FEATURE: Spotlight: Victoria Canal — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Caity Krone

Victoria Canal

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I have a lot of information…

I want to get out, as Victoria Canal is an artist that everyone should know about. I will come to her 2022 E.P., Elegy, soon. Even though she has been recording and releasing music for a while now, the fantastic E.P. has brought her to the attention of a wider audience. I want to drop in some interviews with Canal. First, Red Light Management provide some biography for this tremendous artist:

“When Victoria Canal returned to her family home in Amsterdam for the pandemic, the 24–year–old singer, songwriter, producer and activist had just finished a tour after a period of busy music–making in the studio – something she’s been doing since she was a teenager. Born in Munich to Spanish and American parents, Victoria lived a nomadic existence, traveling across the world with her parents and siblings, living everywhere from Shanghai, Tokyo and Amsterdam to Dubai and Atlanta. In between the traveling, she studied music in Barcelona and New York – including a stint under legendary voice coach Jan Smith, who’d worked with the likes of Drake and Usher.

Lockdown was the first time Victoria had spent an extended time in one place and she retreated to the basement, setting up a make-shift studio to record. “It was a very stripped-back set up,” Victoria recalls from her home in London, where she now lives. “I ended up writing all these songs and singing quite quietly into my mic, not wanting the rest of my family to hear,” she smiles, saying things got a little crowded: as well as her parents, her two siblings also returned home when the world shut down. “My voice actually changed over the course of the year through this,” she laughs. “I used to sing really loud but over lockdown, I became more hushed. I changed the way I approached recording music.”

There was another reason Victoria’s powerful voice was more muted too. When she entered the basement to write the songs that now make up her upcoming EP, Elegy, she was certain these deeply personal and emotive tracks would never be heard by anyone at all. With news that a close relative was sick with incurable cancer, Victoria wrote the songs as a means to explore her own feelings of sorrow, helplessness and the anticipatory grief that comes with knowing a loved one won’t recover from a terminal illness.

“It was a very inward process and nobody else was involved in the writing,” Victoria says, “I was so weighed down by the insane weight of uncertainty and grief, not to mention the sadness at what they were going through, the suffering, the pain. Initially when I wrote the songs, they were so raw, honest and so painfully real, I was just certain I wouldn’t show them to anyone at all.”

When she finished writing the songs, Victoria says she realised she had a complete “body of work”, but still wasn’t sure about sharing them at a time when she was still processing the news. In lockdown, she’d started an online series called ‘Mellow Tunes’ – songs composed in just five minutes – both as a means to keep creating at a time when live music was at a standstill, and as a way to cope with what was happening to her relative. One of the clips found its way to Coldplay’s Chris Martin. A year later when lockdown lifted, he invited Victoria to a Coldplay recording retreat where she was encouraged to work on her own material. Chris also introduced Victoria to Parlophone and soon after, she signed a deal with the renowned label.

“I was like Chris Martin’s biggest fan way before this,” Victoria laughs. “I’ve grown up with Coldplay and every time I’ve sat down at my piano over the last ten years, I’ve always asked myself: ‘What would Chris Martin do?!’” Martin became Victoria’s mentor and encouraged her to be more open and honest in her songwriting or “encouraging me to be me,” as she puts it. Another mentor came in the shape of Jon Hopkins, who Canal befriended in an attempt to surround herself with creatively like minded artists and mentors. “Even though our styles are completely different, he also encouraged me to be authentic, to be myself and that’s what I’ve tried to do with this EP.”

After thinking about how to give more of herself over into her music, Victoria decided to share the personal songs she’d written in her basement. “Over lockdown I’d read books by people like Elena Ferrante and Isabelle Allende, both of whom had written a lot of literature about family, loss and what happens when people pass away. Those books helped me to get through that difficult period and I started to understand more about how art can help a person struggling with grief.” Victoria decided to share her songs in the hope they might speak to people who were going through similar situations.

