TRENDING

Image: Laura Harvey

She may be just fifteen years old, but Canadian pop singer Victoria Anthony is already taking the world by storm. In 2018, a video of her singing P!NK's "Perfect"—right in front of P!NK—went viral. Since then, she's been polishing off her own original songs and preparing for the release of her debut album, "Real Life". Girls' Life caught up with the budding songstress to get all the deets on her songwriting process, her new music vids and her fave quarantine hobbies.

Girls’ Life: You’re dropping the audio for your new single, “Real Life”, this week. What was the inspiration behind that song?

Victoria Anthony: I wrote “Real Life” the day after I wrote this whole manifesto in my Notes app. I got inspired by some TikToks and some tv shows I was watching. I realized how precious life is and how incredible it is that we’re alive, and I was like, I really want to write a song about that. I want to be able to share that with people—because for most of my life I wasn’t really focusing on living in the moment and appreciating every single bit of this journey that we’re on. 

GL: Let’s talk about your debut album, also titled “Real Life’, that’s coming out later this month. Is there a particular theme or message behind it?

VA: Yeah. I chose the title track of my album to be “Real Life” because I think that this song that you guys will hear really shows the whole album and captures everything I want to say, which is: "Wow, it is so crazy that we’re alive." We get the good times and we get the bad times, but each of them is a new experience. And it’s so important to value every bit of it, [even] to value the sad times. That’s why a lot of my sadder songs have a positive spin on them. For example, my most recent song, “Gotta Get Up,” is about a really tough time in my life. But I wanted to tell it through an optimistic lens and share the beauty of lesser times. 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Victoria Anthony (@vicanthonymusic) on Oct 12, 2020 at 11:37am PDT

GL: What was your favorite part of putting the album together?

VA: I think the most fun part was being able to learn along the way, but writing will always be my favorite part. Just being able to stir up some ideas. I kind of like the danger of writing—or not the danger, [but] the excitement of, is this melody in my head going to turn into a song that the whole world’s going to hear? That’s what’s so fun about writing. And then the whole process of being able to give notes on the production, the mixing and the mastering, was really cool for me. ‘Cause I’m very particular about the music that I put out. I want to make sure that everything I’m putting out represents the best that I can get it to.

GL: Speaking of songwriting, when did you start writing your own songs?

VA: I have been singing since I was really young, and just a few years ago I taught myself guitar and piano. I think that is what made me fall in love with everything to do with writing and singing, because I could finally start playing my own stuff. I could finally start writing and using instruments to write, rather than just using melodies and lyrics.

GL: Usually with an album release you’d be touring around the world, but because of the pandemic the situation is different. How have you been dealing with releasing your album right now?

VA: Well, it’s so crazy during COVID. Everything is different. Luckily, most of the writing and in-person stuff was done before the lockdown. But I had to do the music videos during lockdown, some of the mixing and mastering—which was mostly just remote, so that was pretty good. I’ve been doing some live performances, but live performances have such a different meaning now. It’s like, ‘live’, on the Internet. It’s super weird, but it’s still really cool to be able to share the music.

There's also kind of an interesting story about one of my music videos. My first music video for this album, for my debut single “Sleep”, was actually animated because it was the height of COVID and the beginning of lockdown. No one really knew how to do COVID-19 procedures in-person. So I filmed at my house, on a green screen, and I sent it off to Nashville to be animated. And it came back so cool.

GL: The music video for “Real Life” is set to drop later this month. What can your fans expect from that?

VA: The song goes to a different level with the music video. I knew that I wanted it to be colorful.  I wanted it to be different than anything I’d ever done. It’s a full production. I wanted to be a "city girl." Like, I work in the city, I’m a professional, but then I have fun. And that’s kind of the whole meaning behind “Real Life” the song: Taking a boring workday—maybe it’s a Wednesday or something, and it’s so mundane—and you make it fun because of your perspective. The way that you look at it. Your mindset. That is what makes a workday into the best day ever.

GL: Did you pick up any new hobbies in quarantine?

VA: I did. I got really into TikTok. I discovered the skincare side of TikTok, and since then I’ve just been obsessed. Like, I love doing research about different products. I wear sunscreen every day, obviously. I don’t know what got me into it, but I’m just loving skincare. Also, gaming. I just started playing Fortnite in quarantine. I was like, I will never play Fortnite, no, like, my brothers play it, ew, absolutely not. Then I started playing it, and it was so fun. Now I play this new game, Among Us.

Image: Laura Harvey

GL: Who are you listening to lately?

VA: I love Taylor Swift. I love her new album. I love all her old stuff. She’s a huge inspiration to me. I love her songwriting and everything about her. I also love Beyonce, Tori Kelly, Little Mix, Megan Thee Stallion, Ed Sheeran. I’d say I either veer towards the singer-songwriter type, or the full production boss chick vibe.

GL: Can we look forward to any performances of songs from the “Real Life” album? 

VA: Yes, I’m doing a livestream performance on October 21st for Bands In Town, where I’ll be performing every song on my album before it’s out on Friday [October 23rd]. It’s kind of like a sneak peek of the songs on the album. I might be doing some more music videos depending on which songs people really end up liking from the album. If people want to comment on my posts @vicanthonymusic, they can tell me which songs they’d like to see videos for. 

You can check out Victoria's music videos on her Youtube channel and stream her debut album "Real Life" on your fave platform starting October 23rd.

All Images: Laura Harvey

by Bailey Bujnosek | 10/16/2020