FEATURE: Spotlight: V V Brown — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

V V Brown

_________

THERE are a few reasons…

why I am spotlighting V V Brown. Although she is an icon and has been in the industry a while now, I do feel like there are stations and avenues that should be spotlighting her music. Someone who should be dominating festival line-ups next year, her new single, History, is among her most remarkable. I have been a fan of Brown’s for a while. Also, as this month is #BlackHistoryMonth in the U.K., I wanted to celebrate one of our most important artists. Later this month, V V Brown celebrates her birthday. I am excited to see what comes next for her. One thing we do know is that her album, Am I British Yet?, is out on 27th October. You really do need to pre-order it now! At a time when we are living under such a corrupt and morally reprehensible government, Brown’s words seem even more potent and truthful. An artist who I know how such a strong and admiring fanbase, here are some words about her forthcoming album:

“Multi-platinum musician, Grammy®-Nominated songwriter, and multi-faceted artist. V V Brown is back with her fourth studio album Am I Black British Yet? This is a groundbreaking exploration of black identity. This cutting edge project features influences from James Baldwin, Erykah Badu, Soul to Soul, Roots Manoeuvre, and Windrush generation poets. Showcasing her Jamaican and Black British heritage through genre blurring soundscapes, V V Brown has crafted an innovative musical experience that refuses the status quo.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Brown via Interview Magazine

This collaborative masterpiece was meticulously crafted between two musical powerhouses from opposite sides of the globe - J Sensible, hailing from the land down under, and Milton Keynes representing the UK. Despite being miles apart, they've managed to create a breathtaking album that sounds as if they were in the same room.The music is more than just sound; It's a cultural and sociological exploration into Black Britishness that transcends time and generations. A fusion of artists young and old come together to share their experiences with V V Brown leading the charge with her stunning vocals.

This album marks a pivotal moment for Black British music, forging a deep connection to history while exuding a present-day feel that will certainly stand the test of time. Get ready to be mesmerised by this musical journey that you won't want to miss adding to your music collection”.

I am going to lead up to some fairly recent interviews V V Brown has been involved with. You can search yourself. Through the years, this amazing artist has been under the spotlight in the hearts and minds of the masses. Her third studio album, Glitch, was released in 2015. Despite the fact her second studio album, Samson & Delilah, is her strongest so far, Am I British Yet? Is going to eclipse that. Before getting to any interviews, this biography feature provides some useful background to a music legend:

“Vanessa Brown (born 24 October 1983), known by her stage names V V Brown and V V, is a British singer-songwriter, model and producer, best known for her 2009 single “Shark in the Water”.

Vanessa Brown was born in Northampton, England. She is the eldest of six siblings. Her mother is Jamaican and her father is Puerto Rican. She attended Overstone Park School near Northampton, which her parents own and work at. Brown learned to play the piano, developed her vocals and took classical and jazz piano lessons at a musical arts school. Brown was given her name “V V” from her peers as an MC nickname when she attended her middle school. Her love for hip hop and artists such as J Dilla and Q-Tip still exists. Brown studied violin at the age of 9 but gave it up because she found she was better at the piano and trumpet. She completed her grade 8 jazz trumpet at the age of 16 and went on to play in jazz bands up to the age of 21.

Growing up, V V listened to jazz artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie. Brown earned four “A” grade A-Levels, studying at Kingsthorpe Upper School (now Kingsthorpe Community College) a year early; she was offered places at five top UK universities to study law including Oxford, King’s College London, LSE and York. She declined the offers to follow a career in music. V V Brown was first offered a deal by Gut records when she was 14 but due to educational commitments she decided to finish her studies. She was then offered a deal by Danny Simms, the manager and mogul associated with Bob Marley. Brown declined to finish her studies. She joined a punk band at 15 and had the opportunity to tour Japan. Subsequently, P. Diddy attempted to sign her to his record label Bad Boy Records.

At 18, Brown was invited to an open audition for “VH1 Divas” by friends and was stopped outside the venue by an executive from London Records. Brown was offered a development deal by London records. The development soon came to an end and, at 19, Brown was offered a deal by Polydor records in the UK and A&M records in the US. She left her deal with Polydor and A&M in 2006, with just one single – “Whipped” – officially being released, and a planned album titled “Back to the Music” never materialising.

Brown moved back to London and began performing in bars and clubs around London. She was rediscovered by executive Darcus Beese and signed to Island Records. “Traveling Like the Light” was then recorded in 2007-2008. Brown said that most of the lyrics on the album were about a failed affair Brown endured. The album was promoted by four singles: “Crying Blood”, “LEAVE!”, “Shark in the Water” and “Game Over”. “Shark in the Water” charted in the British, French and American charts, and was certified gold in America and France in 2009.