Listed in order, the songs on Elegy tells the fictitious story following a good man finding out he is dying, inspired by the events from her own life. The first song, ‘own me’, is a vulnerable piano–driven track that explores feelings of anger when someone we love is being taken away for no apparent reason. “The principle of this song is a reckoning of sorts,” Victoria explains. “Someone’s been an amazing person their whole life and then for no logical reason whatsoever, their life is taken away. It’s about bad things happening to good people and the song also asks the question: how much are we really in control, verses how much we really are pawns? There’s some quiet anger here,” she says, which is perhaps most apparent at the song’s soaring string–driven crescendo.

The EP’s second track, the stripped–back acoustic–guitar led ‘pity season’ takes the listener inside a conversation between a sick person and their son over dinner, where he breaks the news about his illness to the family. Part of the song also sees the son exploring how he measures up next to his father. “It’s that fear of a loss of identity when the son wonders ‘How can I be like you, measure up to you, if you’re not around for me to observe and follow your lead?’”

When not making music, Victoria is a passionate activist for the disabled (Victoria was born with one arm) as well as women and the LGBTQ+ communities as a queer musician. Now, she’s finding a way to include this side of her life with her art too. “The last two music videos I made, the child actor playing me has a little arm like me and I’m hoping to be able to include people with limb differences like mine, as well as others with disabilities too, so we keep increasing the presence of those with disabilities in society.”

Victoria says growing up without seeing such visibility was tough. “There was nobody who looked like me on screen. It was the same not just with that but with women, and queer women too. In my latest video, I have women, trans and non–binary actors in the parts as well as more people of colour. I didn’t see anyone like me in the public eye as a teenager, and I think being that person for someone else might be really cool. In terms of my queerness, it’s all just about being open about who I am, throwing away any labels that might be restrictive in the hope that might empower or inspire others to do the same”.

Last year, Why Now spoke with the wonderful Victoria Canal. I would advise anyone who has not heard her music to follow her on social media and bond with this awesome talent. Elegy is an E.P. that everyone needs to hear. Also, look back at her catalogue and explore her entire cannon. This is someone who I am predicting a very long and bright future for. I am excited to see what comes next. I was interesting, when sourcing this interview, to discover how things started for Canal:

“Victoria, where did your musical journey begin? And what was your earliest memory of getting into it?

So my mum’s from the States and my dad’s from Spain, so I grew up moving around a lot. My grandma on my mum’s side was a piano teacher and choir director, so I would go to church with her and sit in on the choir. So some of my first memories singing are being the lead vocalist or soloist in this old folk choir when I was like six, and they were in their 80s. Also, my Cuban grandma loved singing and dancing and traditional Cuban songs. So it was really my grandma’s that showed me music.

What sort of influence do you think living in lots of different parts of the world has had on your sound and tastes?

I think it’s had more of an effect on me as a person than my music, per se. I think my music has stayed pretty true to whatever I was listening to at the time, which was whatever my older brother was listening to: Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, Muse, U2, Aerosmith.

But what moving around a lot made me was a diehard extrovert. I love people of all kinds, from all backgrounds. I’m so drawn to people-watching and different cultures and languages. And I like being immersed in circles of people that aren’t like me. I think, as someone who grew up with a physical difference, I was always the odd one out in some way. But then, in a way, there were lots of kids that were odd ones out because I went to really international schools. I think, probably the most harmful environment to be in, without even knowing it, is a homogenous environment of all people who look and think exactly like you.

PHOTO CREDIT: Karina Barberis

What did it feel like being in the studio before you had your capability to produce?

I felt so small. It happens a lot to young artists. Technically, that’s a producer’s role, so the artist isn’t taking on that responsibility. However, one of my main learning points from being in that space and recording projects is that each time I’m getting closer to my voice. Elegy is the first time I’ve done the majority of the recording work, and all of the writing.

But I think – and this is common with women artists – they just defer to the dude in the room who’s the engineer or the producer, without really realising they can do it themselves. I think a lot of women, and a lot of young artists in general, found the empowerment in COVID to take it on themselves. And I was one of those.

Now, when I’m in the room, I’ve made it more known from the get-go that I’m a producer as well. And so we can trade-off more, or there’s not this instant assumption I’m gonna sit on the couch, in the back, on my phone, and the dude’s going to be at the console doing the recording. I’m very much at the desk, adding the stuff, playing on everything. I’m much more involved. And that feels so much more conducive to getting the sound that I want.

