INTERVIEW: Vérité talks new album 'new skin': "I want people to sit and get lost in an environment and feel like wherever they're at - good, bad and indifferent - is exactly where they should be."
American singer & songwriter Vérité, real name Kelsey Byrne, first released in music in 2014 with debut EP Echo. Since then, her smooth electro-synthpop-R&B hybrid music has attracted an impressive following, with over 250 million streams to date and acclaim from outlets such as Harpers Bazaar and Clash. She recently released her second album new skin and says the album is about “the messy and uncomfortable and mundane reality of being in relationship that I feel like no one talks about. It’s about the nuance of love in all of its unflattering angles and complexity.” Honest and emotionally raw lyrically, the album swings between lust (Can you take me to the bedroom? / Show me how to get offended’ Byrne sings on ‘Good For It’) disconnected relationships on ‘Think Of Me’ (‘I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed / And think of me’) to the disintegration of a relationship on first single ‘Gone’ (‘The quiet you're leaving / Is louder than screaming’) all encased in Byrne’s delectable, expressive voice - both powerful and driving, and soft and persuasive. A shining example of how to thrive in the music industry as a fully independent artist, we recently caught up with Vérité to find out more about her incredible music, her career and her future plans.
Hello Kelsey, how is everything going in your world at the moment?
Beautiful, I'm so good. I am literally talking to you and then I have to go to San Francisco for 2 days. It's been so nice being at home though, so I'm sad to l leave it.
Huge congratulations for such a smashing album, new skin. I want to say it's like all of us, which is I feel rare to say for a pop album. How are you feeling with its release into the hearts of the world?
Thank you. It's a really strange, strange feeling. From my perspective, obviously, I've lived with the record for a while and so I've had a lot of time to sit with it and interpret it and kind of give it meaning. So it's really interesting to give it to everybody else and watch people make whatever meaning they want to out of the record. But I'm really happy. With this record, my confidence and how sure I am with myself and the project has really come together and solidified. So I've been able to celebrate for the first time in my life really, which is a strange thing. I’m just really happy and grateful that it's in the world and seems to be getting a really positive response.
It's getting an amazing response. It opens with the title track ‘New Skin’, which is this whimsical yet succinct prelude to the heart of what then transpires in the album. And then comes in your vocal gravity and the kick drum of ‘Good For It. I feel like it goes on like this for the whole album, there’s definite chapter feels to each song and its placement. Can you talk me through the creation of the album, its roots? Did you want to have this almost book feel to it?
Yeah, I mean here's the deal. It's like some of the record, actually none of the record was preconceived. When I started writing the record I didn't know what I was writing. I just wrote song by song. Everything's so upfront when you're looking at it. I was too close to it. So once I had 4 or 5 songs I was able to take a step back and I was able to make the narrative and string things together by putting post-its and looking through the arc of everything.
I like that. So it was there but it was then ‘where do we arrange them and where do we put them and where was I when I felt this’?
Yeah, it's like how do we tell the story of what the songs are. You know?
Earlier this year you released ‘Gone’, your first single in a couple of years and holy crap, what a song. Your pipes in it. Can you tell me the story behind this track?
’Gone’ was actually the first song I wrote that I knew was mine. I do a lot of writing and experimenting in trying to figure out what I want to say and how I want to say it. I was in Nashville for the first time and did like a blind date session with two people who became really close collaborators Konrad Snyder and Madi Diaz. We sat in a room and we talked for like 3 or 4 hours. I started playing what is the beginning, the guitar sounding like sounds, but it's actually a mellotron mandolin. We started singing the verse melodies and it started coming together slowly, we wound up getting a rough form for the song. It never ever, ever happened in sessions. The production you hear is basically the production from day one and it was one of those magic moments of connecting to people and building a friendship with them and I was able to be vulnerable and write in that way with new people. It's one of my favourite songs on the record.
That is incredible, that's exceptional creativity there and I can see why it's your favourite track.
It's definitely rare though.
You've got this beautiful voice and you purr out some pretty face-slapping lyrics. I'm thinking of ‘Think of Me’ which is probably Women in Pop's favourite. It’s like electro pop but with the sensors off. Is that contrast of your voice poetry, melody and production intentional?
Everything's just a different side. When you make music, you realise that you're creating an extension of yourself. I think if anything ‘Think of Me’ is the closest tie to the most petty part of my real personality. You know what I mean? I walked into the session with the iPhone note ‘I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed’, that was just a thought that I had and it's something that I would say to someone. So it feels really ground level colloquial. The more ethereal aspects of the music I feel are more extensions. I guess on this record I tried to stretch myself, even more pretty light delicate feminine et cetera with the certain slaps in the face with ‘Think of Me’ and ‘Medicine’ that are more aggro and kind of intense.
It's wonderful because you've got those lyrics and there's that heart behind it and there’s the power behind it with the message, but it's come out with your voice. It's the one that makes you go ‘oh hold on for a second’. You go back and relisten and relisten. It's beautiful.
Thank you. It's fun to play live too.
Speaking of playing live, you’re currently opening for X Ambassadors on their headline North America tour through November. What is it about live shows that you love most?
