By: Kat Harlton
Website: veronicaofficial.com
Twitter: @beingVERONICA
Instagram: @beingVERONICA
Facebook: @beingVERONICA
YouTube: /beingveronica
Toronto Pop artist Veronica recently released her debut album V1 Mixtape. Produced by 3 Stripe and Krayysh, V1 Mixtape is Veronica’s self portrait, an intimate and fun revelation of her true self. Veronica’s music career began as a teenager, where she featured in music videos created for The Family Channel and as she matured, the need to create her own brand and sound became more and more persistent.
“This is the first time that I’ve written all the material myself, and have had 100% creative control. I have control over the direction of the brand and what I wear, my hair, makeup, videos, everything. I get the last say, I’m the boss, and at the end of the day I need to be, because it’s my career, and I feel like for people to see the real me, I need to portray myself in the best possible light.”
It was the desire to share her ‘real’ self that made her transition from a teen candy pop star to a mature female artist difficult ” I was working with management, and a label and there was a lot of people who had a hand in what I was doing. So it was hard, I’d have a lot of very frustrating days because I’d have to do so much, lots of rehearsals for shows, and it was music that people would say ‘oh yah, you sound great on this’ but I didn’t even know what the song was about. So it was awesome exiting that, but it was also kind of difficult finding out what I even liked. ”
Turns out what Veronica liked was a lot of Spanish music, Enrique Iglesias and older hip hop. “My parents really liked hip hop so I grew up around that as a kid, all the clean versions. but I loved it, I loved the flow, and the energy, and the feeling that it gave me, and that’s why I think I started making more of that style now. Even during the Family Channel stuff I was always pushing to try and get more hip hop, and more soul. When it comes to artists, I love Gwen Stefani, No Doubt, really like Frank Sinatra, Drake‘s a big inspiration, but that’s just because I think his flow is crazy and he has a great way he comes across. I love his slow jams.”
As Veronica looks to her idols for inspiration she hopes she doesn’t lose the fans that supported her early on “People leave me messages, and I want to reach out to people who like my sound, I want to be friends with them. There’s so many artists I look up to, who are just really genuine, and hopefully I’ll still be a role model to people, it’s OK to try things, just don’t do anything illegal, and respect people”
As Veronica looks to her future she hopes to encourage other emerging artists and creative young people to discover and share themselves, but wants them to know it won’t be easy. “You need to know that you’re committing to something that is a full time job. It’s 24/7, you have to give 100%. One thing I learned at a very young age, which I think was the best thing to happen to me was how to have a good work ethic, because you’re constantly deciding ‘do you want to go out with your friends or do you want to focus on writing or vocals etc. That’s a big thing.”
“I think it’s also really easy to get caught up in the glitz and the glamour of it, and you have to be aware and remind yourself of why you’re doing it in the first place. especially during parties, things get so crazy and people give you stuff and you have to come back and remind yourself that this isn’t what it’s about. If you love being creative you have to stick to that”
Discover Veronica and get her V1 Mixtape, out now: veronicaofficial.com