The evolution of Vandetta

SINGAPORE – Looking to the past while heading forward: That’s what singer Vanessa Fernandez – who goes by the stage name Vandetta – is doing with her latest concert at the Esplanade on June 27.

The show, entitled Evolution By Vandetta, will feature all-new music that sounds is a bit of a spin-off from the material she released last year on her Vandetta EP.

“That EP was my exploration of what it felt like to be a ‘struggling artiste’ and conquering that feeling of being stuck,” explained the 32-year-old.

The new songs, she said, reflect her musical evolution and although they aren’t not recorded yet, are a “return to my roots in hip-hop”. “Because I’m presenting a lot of new material, I’ll probably also present a lot of familiar material in a new way through cover versions or work in a specific music hook.”

She continued: “I am still moving forward but sometimes you have to look back – at where you’ve come from – in order to figure out where you should be going next. I think it can be very conceited to believe that what you’re doing has never been done before. But it’s worth it to go back and take stock and see what others have done and take inspiration that way. It keeps you grounded – well, me, anyway.”

Fernandez has been singing ever since she was a teen, but came to the public consciousness when she, along with noted musicians Trisno Ishak, Munir Alsagoff, Michaela Therese, Terry Lee, Firdaus Bahri, Humaa and Kimberly Olsen, was part of music collective Urban Xchange, which later evolved into Parking Lot Pimp. After doing a stint as a DJ on MediaCorp Radio’s 987FM, she decided to focus on creating music. Last year found her in Los Angeles, where she put together what would be eventually become the Vandetta EP.

These days, when she isn’t on duty with Lush 99.5FM (as the Assistant Programmer Director, no less) Fernandez is a solo act. And this concert is going to the first “real solo” show for the singer - it’s just her voice (which LA Weekly described as being able to do “volitations ranging from angelic hymns to caged bird blues”) and her few onstage “toys”. These are gadgets and software that allow her to do live looping (the recording and playback of a piece of music in real-time), such as the TC Helicon VoiceLive Touch and the Boss RC505 Loop Station, which she can connect to her iPad to glean music samples.

“The idea is to create a one-woman show. I’m doing this for two reasons: One is to challenge myself as a musician, and the other is (because) doing what I have to do with Lush, coordinating a band for rehearsals and all that isn’t the easiest thing to do. So this is my way of figuring out how to do a show all on my own.”

But even though this is going to be a show featuring only Fernandez and her machines, don’t expect it to be some sonorous sound art event filled with bleeps and bloops that only C-3PO and R2-D2 can understand. “I feel that I always conceptualise things, like ‘How will this run as a show, how will I move an audience?’ It has to be melodic and I will construct songs accordingly.”

While Fernandez likes experimenting with new sounds, she isn’t leaving anything to chance when it comes to her show. “I always will figure out the points at which I want to engage with the people. I always have a rundown,” she said.

It’s not just a sign of her professionalism. “It’s because I get nervous. I need to do it so I don’t feel nervous,” she laughed. “There are elements of spontaneity and improvisation, but those are also kind of planned, so I know when it happens!

“But I naturally consider how a show is presented and how I perform. Being cognizant of the fact that you’re making an audience sit down and listen to you for an hour is important.”

Still, one can tell that she’s pretty excited about her new material. “I always want to create something that I can be proud of,” she said, although she admitted that she “can’t listen to some of the things I’ve done before”. “But I’ve also started to recognise that the things you create are a reflection of where you were at that specific point in time - a snapshot. And when you become an artiste, you’re more concerned with what the song means for you and what it could mean for someone else, you know, ‘Is this a good song?’”

The new songs may or may not end up on the next Vandetta recording, but Fernandez is keen to get her music out to as many ears as possible. And not just in Singapore.

“I think that if you find the right places with the right communities … you will be able to build and grow an audience,” she said. “If you say that music is not sustainable in Singapore – for whatever reason – the only way you can achieve quantifiable success is if you can tap into multiple markets.

“Why do we need a critical mass? You just need enough communities and markets to go into. If you can get 100 people in Singapore, and you can tap into multiple cities in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia or a couple of places in Australia, it adds up.”

Evolution By Vandetta is on June 27, 9.30pm at the Esplanade Recital Studio. Tickets at S$25 from SISTIC.