Verenice Big Boy (Official Music Video)
Win a private Verenice concert!
Who am I? Well, I don’t like shopping (except for groceries or at Abercrombie & Fitch). But I like to spend my money on traveling. I’m always curious to get to know new cultures; I have lived in the USA and India, studied English, French, Spanish, Hindi and Chinese. I eat about 100 g of chocolate every day. And I love my iPod. If you see me walking through Schwabing or jogging along the Elbe, I am probably listening to some fine tunes by a stunning independent songwriter like Damien Rice, Nerina Pallot oder Imogen Heap. It makes me feel like in a movie. And I want to make others feel like they are in a movie as well. No matter if it’s a drama or a tear jerker, as long as the feel something. People ask me how and why I write songs. The truth is I can’t help it, the songs just sort of “come“ to me. I wrote my first song when I was about 9 (“Patricia“ in honor of my bunny of the same name.)
At the age of 11, I wrote my first sociocritical song triggered by Gulf War I that wondrously was also about recycling (can’t really remember the exact train of thoughts but it kinda made sense when I was 11.) I never wanted to be a singer though, I always dreamed about being a dancer. Until – on a high school exchange program in the States – I messed up my knees doing a so-called “jump split“ in the Oregon State Dance Championships (luckily it was the ending pose in the routine) and had to wear a full-leg splint after that. To live out my pent-up creativity, I reluctantly joined the school choir and was stunned when I (as a foreigner!) got picked to perform the American national anthem at our graduation ceremony. “Why me?†I asked myself and still puzzled started to take professional singing lessons from an amazingly motivating teacher when I came back to Germany. After high school, I decided to study something “prudential†and got my diploma in business psychology. But all through university, I spent at least half of my time writing songs, performing at festivals and organizing my own concerts. I was lucky to find a musical accomplice and some really nice producers (now producing the tremendously famous band Tokio Hotel) who recorded my first demo songs. I performed in front of up to 20 000 people, had newspaper (yep, even BILD), radio (Top 3 of the local wish list) and TV coverage (a full 3 minutes), but somehow I never really managed to commit to music a 100 percent. So I ended the collaboration with my musical partners and moved from Hamburg to Munich when I got an offer to work for one of Germany’s greatest media visionaries. But while I was “working my ass off†in the world of publishing, I realized that not being able to make music became more scary than the thought of being a poor artist living under the bridge. So, I finally decided to “burn the boats.†I am ready…
The Debut Single of Verenice: „BIG BOY“
Verenice impressively proves with her debut single “Big Boy†that catchy pop melodies do not have to be accompanied by shallow lyrics. In a charming and unpretentious singer/songwriter attitude, the siren from Hamburg sings about fantasies of omnipotence, the blind seeking of profit and ruthlessness, and effortlessly builds a bridge between sing-along anthem and profundity. She found her inspiration for the song about “big boys†and their “big toys†in the current economic crisis and roots for a stronger sense of responsibility in a society that is reigned by too many “kings of fools.†Verenice’s distinctive voice playfully holds together guitars, 60s beats and Hammond organ while interpreting the rhymes with ease and finesse. The fact that she writes all her music and lyrics herself and co-produces her tunes, needs not to be mentioned – you will feel it after the first few beats. Verenice reveals her soul in her songs and lives what she sings about.
Thus, she founded the charity project “Aktion Lebensretter†to support poor children in the slums of New Delhi and recorded a new version of “Big Boy†with them, so the children get the chance to sing about their dreams.
But Verenice also has a quite and subtle side, which she shows in the musical gem that is hidden on the B-side. Merely accompanied by a soulful piano, “Like a Snail†shows how captivating a sensitive, pristinely recorded voice can be. And unlike the pace of the snail in question, this song is over far too fast. But luckily, Verenice’s debut album “Burn the Boats†is already in the works.