On September 14 2011, Brown announced that the first single from her then untitled sophomore album would be “Children” featuring Chiddy of Chiddy Bang. The song was released digitally on September 20 2011 (the release was limited to the US, Canada and Mexico as her UK deal with Island Records expired). On October 4 2011, Brown announced that the album would be titled “Lollipops & Politics” and released on February 7 of the following year.

PHOTO CREDIT: Daniel King/Getty Images

Weeks before its planned release, a digital preorder for the album on Amazon was removed, leading to Brown announcing that the LP would be pushed back in order for a worldwide release to occur and to add more songs. However, she eventually confirmed that the entire release would be scrapped and a new album released in its place, with news also emerging that Brown had left Capitol Records and set up her own label, YOY Records (You Own You).

“Samson” was released as her second album proper’s lead single on July 14 2013. Brown announced that the LP would be called “Samson & Delilah” and released on October 8 in the US and September 9 in the UK. The second single, “The Apple”, was released on August 25 in the UK, with a third single, a remixed version of album track “Faith” featuring Bloc Party’s Kele, following in March 2014.

Brown commenced recording of her third album in mid-2014 exclusively with producer Nearly Native (James Leggett), who she had found on SoundCloud. The project, initially planned to be an EP, expanded into an album, with a planned release date of March 2015 being pushed back. Brown filmed 3 music videos for the songs “Shift”, “Instincts” and “Lazarus” in March, with the former song’s video leaking in June.

The next month, Brown announced that she would be adopting a new stage name, V V, made her album available for preorder on Pledge Music, and shared the video for “Instincts”. “Shift” was released officially on August 7 exclusively to streaming services, with its parent album “Glitch” expected in autumn”.

As she states in a recent interview Black artists are being under-represented. Whilst some like RAYE have great power and are going independent, there are so many being overlooked. Discussing the fact that Black artists seem to be a trend or on a conveyor belt of brief attention where Brown, Cat Burns, Laura Mvula or RAYE is spotlighted – and maybe Little Simz too – there does need to be more focus given to amazing Black talent throughout the industry. Before keeping things up to date, I want to look back. V V Brown is a terrific musician. She is also an entrepreneur. In this 2021 interview with The Guardian Brown was working on the Black Girl Magic festival - supporting Black women in music:

“I remember the first time my music was played on the radio. I’d made it into the top 10 of the BBC Music Sound poll – which predicts who might be successful – and it was common for a national radio station to play the music of each artist. So there I was, huddled on the sofa with my family.

But the excitement was short-lived. Immediately after the radio presenter played my song, she took a phone-in call from a guy who said, on air, that I was ugly and stupid. Their discussion then led to a lazy comparison with another black artist, and the presenter concluded the call by going close to the mic and whispering quite smugly that she thought Janelle Monáe was much better than VV Brown.

My sisters and I were in tears. I felt so humiliated: the comments about my looks; the kneejerk dismissal of music I had taken two years to put together with everything in me. My ego had taken a beating.

That call took place in 2008, and I have battled with it throughout my career. It knocked my self-esteem for six. Despite this, I told myself to stop being so sensitive and just concentrate on the music.

I tried to move on from it, but one of the things that stayed on my mind was that, during the show, I didn’t remember any of my white counterparts being compared to any other white artists in such a polarised way – being pulled apart for their looks, intelligence or sound. I understood that this criticism might come from the public, but I did not expect it to be encouraged by my industry.

Throughout my career I’ve noticed many other examples where the UK music industry pits black women against each other, making us believe there is only room for one of us. We are not seen or heard in the same way as white artists.

Approaching radio stations for airplay would regularly lead to responses such as, “There isn’t any room on the playlists because we already have that black female artist. It might be best to try 1Xtra.” And it was common for the press to perpetuate competitive language as if black artists were rivals with each other. The genre of music didn’t matter; it was only based on the colour of our skin. I hated being immediately categorised as R&B even though I had written a pop punk song, and it was frustrating to never be regarded as a songwriter or a producer despite writing and producing 70% of my first album.

In 2020 I checked myself into therapy because of the countless experiences that had severely damaged my self-esteem during my time in the industry. I related to the experience of Laura Mvula being dropped from her record label via an email. She said last month that, four years on, she “still feel[s] this kind of resentment. And, you know, my ego suffered a lot.”

