingly at today’s world.

Her latest single, “Citizen4,” hits like both a protest and a prayer. With jangling guitars, steady indie drums, and a vocal delivery that’s as tender as it is urgent, the track builds a landscape where warmth and warning live side by side. It’s Cenzina at her sharpest, digging into themes of surveillance, digital tracking, and the unsettling rise of technocracy.

Quoting Snowden’s famous line about privacy, the song plants itself firmly in the conversation about rights and autonomy. In her own words, Cenzina says: “My hope would be that Citizen4 reminds people to question the true cost of losing the rights to our privacy and personal data as surveillance technologies rapidly advance and merge.”

The song’s hook drives that unease home, with lines like: “One face composed of many faces, one place consumed by many places, sleeves are filled with aces, hearts that come with laces, come on take a spoon-ful, tell me can you taste this?” It’s both poetic and piercing, a direct challenge to how numb we’ve become to the systems shaping our lives.

Yet for all its weight, Citizen4 doesn’t wallow. There’s hope in the melodies and a reminder that resistance doesn’t only mean protest signs—it can also mean returning to the things that make us human: community, art, nature, connection. The record feels alive, not just in its sound but in its spirit, urging listeners to take back a sense of agency and awareness.

Cenzina, who proudly represents artists living with chronic illness and invisible disabilities, pours realness into her work in a way that feels impossible to fake. Citizen4 isn’t just another alt-rock track—it’s a wake-up call wrapped in gorgeous production, a reminder that even in times of uncertainty, music can be both mirror and medicine.