V V Brown: going solo was the scariest thing I’ve ever done

 
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28 June 2013
The Weekender

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V V Brown has revealed how walking away from a major recording contract and going solo was the “scariest thing I’ve ever done”.

The 29-year-old singer scrapped her second album Lollipops And Politics last year — against the wishes of Island Records — and went on to set up her own label, YOY Records, and make a new record.

After a few years away from the UK music scene, she made her comeback at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen this week when she debuted tracks from her independently produced album Samson & Delilah.

“It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” she told the Standard. “My career has had its ups and downs, but the thing with Lollipops And Politics is that it was finished and ready to be released with a really big push with two big labels.

“So for me to walk away from that was just terrifying. Sometimes, I just look back and think I was absolutely crazy. But it just didn’t feel right and the music comes first. I needed to make this record and do something darker and more experimental.”

Since her break from music, Brown — whose first name is Vanessa — has found success with her clothing company VV Vintage and also worked as an ethical campaigner.

She said: “I’m getting a bit older now and my perception of life has changed a lot. I feel this is the happiest place I’ve ever been, from a musical point of view and a personal point of view. I feel like I’ve found myself as a woman.”

Most of the album was recorded in a bedroom at her home in Peckham.

She added: “Our neighbours’ kids on the left are constantly practising the cello, violin and clarinet, so when we were working in the studio I felt like we were evens.”

Brown’s single Samson will be released on July 14 with the album expected to follow in September.

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