festnoise | Music & Festivals

Aug 28

Aug 28 A conversation with VÉRITÉ

Since the release of her first album back in 2017, VÉRITÉ has become the epitome of emerging independent young artists in the music industry. With over 250 million streams on all platforms and more than 1.4 million monthly listeners, Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter VÉRITÉ, whose real name is Kelsey Byrne is back with her second album “New Skin” (25th October, 2019). She quickly visited Europe and I had the chance to spend some time with her in Berlin.

Described by Harper’s Bazaar as someone that “boasts an ethereal sound riddled with swelling synths that bring her soft voice to life”, besides her delicate sound VÉRITÉ has heartbreaking lyrics full of inner feelings and personal emotions. I was first wondering if choosing the name VÉRITÉ (French for “truth”) had been a random choice or it had been a statement of authenticity. How much of that is in your choice?

Kelsey: “Both! I think initially it was like I need a name and this feels good, like this feels like the name and then I think also after way overthinking it, it is like my goal, everything that I put out is personal. I'm not really putting on a facade, like I'm not a different persona. It's like, this what I am and that's how I hope to connect with people, so a little bit of both, but it wasn't so thought out!”

Before moving to Brooklyn, VÉRITÉ was raised in Orange County (New York). I could read that your dad was a musician, is that how you got into music?

Kelsey: “I mean, he was not like professional musician, he played guitar and we always had a music room in the house. I played classical piano when I was young, I wasn't very good but we used to play music together. He would play guitar, I would play piano and we would do covers, so that was my first introduction to like, performing. I played with him for a while and then kind of slowly…I was playing in bands”.

How were those bands, which kind of music you played?

Kelsey: “When I was in middle school we were all distortion, all noise like doing covers of the Donnas, Cranberries, Nirvana, Green Day and 4 non blondes! We used to do “Whats Up” so much! We had a small repertoire that we played way too much!”

Were you already at that age pursuing a career in music?

Kelsey: “When I was a child...it's funny, I always played music but I didn't know practically how to translate it into a career. Not that it wasn't an option but Im very practical, and so because I didn't see a practical option I was always pursuing it but it was always a hobby. When I was 21, I graduated College, I moved to New York City and I was still writing and trying to perform and really having a lot of dead ends”.

Was at least something you dreamt about as a child? When did it all shifted for you and became real?

Kelsey: “Its funny when you say the word dream its like I don't see the big vision a lot of the times. Im very good at taking the next step and like pushing forward. I feel like that is what I was always doing and I wasn't sure where I was going but it was like, well this is what I have to do today. Or this is what I have to do tomorrow and slowly but truly grow in that way and eventually I reached a point when I was independent obviously so I self funded for beginning my career. Once I started investing my own money that I earned waiting tables it became very real and the stakes were higher. And I was like, ok well I have to make this money back, Im working too hard for it so I think that's when it shifted”.

And where are you now?

Kelsey: “Now i'm in a weird place! A good place but a weird place. I'm still independent but my career is sustainable. I've hit a good place where I've been doing this for time but there is obviously so much more growth I want to have. We tend to compare with the top 1%, so I think its a balance, where if I had a dream when I was younger, it would have been to make a living making music that I wanted to make on my own terms and I've been doing that for years. But dreams get bigger! And now I want the platform that I have to be much larger without giving up the control and the freedom that I have!”

Before releasing any record, VÉRITÉ uploaded to Spotify a cover version of the song “Somebody Else” by the 1975 and it immediately was included in some popular playlists which boosted the song to the point that it has been streamed more than 112 million times.

Streaming platforms have definitely changed the way we consume music and perhaps also the way creators produce music. Nowadays, does it make sense to do a whole record when it seems to be more important to constantly drop out songs?

Kelsey: ”I think you can do both! Right now we moved from album culture to song culture, and I think what you are seeing is we´re moving back into album culture but you have to be also smart. And so, I wanted to make a record cause I wanted to transition from female or pop Spotify success, which I have and am very grateful but I want a career in 10 years, I want to be seen as a whole artist”.

With no friends or family that could fund her, Kelsey waited tables for years in New York until she made enough money to invest in her career. Today she still is an independent artist and she owns her music and career but she walks together with AWAL, a fast growing company who provides all sorts of tailored services needed by the artists without taking from them any ownership. Can you tell me a little bit more about AWAL and the deal you have with them?

Kelsey: “Coming from being fully independent just being me, we grew very slowly on purpose. I started working with AWAL before they were AWAL and we did a very small deal for control but it allowed me to have access to some funding which at that point I needed because I couldn't afford PR”.

It all seems to be very similar to the startup scene.