It was exhausting having to prove to the industry that I wasn’t some sassy, aggressive diva. I was tired of worrying about feeling isolated and ridiculed on photoshoots for having afro hair. I was tired of being stereotyped, I was tired of journalists assuming I was a soul singer and never a producer. I was tired of white so-called feminists playing a huge part in the racism towards black women within my music industry and feeling unable to talk about it.

I would see countless images on social media of “UK women in music” conferences championing the progress on gender within the industry, yet with no black women to be seen. I would notice tight cliquey networks of white women in the industry supporting other white artists but ignoring black artists. It was unconscious, unintentional, packaged politely – and was never done in a way that meant to cause harm. However, it was deeply rooted in the industry.

Black female artists are used, abused, discarded and mistreated. The patterns of disparity are undeniable. Our careers have quicker expiry dates than our white counterparts and we are not promoted or treated with the same intent. There sometimes seems to be a one-in, one-out rule so rampant it can feel like a factory line of disposable blackness.

As I took my headphones off after listening to Laura Mvula’s latest album, Pink Noise, I almost wept because of her brilliance. I was so frustrated that her previous label had treated such a genius with such disrespect and I hope that she will receive the high praise she deserves. I thought about the British black female musicians who have come and gone over the years, and how their talents have never come to light in the same way as their white counterparts.

Artist Raye has spoken out about not being allowed to release her music, and throughout my years in the business there have been countless black artists in exactly the same position. I experienced it myself. For two years I was unable to release music and was completely neglected. I negotiated myself out of my first record deal in a 24-hour web cafe at 1am.

We musicians are trained to be silent about our experiences because there is a heavy stigma that our rebellion will be categorised as aggressive, bitter or ungrateful. We are supposed to accept what we are given because to be black in this industry is thought to be even more of a privilege for us than for white artists.

Why hasn’t the UK music industry produced a black pop star like Rihanna, and why do so many of us instead make our success overseas? I sold more than a million records in the US and had a strong fan base, but my album was derided as music for a children’s party by NME, and it spoke of “sass” as if I was a soul singer who’d just picked up a mic and danced.

Black female artists don’t lack talent, it’s the white infrastructure that stops them from fulfilling their potential. Our careers are in the hands of people who take from our culture and package it for the masses through a white gaze, whereas success stories of black individuals often arise from independent, grassroots, progressive platforms.

The next time you see a white female British artist on television, count the number of black women who stand behind them, supporting the continuation of white female artists singing music from our culture. The next time you see anything to do with championing women in arts, count how many black women are speaking. The next time you see an article in a music magazine, think of how few black women in the industry have the power to make executive creative decisions. The disparity is obvious and it needs to change.

Today, with Spotify and independent artists having more power, it’s exciting to see black female artists such as Little Simz taking control. However, unless we go independent or bang down the doors forcing the industry to embrace us, the UK music world will not allow black women to reach their true potentials. It’s obvious to see that the music industry leaves black women behind”.

Back in June, when highlighting her single, Twisted, Wonderland. asked about her return (as her previous studio album was more than a decade ago), in addition to how her sound has changed since she started out. It is always compelling and moving reading and hearing interviews from the sensational V V Brown:

“Off of her forthcoming album, Am I British Yet?, VV Brown shares a second single. Following the success of “Black British”, “Twisted” offers another glimpse into the meaningful project. The track reflects the artist’s multitude of mediums, weaving together research, journalistic styles, and sociology studies to paint a comprehensive, emotional, and empowering picture. Inspired by James Baldwin’s I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, as well as Erykah Badu’s music, VV Brown tackles the complex subject of cultural appropriation in a clear, direct manner. Touching on the implications of the offence and what it truly means to steal from black culture, she brings awareness to the magnitude of the threat.

We had the honour of speaking with VV Brown about her time away from the industry and what this new body of work means to her.

Now for the interview…

Congratulations on your forthcoming album, Am I British Yet?! The last time you released new music was around 10 years ago, what provoked your hiatus and what has it been like re-entering the industry?

Yes, I released GLITCH 8 years ago which was an album inspired by the vogueing movement and the documentary Paris is Burning. I love that album and we had plans to do a voguing ball but things dramatically changed and we didn’t tour in the end. Wow…. how 8 years have whizzed by so fast. My hiatus was triggered by being pregnant. Motherhood induced a wonderful stillness. Motherhood grounded and challenged me in new ways and it was nice to be surrounded by wholesome feelings and things.

