- Hey what's up you guys?
It's Chelsea Briggs here coming to you from the
Billboard Hot 100 Festival and I'm joined by Verite.
- Hey, how are you?
- [Chelsea] I'm well, how are you doing?
- I'm good, happy to be by the water.
- [Chelsea] I know. It's really nice right?
Except for we were just talking about how hair might
be a little wind blown so just go with it, okay.
- It's a good thing.
- What I love about you so much as a female in the industry
is that you really taken your career and run with it
and you're very, you're an independent artist. Talk to me
about why that has been important to you.
- For me remaining independent has been important because
I wanna be sure that I'm releasing music on my own terms
and I'm really saying what I want and I found that it helps
me connect with my fans way more personally and
consistently.
- Well it's crazy cause you're using both side of your brain
where it's creative and that it's also business.
The business woman side of it, does that ever get
difficult for you?
- You know, I think I was raised to compartmentalize my
mind in that way so it's actually very natural for me
and I think in the future it will be much more natural
for everyone.
- Just getting better at it everyday I'm sure.
- I hope, you know.
- Your name Verite- it translates to truth in French.
I want to know, what is your truth? What is one thing
you know for sure?
- One thing I know for sure is that I am very honest,
and not just musically, like in general I try my best
not to lie.
- Okay. Have you always been that way?
Or is it something that you're-
- No, it's a learned trait. I feel like I messed up
enough times to learn my lesson.
- Nice. You released your album somewhere between a
year ago now. What are you working on right now?
Obviously your fans are curious. Are you working on
new music or what was in the game plan for you?
- Right now I am in full cave mode and writing and
compiling ideas and starting to get some visuals together
and so kind of transitioning into the new world of
album two.
- Nice!
And where do you see yourself? Like what's
inspiring you right now? What's inspiring the mood
of the songs?
- Oh my goodness, everything. I feel like I've been watching
a lot of older movies like American Beauty and
Virgin Suicide and so trying to get into that mindset.
- So, still kind of has that like dark artistic twist to it.
- Yeah, but maybe with a slightly lighter side.
- Okay!
- Maybe.
- What have you learned about yourself this year in this
process of creating this new music would you say?
- I think I've learned that success is relative, and so this
idea of what I thought it meant to be successful-
it no longer exists for me. And now I'm starting to-
you know again with being independent very particularly
carving my own path.
- You're also going on tour coming up here soon.
- I am.
- How are you preparing and what are you most
looking forward to with it?
- I feel like right now I'm hoping to maybe add some new
music to that run and so definitely writing, and I feel like
I'm enjoying being at home in New York. I haven't been there
a lot this year; I've been between LA and Nashville and on
tour so being home is nice.
- That's gotta be fun for you on tour because you basically
can test out these new songs and see how -the audience
reaction and then decide whether to put that on the album
or not. Is that what you kind of do?
- I mean, I feel like if I'm playing them live they'll
definitely get released in some capacity.
- Okay.
- Whether it's on an album or as a single. That being said,
yes, I wanna test it out. I wanna know what people think.
I wanna know what people go crazy for; then I can edit them.
So it's kind of like a little research.
- How about this? Are you an artist that - do you record
voice notes a lot in regards to the kind of songs that come
into your head?
- I do but I'm really bad at actually revisiting
those notes.
- No way!
- So I'm constantly recording them and never going back
and actually listening to them.
- Alright, well this is your home-
I'm gonna give you homework.
- I know.
- To go back and listen to them
the next time you're in your cave.
- And now I'm at home so I can literally said homework.
- I saw that you tweeted about the fact that you know,
you talked about being rejected from a major label.
A surprise rejection, but you're really embracing the fact
that hey these rejections that we go through in life really,
it opens the door for other things and it's meant to be and.
Talk to me about that and getting that message out there
to your fans.
- I mean, being rejected in general has lead to some of
the best situations of my life and so I think that
especially as an artist developing you know resilience in
kind of facing failures and what comes your way is really
important. Because now I couldn't see a situation where I
would go back to that deal and I'm so glad I didn't.
And so for me sharing that with other people is just wanting
to show people that it's possible to carve your own path.
- That's great, such a good role model there.
- Thanks, I try.
(laughing)
- Speaking of resilience and role model, obviously this week
we lost Aretha Franklin who was someone that has influenced
so many of us. Can you speak just on how maybe she has
influenced you in your career?
- I think that Aretha and so many soul singers, the honesty
that they portray in their voice- and there aren't these
theatrics, right. I think now in music sometimes people rely
on the theatrics, and the production, and all of the gloss.
And I think when you take it back like Aretha was like a
pure artist and didn't need anything but her voice and maybe
a piano and like that simplicity is something that I strive
to create in my music when you strip away all of the
production.
- That's awesome. So, you said you're working on your
next album. When do you kind of seeing that you might be
releasing it? Is it in 2018 or?
- No.
(laughing)
- She's like I need time girl.
- I was just my mind like I can't confirm anything, but I
can confirm that it's not then.
- Okay. Okay.
- Yeah, right now I'm working and I'm embracing this luxury
of time which I haven't had so far in my career. So I have
the time to write and I have the time to kind of experiment
so. I'm trying to just like exhale a little.
- Sit in that moment.
- Exactly.
- Enjoy the breeze.
- Yeah
- While you're here sitting on the water.