But whereas rising up in Miami, one other (semi-fictional) singer first made her choose up a microphone.
“Hannah Montana was my first musical obsession. I pressured my sister to bounce with me to her songs. I’d make all of my household pay me to sing her songs,” she says of Miley Cyrus’ Disney Channel alter ego.
As a sixth grader, Valentine auditioned for the theater and music packages on the Miami Arts Charter School in Wynwood. She performed saxophone for eight years and advanced into music manufacturing by her junior yr of highschool. After commencement, she pursued greater schooling on the behest of her household.
“My mother actually needed me to go to school,” Valentine provides. “I obtained into the one college I utilized for, Berklee College of Music. I attempted it, however I did not prefer it, and I dropped out and moved to Los Angeles.”
Now 21, Valentine launched Tonight I Don’t Exist, a dreamy seven-song EP of bed room pop, final yr. “I wasn’t planning to place out an EP,” she explains. “I wrote all of the songs whereas I used to be in L.A. I cried whereas making every of them, which is after I know I’m doing one thing proper. It was therapeutic.”
Despite the songs’ emotional response, the songwriting course of differed from observe to trace for Valentine.
“Sometimes I sat [with a] guitar and [wrote] the lyrics and the melody first. Usually, I provide you with the beat and produce the track, after which I do the lyrics,” she explains.
Last month, she launched the video for “Next Life,” a observe off the EP.
“I had launched the track in June, so I used to be sick of the track, however the director had a cool concept that reignited my pleasure for the track,” she says. “I’m dancing with a masked determine that represents my melancholy in a extremely ’90s grungy house. I needed to run miles for this video.”
Valentine did not should reignite any emotions for the brand new batch of songs she’s planning to launch in 2023. “We’re going to place out packages of songs. We’ll have two songs and a video popping out within the subsequent couple of months,” she provides.
She describes one of many songs, “Stars,” as “extra digital and actually bizarre.” The different new observe, “Anesthetized,” helped enhance her vocabulary.
“I began it with a beat. I laid down drums and a piano half, then I riffed for lyrics,” Valentine explains. “The phrase anesthetized popped into my head. I did not know what the phrase meant. I seemed it up and wrote a track about it.”
While she enjoys Los Angeles and appears impressed by her yr and a half in California, Valentine nonetheless has loads of love for her hometown.
“There’s a number of similarities between Miami and L.A. Lots of various cultures in each. I like Miami higher, however I get pleasure from L.A. It will get a nasty rap,” she says.
Both cities additionally impressed Valentine to attempt her hand at producing Spanish-language music.
“I grew up with Latin music, so I want to make some music in Spanish,” she says. “I’ve tried to put in writing songs earlier than in Spanish. It feels bizarre, however I believe I can do it.”Â