I was incredibly nervous to come back into the industry. It has changed so much. I was releasing records independently from 2013 and everyone thought I was mad when I chose to distribute alone and now the landscape is one where everyone is releasing independently. It is a powerful time which moves between music being like water, incredibly accessible and almost too available, yet propelling a strong freedom and a democracy which can only be a good thing for art and culture in some way.

How would you say the industry has changed in the past 10 years?

Artists are releasing independently and unafraid to know their worth. Black artists are being heard a lot more and given more space to express their creative visions. Music is fragmented so you can be more successful in your own world and connect with your fans. Despite this, music has become more hybrid. This is cool but it can make it feel a little lost at times as young artists make music that doesn’t feel as authentic. Gosh, I may be turning into the person who says…”Oh I remember in my day…”

What were some key reflections of your career as an artist during your time away?

Life is short.
Fame is delusional
There is nothing better than laughing with my kids
There is more to life than music
I am proud to be black and will never compromise my blackness or identity ever again.
You define your happiness
Invest your money
Respect each season
Always be kind
I can’t believe I had a number 1 album in France
We really did well in America
Why was I so worried and desperate to be validated by cool taste makers? They are only people.
Geez I didn’t stay present. I was always worried about the future.
Damn “Shark In The Water” is a good pop song and when I hear it in Tesco’s I always feel proud how long it has lived.

How has your sound developed since first starting out?

Each album is a photograph of my life. I used to be ashamed of my messy catalogue which is plagued with many different genres but I have come to love my catalogue. It represents a conviction that I won’t ever be boxed. My development is a representation of me evolving and changing and being true to that change unafraid of commercial strategy. This album is looking deep into the child like Vanessa who fell in love with music because of gospel, Hip Hop and Neo Soul. This album is about my Black British identity”.

When speaking with The Line of Best Fit earlier in the year, V V Brown explored her roots and talked about what sort of Black role models and representation there was when she was growing up. It does seem that, though some things have improved, British culture and the music industry hasn’t changed that much. In the sense that Black artists are still not celebrated and seen as role models by quite as many people as they should. Maybe not deemed essential when it comes to the heroes and heroines we need to look up to. If artists like Stormzy and RAYE are hugely important role models, more focus is on other artists in the industry. Maybe Beyoncé is an exception. Still, there needs to be more conversation around Black artists and their contribution to music:

“Growing up, Brown was an avid hip hop fan, played trumpet in jazz bands, sang gospel songs at church, and headbanged to punk songs in her spare time. She also loved neo-soul, especially Erykah Badu, and at age 21 was briefly signed to Polydor Records as Vanessa Brown, R&B star in waiting. Shipped out to LA, she made an album with big-name writers and producers, but was ill-equipped for the experience. Finding her own vision crowded out by the egos of others, she spiralled into a deep depression and a sleeping pill addiction. It was only after ending a disastrous relationship and selling her keyboard for plane fare that she was able to go home.

Determined to try again, she played every London venue that would have her, and by age 25 she was back on a major label and a star on her own terms. Or at least some of them. Her debut album Travelling Like the Light was originally meant to be a punk record, rather than the fizzy, retro-styled ‘musical mashed potatoes’ that sold by the truckload in 2009. “Obviously it ended up sounding very different, but if I played you my demos you would be shocked,” she says, laughing. “I mean, thank god for ‘Shark in the Water’ because it’s still paying the mortgage, but at heart I was still that girl who was out there playing shows, barefoot and rolling on the floor of pubs in Camden.”

Now a mother of two young girls, aged seven and four, Brown is more likely to be collapsing into a sofa at the end of the day than channelling her inner Poly Styrene. But the punk spirit is still there. When we meet at her manager’s flat, she’s keen for me to know she’s made an effort. “I wore these just for you,” she says, grinning and wiggling her feet to show off some chunky, blue-soled boots she’d bought especially for the trip to London. “I’m normally rocking up to the school run looking like a nightmare in Crocs with saggy tits and joggers with holes in, covered in paint.”

Brown left London in 2016, moving closer to her family in Northampton, and shortly after decided she was done with music altogether. After 15 years at the grist mill of the music industry, motherhood had given her an out and she grabbed it. Posting on Instagram to “put a peace sign up and say thanks for the ride”, she bowed out with love. Looking back now, Brown knows that part of it was the post-partum depression speaking, and that what she meant was not an ending but a pause.

“In the six years since then, I really feel like I've found my most authentic self, psychologically speaking,” she says, explaining how she used the time to reconnect with all the music she loved as a child. “I was going to the studio, but only sporadically. Obviously I didn’t have much time, but also I didn’t think I was good enough. I thought everything I made was so shit. But I kept going every now and then, more for the therapy of it than anything else.”

