Q&A with Valenttina Dias

 

Since very little I’ve always performed to my family and was part of several musical plays in school, but it wasn’t really until I moved to Los Angeles that music really became a career to me. I always knew that that’s what I wanted, but due to the pressure from everyone, from family to teachers and friends, for me to follow a “normal” path, I’ve always tried to hide that part of me that was singing all the time and creating choreographies in my head. I even tried sticking to Economics and went to college for it, but I couldn’t stand 6 months there. And after a whole semester of unhappiness questioning what I was going to do, I decided that I wasn’t going to live with the thought that I’d given up on my dream. I decided to listen to the 10-year-old Valenttina that sang High School Musical all day long and decided to make her happy. I live and breathe music, I always have. I just couldn’t ignore this part of me anymore. And it was the best decision I’ve ever made. 

 

I feel like “idcm” is an accurate painting of my personality. The way that I talk about the issue of false acceptance in the song is exactly the way I talk about it in real life. I tend to always see things in a fun and playful way, I love a good sarcasm and adding humor to something that would essentially bring me down. It’s my way of not allowing any of these negativities to affect me. That was the vibe I wanted the song to have, and I feel like we accomplished that with the blend of a right lyrical approach, vocal delivery and some production aspects to enhance everything and give life to the mysterious and playful vibe this song has.

 

Essentially, every aspect of my life has lead me to write about this subject. I grew up in a social circle where both, family and friends, give a major importance to appearance and “social/economical relevance”. To them, it’s all about how much money you have, who do you know, what do you wear and what do you own? I knew I didn’t want to be a part of that. When I decided to pursue a musical career, one of my best friends told me that: “That’s the most stupid decision I’ve heard. You have everything here. Go work for your dad. Why would you risk it all?”. I had a similar reaction from my cousin, not to mention the people that would talk about it behind my back. At first, I was really upset about their comments but then I thought: People that haven’t found happiness are constantly giving opinion on how I should find it? No, thank you. So, I felt that this was the perfect subject for my debut track. 

 

The pop aspect will always be a part of my music. I grew up listening to this genre, so the “pop formula” is always on my subconscious when making music, with catchy melodies and in structure. The Brazilian influences come through a rhythmic aspect. The drums and its groove are a key part of my sound. I always make sure the drums stand by their own and make you automatically move when you hear them. Not to mention the language blend with Portuguese that I incorporated in the next songs. I believe this mix of culture is the new big thing in music and I love it! 

 

Since this was my debut single, I was initially overthinking everything about it. In my mind, it all had to be perfect. And we all know that that’s the worst against being creative and letting ideas flow. But when that “stage of overthinking” gave me a break, it was easy to see the route I needed to go with this debut. I knew my message is to encourage people to be and do what they want to in life, find happiness and be unapologetic about it. So I fully embraced that message and made a track that made me happy, wrote about a subject that was real to me, wore what I wanted for visuals, made a music video the way I wanted to and did everything that made sense to me. And after all, it was really fulfilling.

 

I’m so excited about the future! There’s still so much more sonically that I want to explore and so many themes I want the world to hear about through my perspective. The main aspect I would mention about the direction of my music is that I want to incorporate more of the Brazilian/latin sound (language and rhythmically). This latin influence makes me want to dance and makes me feel at home, it brings me happiness and peace at the same time.