When the mainstream pop world seems to have become the most predictable and dull that it's been for many years, there is always hope that someone may come along and give it, for want of a better phrase, a good old kicking. Over the last ten to fifteen years, the most successful British artists have been Dido, James Blunt, Adele and Ed Sheeran. All impressive singer songwriters, but not exactly exciting. That's why when the likes of Lady Gaga come along, people welcome something refreshing. But even with Gaga, there was a sense of a motive; a plan or something manufactured.
As the men (and ever so slowly women) in suits pour over possible successors to the likes of Sheeran, it is worth reminding them that no new music fashion and artist of any significance has been formed in a meeting. No one would have predicted The Beatles, Punk or Britpop.
Someone looking to shake up the rather staid industry is Veronika Vesper, the daughter of a world famous Czech conductor and someone who doesn't so much as tick the boxes, but sctraches them out.
On a sunny May evening in London, Music News heads to an office suite in a hotel near Kensington High Street that has been reserved for our chat. The singer strides in on shoes that make her look seven-foot tall with blonde dreadlocks falling to her waist. To say she she is striking would be a considerable understatement. Veronika Vesper oozes confidence and has eyes that can shoot you a look like an assassin. She's been talking "all day" but finds time to share her ideas about the music industry, warming to our conversation as she becomes more relaxed:
"I studied playing the flute, but classical music is restricting. I am creative and while playing in an orchestra can be amazing, I want to do something more. I am a performer. If you want to be a creative artist, you have to take all the problems that come with it. You realise there's this whole stiff industry, that wants to put you in all these uniforms to get through different gates. You can think, yes I want to reach a wider audience, but do you compromise yourself?"
But Vesper does not appear like someone who is ready compromise anything.
"When I am on stage I can express myself freely, because I play music I wrote and perform it the way I want. The question is then, how long it takes to make it on a larger scale. But if I just changed into some marketable pop person that's not really guaranteeing anything. But I couldn't do that, I am not that kind of person. I am not fake. Doing that I couldn't get up in the morning."
There is certainly no pigeon-holing Veronika Vesper. She embraces fashion, is described as a cyber-visionary (although Music News is not sure what that is) and performs this powerful electro pop, having trained in classical flute. It seems she likes to do everything?
"When I was a kid I was constantly going from one thing to another; dancing, photography, acting, art. It now makes sense to me that what I am doing right now, is taking all these things and putting them together. For a long time my parents were confused about that, wondering what was going to happen. When I was a kid my uncle asked me on film what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said I just wanted to be Veronika. I saw it recently and I couldn't believe it, because that is exactly what I am trying to be."
The singer's website launches with a page asking whether you want to enter the light or the dark. This Music News reviewer played chicken and entered the light. Vesper smiles when I confess.
"For me personally this (the light and dark) signifies a journey of being self-destructive and a rebel, being naughty and breaking the rules or being harmonious and being more kind and gentle. I was always quite confused by these two sides to me. I have never been nasty to anyone, but I used to be, 'I must go to school on time, do the work' and then after a week I would be 'fucki it' I need to get drunk and skip school and do other adventurous things, before thinking I must be a good girl again. It's that sinner in me. It took time for me to understanding it was fine to have both these sides. Every now and then you need the darker side to kick ass and say 'let's get this thing done'."
As we sit a chat about her ambitions and her wish to be more successful, without letting go of her artistic principles I get the impression that success will not be far way for Veronika Vesper. Our conversation about light and dark leads to a Star Wars comparison, where she says she would definitely be a Jedi. She might not need such powers to take her fascinating career to a larger audience. Check out the video for recent single Rule to see for yourself.
