Creating innovative music that tells a timeless story is a difficult feat, but for Violette, the ability to harness both originality and universality is the underlying strength that defines her artistry. After a successful chapter of her career as a rock-pop front woman, Violette is stepping into the spotlight of her own stage, opening the curtains to reveal a solo project that is a bright reinvigoration of her past achievements.
Hi Violette, how are you today?
I’m doing great! I wrote a little bit of music before this interview, so I can’t complain!
For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound and who have been your biggest influences so far?
The easiest way to describe my music would be to call it alternative pop. I like to blend the alternative music that I grew up with in the 90’s with the modern pop music that I love today. I’m influenced by a little bit of everything, but I would say my biggest influences range from Alanis Morissette to the 1975.
You are also based in Baltimore. Can you tell us how the music scene there has inspired your sound at all?
Right before I started recording my new EP, “In her beauty lies my death and my life,” I moved into the city proper and I think it put some extra life into my music. The music scene is really eclectic and there are a lot of mixed-genre shows. I don’t limit myself to a genre when I write and I love that Baltimore’s scene doesn’t limit itself by genre either.
Do you remember what the first song was that made you want to start a career in music?
Some of my earliest memories are of listening to Third Eye Blind and jumping on my bed with a guitar pretending to be Stephen Jenkins, so I want to say it was probably “Graduate” or another song on that first record that put me on this path.
You have just released your new single ‘Mine’. Can you tell us how that track came about? Is there a story behind it?
I was battling a pretty bad bout of writer’s block and my manager told me to just sit with my guitar until I had literally anything resembling a song. It kind of happened quickly after that, but I always considered it a song that would stay in the closet. When I was working on “In her beauty…”, it felt like something was missing and it ended up being “Mine.” It’s about possession and feeling like you’re losing what you’ve earned, even though you don’t earn other people.
And was there a particular style you were looking for when you wrote it?
When I was writing it, I was just trying to write anything. Since it was written with just my voice and a guitar, it came out sounding kind of folky. When I started working on the EP version of the song, I knew I wanted it to conform to the sound of the EP and to have a little more of a “pop” edge to it. I’m so proud of how it came out. It just all happened organically and it wasn’t a song I had to fight with.
You will release your new EP ‘In her beauty lies my death and life’ on August 13, 2021, can you tell us more about it?
“In her beauty lies my death and my life” is my favorite piece of music I’ve ever written. It was all written, produced, and recording in my home by my partner and I. It was always a dream of ours to make a record ourselves and COVID meant that was really the only way we could make music for the past year. I used writing the EP as a way of escapism during the pandemic, the same way that I did with films while we were in that early bit of lockdown, so it’s a lot of different stories with a LOT of deep feelings intertwined.
The coronavirus outbreak has obviously affected everyone’s plans, but what have you got in store for the rest of the year?
I am definitely itching to get back on stage and my first show back is on 9/25 at my favorite venue in Baltimore, the Ottobar. I’m in the early phases of starting work on new music, so hopefully the remainder of the year are shows and more music!
And finally, what is the one thing you hope to achieve as an artist?
My biggest goal and what I’m focused on achieving is getting to tour the UK and Europe. I’ve never been over there, but I’ve had a lot of support overseas and getting to tour over there would be my dream realized.
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