It was only when she stopped breastfeeding her youngest daughter that studio time became more of a need than a want. She called up a friend for advice, which led to her being introduced to Australian hip hop producer Sensible J, who sent her a bundle of bed tracks that he’d been working on. She lived with them “for ages,” listening while doing household chores and letting her mind wander and eventually something clicked.

“Suddenly I tilted my head and thought, ‘Right, okay,’ then sat down with my laptop and wrote the whole song ‘Black British’ in 25 minutes,” she says. “I listened back to it in the car on the way to pick up the children and was playing it really loudly outside the school gates, with all these very middle-class parents walking past. Then I called my husband and told him, ‘I feel like this is it!’”

In many ways, the Am I British Yet? project picks up where Brown’s last single “Sacrifice” from 2016 left off. In the self-directed video for that song, Brown used whiteface to make a bold statement about how being Black in Britain can feel performative. “I’ve always wanted to be an activist in my music,” she says. “I remember when I was making Travelling Like the Light, I went into a label meeting with four songs, and one was about slavery. The all-male A&R team were like, ‘This cannot go out.’”

And you are working on a documentary as well?

Yes! There have been a lot of documentaries about Black Britishness, but I really want to shine a light on the Black alternative scene and the people who are out there shattering stereotypes in Black British culture.

I remember having a massive argument on Twitter with one Black commentator. She was saying that to be Black you have to be a certain way, and that made me really angry because there are so many young Black artists who are in their rooms making punk records, electronic records, classical records, everything! Things that aren’t necessarily ‘urban’ – ugh, I hate that word – and I want to speak for them.

When we were growing up, pretty much the only visible Black woman in British alternative music was Skin from Skunk Anansie.

Yeah, she was it. I think she’s brilliant. She has so many interesting things to say about her experiences. It was fascinating when they announced Stormzy as the first Black person to headline Glastonbury, and she was like, ‘Well, actually it was me.’ Unbelievable! I didn’t even know that!

I feel like what we are talking about now is very much part of the current conversation. We had Arlo Parks speaking out recently about people trying to keep her in one artistic box. We have Rachel Chinouriri constantly having to fight to be recognised for the artist she is and not the artist people think she should be. And Laura Mvula, too.

There’s a lot of talent out there, and I love it when people are actively challenging the status quo. We can’t move forward as a culture unless we challenge our limiting ideas of Blackness. Art and culture are supposed to penetrate a sense of feeling comfortable by putting up a mirror to things that aren’t quite right. Taking the box and shaking it up! Because we’ve got to move past and shatter all these social constructs that are preventing people from just being themselves.

Going back to “Black British” and the lyrics, you say you're just vomiting them out but there’s a lot of food for thought there. I keep thinking about the line “navigating through the beautiful and terrifying life of Black British,” which I think sums up the album – or what I’ve heard of it so far – incredibly well. Do you feel like, since having your kids, that the world is even scarier than ever?

In a lot of ways, yes. Becoming a mother, the first thing that changed was a huge shift in my priorities. When I was in my twenties, I was worried and anxious about myself. And now I have children I am worried and anxious about them. It’s like I exist but I don’t really. Because I’m living for them, in a way. The things I was worrying about in my early days feel like nothing now. I am more terrified and more aware of this world, because of them. And I am constantly navigating through the beautiful and terrifying life, for them.

At the same time, I do feel a calmness now that I never had before. And there’s a beauty to that, but it’s scary too. And the world is looking scarier, just in general. We’re moving away from nature and into an age of narcissism on crack. I feel so blessed to have learned to think about others more. I wouldn’t say I was a selfish person beforehand, but being a parent is a whole new level of self-sacrifice and that gives you humility and perspective. It grounds you and makes you think about the things that are important.

Honestly, I think this is the healthiest place I’ve ever been in my life. For years the music industry has told me what I should define as happiness and success, and it was always attached to toxic things that don’t mean anything and don’t really exist. Now I’ve learned to define what I think is successful, what I think is peace, and what I think is joy. And those things are nature and my family, and creating a real connection with people like the one we are having right now. If anyone loves my music, I’m so grateful. But at the end of the day, I’ll still be going home to my husband and my kids. I’ll still be sitting in the garden and listening to the birds”

I am going to finish now. V V Brown’s Am I British Yet? Is going to be one of the most discussed and admired albums of this year. Her most direct and powerful musical statement to date, I wanted to spotlight this remarkable artist ahead of the release. Go and follow her on social media and buy her music. There is no doubt that one of the jewels in music’s crown is going to inspire people…