LEFT-OF-CENTER QUEEN VÉRITÉ: BILLBOARD HOT 100 MUSIC FESTIVAL INTERVIEW
Nothing but the truth with VÉRITÉ
by Neelu Mohaghegh (All photos taken are original work by Neelu; Saturday, August 18th, 2018)
I had the chance to interview the talented left-of-center/pop queen and singer/songwriter VÉRITÉ at the Billboard Hot 100 Festival this summer, and my heart was full. In real life, meet Kelsey Regina Byrne. From Brooklyn, New York City,VÉRITÉ has made quite the upward trajectory in her career, with her first single “Strange Enough” releasing back in 2014 that reached number one on Hype Machine, to then become #1 Most Viral Twitter Artist, to now be an artist with an incredible track record of projects, touring, performances, and collaborations. She released her EP Echo in 2014 and her second EP Sentiment in 2015.
We jumped into my questions and I asked her if she had ever been to Billboard Hot 100 before, even as just a fan. She tells me how it had always been a festival she wanted to go to but she never did get a chance to go, so being here now as a performer was super exciting and unreal.
VÉRITÉ explained to me how she began in music and how it brought her to this place. “I’ve been doing music forever, so I think it was really a natural progression, from making it a hobby to making it a career.” Her father was a rock musician, so she was introduced to that realm at a very young age. “I played in his latin rock band when I was 15”, she recalls to me, laughing at how much fun it was. Even when she was younger, she used to perform at local venues, played piano, and was in a few of her own bands including an all-girls punk cover band in middle-school. “But I think having music growing up, I didn’t listen to as much music, I was constantly just playing and then writing…” It wasn’t until the age of 16 when she took her own songwriting to the next level and after graduating from SUNY Purchase with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Composition, she began to find her sound for what would be VÉRITÉ.
I asked her which was her favorite band name, of the bands she was a part of, to which she chuckled shamefully and then said, “not my favorite, but it existed, my first band “No Smoking” — so angsty”. We both laughed and thought how fitting that name was for a middle-school band.
VÉRITÉ has written so many songs and has had so many put out there. She is constantly working on new projects so picking a favorite song she has written is a tough task. However, fans should be excited because she has two new works that she is very happy with and excited to share including a performance playing with a 20 piece orchestra! “I’m [also] doing a song called “Gesture” on my 3rd EP and I love that song so much, so I think it’s hard to choose a favorite because it’s like choosing a favorite child”. (Update: she did the performance with the orchestra on August 28th with much success!)
I continued to ask her what her favorite thing about being an artist to which she said almost immediately answered that she loves touring and performing for people. “I love the grind of tour”. She smiles just thinking about it. However, with all the good, there is bad, and for VÉRITÉ, the hardest aspect of being an artist is “keeping a level head of like expectations. For me, it’s like recognizing, everything is ok, you’re going to live…” She reminisces about times when she took things too seriously and pushed herself down, but then how she would remind herself that good people surround her and that she is pursuing her dream career, so everything is just fine. It’s a matter of grounding yourself every so often when you get lost in the rush of this industry.
I asked her what color she would give herself if that was a color to describe herself. She thoughtfully pondered and then said “Emerald Green”. I then asked what was one thing she couldn’t live without and admitted, “I definitely can’t live without water, and I think people, the people that are in my life. Like everything is bullshit, but my family and friends are important”. I really liked that answer. Her ideal summer day would also be structured like so:
“Wake up at 9 am, take a walk, get breakfast, go see friends and family, hang out, get dinner…. it would be all meandering and not planned”.
She’s mostly looking forward to her upcoming headlining tour this fall! So fans, buy your tickets quickly! In the past, VÉRITÉ opened for such artists as Tove Lo and BØRNS, and appeared at other major festivals including Lollapalooza and Firefly,
So, with all that has happened, I was curious to know if VÉRITÉ feels that she has changed and evolved her sound since when she first started this career. “Absolutely, I think it’s an evolution. I think in the beginning I wasn’t really confident and I think now I hear what I want and now it’s just about how I push myself to do more …” She even confessed to me how she would love to push her comfort zones in music to work in other areas and genres. Currently, if she could collaborate with anyone, she would love it to be “Childish Gambino — I’d love to collaborate with people in different worlds (to try out new genres)… I just want to leave the pop “. In the past, she has worked with artists like Matt Maeson, Allie X, Ella Vos, Icona Pop, Mija, Pell, R3HAB, Phantoms, and more.
VÉRITÉ is a star, and there’s no denying that this left-of-center star has found a way to stay pertinent in the everyday lifestyles of audiences and will continue to do so with her music. Though she seems calm, cool, and collected, she still tells me that she’s “getting my shit together”. I am excited to see what’s in store for this compositional queen in the near future!
Be sure to follow VÉRITÉ on social media to keep up with what she’s doing next!