Meet Vera Blue...
Artist: Vera Blue
Interview by Tiani Worrall
Photos & styling by She is Aphrodite
The lyrics in ‘Lie To Me’ say, “Have you seen that side of me?”; What are the different sides of yourself?
Yeah well, that whole meaning behind that song is kind of about paranoia and it’s about when you are falling in love, for instance, if you’ve had your heart broken or if you have been through past trauma or if some things have had happened to you that has left you with some scars, emotionally. It can have a huge effect, on like, future relationships and how you go into them so that one is basically about the paranoia and the little voices in your head trying to either protect you or let you. There is the naïve side that is saying, “I feel really in love”, “I feel the butterflies”, “I want this to be awesome” and then there is this side of you that is kind of like, “Be careful”, “He is going to hurt you” or “You’re going to mess this up.” It’s kind of like not wanting the person that you’re falling in love with to see a side of you that is ugly, for example. Emotions (are) fine, but if you are jealous I find that quite an ugly emotion; you don’t want them to see that or you don’t want them to see your vulnerabilities which are also still a beautiful thing, being vulnerable. It takes time to feel comfortable with the person and to allow them to see those sides of you, so it is kind of like protecting them as well.
What personal experiences inspired the theme of paranoia in this single?
In the past, in relationships, and everyone goes through this kind of thing, a lot of my friends will be talking to someone or they are in a relationship with someone or falling in love with someone and then all of a sudden it will end, it’ll get cut off or they’ll ghost you or there will be cheating involved or there will be just nasty kind of like, not making things clear. I fall in love pretty easily so you know, I have had moments where I have kind of fallen for someone and then it’s kind of been like, no that’s not what this is about! Where it’s kind of been like, “But you are giving me those signs like you want to be with me.”
This song is like about that kind of feeling but the beautiful thing about this song is that I have found I’ve gotten beyond that side, and that feeling, and I’m in an awesome, stable, gorgeous relationship so it’s cool to look back on when I wrote the song which was over a year ago. It’s really cool. Past traumas, like a lot of people, have relationship past traumas and even in things where’s there is abuse or things like that, there is a huge spectrum of things that can affect any relationship. Heartbreak’s are a big one and that’s what I have been through and just been hurt and feeling betrayed.
You have quite a strong brand for yourself based purely on your outfits and visuals. Did you always want to have a strong visual presence or is that part of more organic evolution?
I think it’s a bit of both, like I have always wanted to have a strong aesthetic and style, but it is something that kind of did happen naturally with collaborating with my stylist, like Jana Bartolo is my stylist, and she is a really good friend of mine and I have known her since back in The Voice days ,so I think it was just having that friendship and that kind of safety to be like, “I’m into this kind of look” or “I’m loving at the moment for this phase of Vera Blue to have pops of colour or texture or movement.” It has been a nice evolution of fashion for us and style because she has been able to push me into things that I wouldn’t normally wear and then I’m like, “Ah I feel that I could wear that.” It has been a bit of both but having Jana on my side and working with other creative people in the fashion industry like hair and makeup, even Mish (She is Aphrodite) doing styling with me and creating this aesthetic that is just like beyond whatever I could of imagine and then be like “this is sick!”, so yeah! It has been cool.
What inspired the decision to dive into more poetic lyrics in the new single?
Well, I am trying to remember what I was listening to at the time, it must have been a song where the melodies where kind of floating in a really weird time direction. But when I work with Tom Mack, who I write most of my music with, we happily write you know straight forward... I wouldn’t say “pop” songs, but songs that are easy to digest. There is something about this new direction style where I feel like I am delving into more of a poetic kind of lyrics that don’t necessarily make sense but I kind of like that- you allow the audience and the listeners to make their own meaning of them. But when we were writing ‘Lie To Me’, it was all kind of really strange metaphors and weird imagery. I’m loving imagery at the moment so there was lots of like, “My September skin starts to give in to a bitter taste” -it literally just means that the person that I was in September has been overshadowed by a more anxious or nervous person- kind of like a different persona. It’s using weird ways to say I have changed.
Woman to woman, how do you protect yourself when you are in love?
Oh it’s sometimes really hard to do- kind of protect yourself because you can get caught up in the emotions and the feelings. It’s also nice when you feel safe with that person, to let yourself kind of fall in love and allow that to be a strong emotion, I guess you have to kind of have to protect your energies and kind of take your time on it as well and get to know the person when you are falling in love. You want to make sure you know they care for you and respect you and look after you, so yeah, it is an interesting one. You kind of have to let yourself fall into it but you also have to like, have some barriers and limits and protection and to always have that in the back of your mind, that thing where it’s like you know, “Is this going to blow up in my face?” It’s kind of like a natural reaction for a lot of people that have been through trauma.
Is a new album on the cards? And if so, will it follow the same theme as the single?
I’m working on a lot of new music at the moment. I don’t know what stuff it is going to be or what body of work it is going to be, and turn into but at the moment a lot of songs are taking different shapes- there are so many different colourful kinds of vibes, lots of different emotions and stories, different narratives. So I am excited to see what happens. Isn’t it crazy how you can listen to a song and you can almost.. like it will make you feel…not see colours, but it makes you close your eyes and it makes you feel a certain way, you know how colours have emotion? Like my year 12 artwork I did a photo series of different colours, it’s like super crap (laughs) I mean mum has it in the hallway in the house in Forbes and I am just like, “Can you take those down?!! They’re like self-portraits!” But they have like a different colour and the emotion matches the colour- for blue that represented depression, for black there was grief and there was anger for red and envy for green and things like that and yellow for happiness, there was like a sunflower theme- that’s what those colours kind of mean to me. I was kind of like, I think I can create a body of work that means all of these emotions and these colours blended, I feel like that kind of still happens with my music when we put in some colour.. it has an emotion that matches. Anyway, I am just rambling on about colours. Mum seems to like it still so, whatever makes her happy!
Any future shows coming up in a post-COVID life?
I am currently working on something, I’m not sure whether it’s going to work or what kind of vibe you know? It’s really difficult at the moment with COVID, with what kind of room or what kind of tour to do, or how many people can be there and also budget-wise so it’s difficult but I think to keep the momentum we’re just working away at you know, something beautiful, exciting or different. So hopefully, there will be something but it’s also nice to sit tight and see how things change with COVID.
Lastly, which spice girl are you and why?
Umm, it’s a good question!.. I feel like I am a blend of all of them! I’m like a super weird person, so I don’t know? I feel like at the moment I am sporty spice, I am really getting into my exercise and fitness and I’m like, energetic and like, “Yeah!” about everything.
“Lie to Me” is out now everywhere.
Celia wears Baumundpferdgarten peach dress, Neon Hart lace top, Zara earrings, Doc Martens// Glamorous peach dress, Laurenette detachable sleeves, Celia’s own briefs// Kaliver blouse// MSGM long sleeved top, stlyist’s own ‘Stay Ugly’ tee, Coop Boutique skirt.