PHOTO CREDIT: Karina Barberis

As you mentioned, he brought up the discussion of your arm in a sensitive way. Could you just say a bit more about how you feel people perceive the relation between your music and your disability?

Yeah, I’m not ashamed by any means. However, I have no say in how much it overpowers the music, in what people want to talk about. When I listen to other artist’s interviews, they’re asking about the recording process and the songwriting. And, for me, it’s always like, ‘What’s it like being a disabled person?’ It’s always centred around that. It’s interesting to have people decide what you are, rather than having a say.

I don’t closely identify with my disability, it’s a part of my body, but what does that have to do with my music? It’s almost like a mindfuck. It’s like being gay and being an artist. What matters other than maybe the pronouns you use in a song towards someone? What does your sexual orientation have to do with your artistic craft? It might influence it in some way but what’s important is the artistry.

And I just feel like it’s random to connect the two things; to connect the fact that I have one hand with the fact that I make music. But I also think about the fact that when artists break through to the general public, they’re always defined by one thing by the press. Whether it’s getting criticised for being gay; or Lizzo for being a proud, body positive woman; Harry Styles for dressing more androgynous.

And then eventually people get used to that and the artist can just be the artist and people will think what they think. All I can really do is just continue doing what I’m doing, which is making music, and whatever the headlines are, I’m not gonna sit around and mope about it. I’ve talked to TikTok stars who are frustrated that every time they’re interviewed, it reads, ‘TikTok Star…’ I think it happens to everybody, so I’m not gonna pity myself because I don’t think I’m the only one”.

Before wrapping things up, there is one more interview I want to highlight. When the Horn Blows spoke with Victoria Canal in promotion of Elegy. I wonder whether she has an album planned for this year, as there is a lot of love and momentum behind her. Someone that everybody should have in their sights. It is interesting discovering how Elegy was recorded and what inspired it in terms of themes and subject matter:

“Hey there Victoria- how are you? So your EP is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?

I feel relieved and patient and nervous and exposed all at once! I never really focus on what’s trendy, so to put out music that really doesn’t follow the code of whatever’s popular right now feels both liberating and nerve racking.

It is called ‘Elegy’ - what is the meaning behind that?

The word “elegy” means a poem of serious reflection for someone who’s passed. All four songs chronologically connect in the process of anticipatory grief - from finding out someone you love is ill, to having to fill their shoes after they’re gone. It’s a deeply personal story that brought me great relief to create while going through this very experience with a close loved ones.

Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?

I recorded it in my parents’ basement when I moved home during the pandemic. I was watching way, way too much TV, every single day, I don’t think I’ve ever watched that much TV in my life - namely This Is Us and Parenthood, and they both carried me through the year as I navigated this huge anticipatory loss of someone close to me. It was in between episodes that I would have some huge revelation about how I could put the experience into song.

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What are the key themes and influences on the EP?

Key themes on Elegy are family, loss, love, and generally the passage of time and what it teaches us about life. Influences include the tv shows mentioned prior as well as authors like Isabel Allende, Elena Ferrante, and Min Jin Lee, all of whom write about family and the passage of time in a historical fiction context.

If the EP could be the soundtrack to any film - which one would it be and why?

I feel like the movie that comes to mind is Soul - I’m obsessed with animated films and feel like that one touches on so many deep topics that I’m so fascinated by and wanted to touch on with Elegy. Faith, purpose, making amends with those we love, appreciating what we have while we have it… it’s a damn deep kids movie! Haha.

Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP - if so, which one and why?

My favorite lyric on Elegy is “If I were you I would visit your mother. If I were you I would ask about her life. Maybe you’ll find that being noticed for so long will make her cry.”

Now the EP is out there - what next?

I’m currently gearing up for my first ever headline tour - so excited. In the meantime I’m just making music every day, we’ll see what project I put together next but I’m seeing it take shape already, and it’s looking pretty good 😊”.

One of these artists that you just need to hear and follow, make sure Victoria Canal is in your life. I am not sure what the rest of the year has planned; but do check out her social media channels and keep an eye on all the happenings and news. If you are new to the brilliance of Victoria Canal, then do ensure that you…