Again, everything's an extension of yourself and I think playing live gives me a space to grow into. Confidence-wise and connection-wise. And I love reinterpreting the songs for stage and it keeps me interested in the music because again, I've lived with this stuff for so long and so now that I listen to the music I’m like ‘oh, I wish I put that beat in’ or ‘I wish I put that melody in’. I actually get to do all of that in the [live] interpret.
So you’re creating a fresh show of material that you're familiar with and stories that you’ve told yourself so you keep it alive.
Yeah, I just have to keep myself entertained. It's almost as simple as that and singing the songs with people seeing how you can change the energy in a room is really exciting for me.
Do you think also meeting the masses aside there's an important part of performing live with regards to further creation? Experiencing the audience's reaction first hand and keeping note of that and finding where the flow is?
Yeah, for me because of how I've grown the project, sometimes I feel a little isolated and look around going are we doing the thing? Is it working? Is it resonating? I think when you play live it's the most obvious representation of seeing all of the work you've put in. It's a tangible experience and that's what I love about it. You can see these people spent money on tickets, spent their time and dedicated a night to you and how rare and awesome is that?
I wanted to talk to you about your stage name Vérité. Obviously it's French for truth but I find it's used in artistic formats depicting realism and naturalism and storytelling, which is perfect for what you're doing. Your music is so very thoughtful. The lyrics, every layered sound, the production you're there on every single note. I feel that’s something that unfortunately can get lost in the competitive music world, or the pop chart music world. What is the most valuable aspect of your music creation, or what is your artistic mission or statement?
I think my statement is I want people to feel something when they listen to the music and not only that, I want people, especially with this new record, to feel alright feeling exactly what they're feeling when they’re feeling it. I wrote a record about existing in the middle and how uncomfortable that is and how we constantly feel like we're not where we need to be. We always need to be better, more, you know, kind of pushing yourselves and nothing is ever enough. So I want people to just be able to sit for a second and get lost in an environment and feel like wherever they're at - good, bad and indifferent - is exactly where they should be.
I like that. You should probably make commemorative mugs and bumper stickers because that's really good. Just put it on your merchandise table now - and hear is the mug and tea set for those in the middle.
Honestly, I need to make myself a mug, just to remind myself!
Within the music industry there's an incredibly thin line between feminist pride and sexist objectification. The whole virgin/whore dichotomy has been around forever. You've got this gorgeous angelic voice purring out some incredibly confronting lyrics. What are your thoughts on the objectification versus female empowerment in the pop music industry?
I think it is so subjective and really is situation by situation. If, as a woman, you are in control and have autonomy and are making your own decisions about what you want and how you want to present yourself, how you want to sound, what you want to say, you can really do whatever the fuck you want. That's empowerment, right? It is when there's a subtle explicit or implicit pressure - ‘oh this will sell if you become this persona’. It's kind of difficult as an outsider you actually don't know who's being pressured and whether it’s authentic. From my perspective I think we need to recondition and train women to hold on to their power and choice and control. I think a lot of that has to do with like negotiating deals within the music industry where women are able to maintain that control over their project and their name and their image.
Where women feel empowered by others and it's more empowered by support, you’re saying?
Yeah. I think for me making [my] project independently, ownership has been the empowerment, right? Which has been the tool that has allowed me to be in control of all of the decisions that I make. And so I think it's women putting themselves in positions of power so that they get to make the decisions they want to make. Quite frankly, whether it's doing that in a way that's super sexual or doing it in a way where you're more reserved, that doesn't bother me at all. Do whatever the fuck you want. I just think it's important for women to know that they have the option to present themselves how they want.
That's true and you mentioned you're so involved in every element of the work you put out and that's bringing the onus back on you which of course as an artist could be equally terrifying and filled with pride. So, you feel it's more about ownership?
Yes, but here's the deal. I got to the place that I am now after being pressured and doing things that I regret when I was a little younger. From my perspective, it’s really a societal conditioning that forces women to think they have to do something in order to be successful. There's no part of me that is sitting here and being ‘women need to make better decisions’. I'm saying it's definitely a systemic problem that they have to appease something and then they're more likely to not sign deals in which they have power. It's like a weird domino effect that I would hope that even me telling my experience would stop another woman from making mistakes I've made. So it's all education and having open conversations.
You grew up in New York City with a musician father. You clearly had a solid start in life with some incredible audible inspiration. But I want to know who are the artists, bands and people who hit a chord inside your artistic heart?
When I was younger, it was The Cranberries, Nirvana, The Breeders. No Doubt for sure. 4 Non Blondes, Indigo girls. That's what I grew up listening to, that and alternative radio.
On that note, what is the one track that historically never fails to make you shout to the skies and dance your arse off?
Oh, god. That's such a good question. There's so many. The answer I'll give is like Ciara – ‘Level Up’ is my new favourite.
Final question - what's up next? What do the next 6 months look like for Vérité?
It's touring. It's finishing new music. Both of those things back and forth. And promoting the fuck out of new skin!
Vérité is touring the US throughout November. For dates and tickets click here
new skin is out now through AWAL. You can download it on iTunes or stream on Apple Music and Spotify.
To keep up with all things Vérité, you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