Kelsey: “Yeah! And I honestly think that independent musicians and musicians in general need to pivot from looking at music from the music industry perspective and start looking at their projects like startups”.

From only a few employees to more than four hundred, AWAL is growing fast and so is the support that VÉRITÉ is getting. Both parts seems to be growing together and currently have a deal and a deal structure beneficial for both of them, but how far can you go together with a company like AWAL, do you think you can be limited at some point?

Kelsey: “I think as far as we want! I think what limits me more than the system Im in is the fact that I exist between genres and again, that is my choice. Its like I could write radio pop songs but its not what I want to. It's not what I'm driven to do but i think it is limitless if you are innovative and you continue to show up. I think that is the genius of the AWAL system versus a major label system. For me, my fear was always not being able to work when you are at the mercy of someone else's decision making and budget. If you are not meeting a quota, if you are not performing as well as they think you are they cut you. They cut your funding. With AWAL it's like we have full ability to try something and if it does not work, we pivot and we try something else. And so for me I just have to keep showing up and putting myself in a position where I need one thing, I need one thing from the universe to catch and then I'm in a position where I'm fully empowered to run with that. I mean, we hope!”

It’s been nearly two years since VÉRITÉ ́S debut album “Somewhere In Between” came out and many things have changed for her. Next October 25th she will release her new album “New Skin“. What are the most significant differences between these two albums?

Kelsey: “This album is better! I always struggle with what I'm capable of. The difference between records is the last record (“Somewhere in between”) I executive produced so I was on the top of the umbrella. I was looking down and I was very involved but I let the producers I was working with steered a little bit, mostly just because I was having trouble focusing and being on the ground level. I was intimidated by production and I was having my own identity crisis like, is it a pop record? Is it an alternative record? I needed to be all these things and I think this record is the first time since my career has grown and become really sustainable Ive been able to have people dealt with the business aspects too, so I could fully focus on the creative, and I was on the ground floor with people in the studio building it. So I take much more ownership of it and I'm more proud of it in that aspects but also I'm much more confident in myself as a person and my perspective and identity”.

Back in June, VÉRITÉ released “Gone”, a first song who came accompanied with a video. Both were as beauty as overwhelming. “Gone”, like “New Skin” goes about relationships. About the messy, sometimes uncomfortable and mundane reality of being in a relationship. What does that song means to you and why did you chose it as the first single?

Kelsey: “That was the first song I wrote for the record. Before that I was writing and aimless. I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't know what I wanted to sound like. I was confused and kind of down on myself. When I wrote that, we produced it in a room together. We started with nothing and we ended with that song almost as you heard it and I think it empowered me to produce the rest of the record, which I did. The record in general is about relationships. It could be with someone else, it could be with something but there is this idea of its not the beginning and it's not the end. This record is about commitment”.

The record is about the nuances of love in all its unflattering angles and complexity. It seems to show a different moment of the relationships. Perhaps that moment when you realize that your feelings towards someone can be changing?

Kelsey: “I'm in a relationship and it's probably the least exciting part of my life but when you are in the middle of something, everybody wants to talk about the beginning. The beginning is so exciting, it's like this pink cloud, everything is new! And then, everyone wants to talk about the end because it's so heartbreaking. So I just wanted to find this small moments in the middle and be like: oh! that's beautiful too! It's not really an ending, even though it is. It's like the amount of times (I also produced the record with my partner, or most of the record) that I broke up with him during the making of the record. Just like: fuck you, Im done! I fucking hate you! And it feels like the ending but then I wake up the next morning and I'm like: sorry, I was tired!”

Well, I guess it's pretty difficult putting all the eggs in one basket!

Kelsey: “Yeah but I'm good at compartmentalizing and now the record is done!”

Before getting to know Kelsey I had formed an idea of a very emotional person with no fear of showing her inner feelings but as we spoke, somehow I felt how she tried to show a more rational, shy or even cold version of her. And I told her.

Kelsey: “That's good though! It means my compartmentalization is working! You know what it is? I don't connect well sometimes, with people, things,...In general Im closed but I think that I have moments in writing and music where that comes down and I'm able to emote in that way. This record, if I sit with it I can get emotional about it, but day to day, again, I ́m practical!”

So what happens now? I know you are going on tour in the US, but is there any chance we can see you soon performing in Europe?

Kelsey: “I would love to come to Europe. I think it's just a matter of scheduling and I'm excited for the record to come out here. I'll probably end up coming back and hopefully doing more press stuff and meetings, etc...before the record come out”

VÉRITÉ ́S new album “New Skin” will come out on October 25th, 2019. Check out her official website for more information and if you happen to be in the US in the next few months, these are the confirmed tour dates up to date.

VÉRITÉ ́S US Tour 2019: