We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nadia Venice. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nadia below.

Hi Nadia, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

The music industry has changed so drastically over the years. There’s this underlying feeling that you just need a song that’s “good enough” to get noticed and that it rides on how talented you may be whether it’s through vocal ability, songwriting ability, flow, etc. But talent is no longer at the forefront and it’s really all about the numbers. It’s not to say that talent doesn’t matter at all, but in a lot of cases it really doesn’t. At least not like it used to. Granted, talent is a relative term, but I think its meaning (at least within the industry) has changed nowadays. Social media is obviously a huge component to this. Now that you can pretty much cultivate your own fan base with or without a label, most record labels seem to only care about signing artists if they’ve gone viral in some way, shape, or form. It’s understandable though because their main objective is to make money off of you. So if you do have a large loyal following, you’re an asset in their eyes. It’s a little baffling though when you come across so much undeniable talent that goes unnoticed but others are getting tons of recognition with much less passion and effort for true art. But hey, everybody’s got their hustle.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a singer/songwriter and I started writing music around the age of 6 or 7. My older cousin taught me how to write and sing, so ever since she planted that seed I just continued to nurture that. I’m thankful for her because music is a huge catharsis for me and has gotten me through a lot of rough times in my life. There’s definitely solace in being able to transmute your pain into art.

As far as what sets me apart, I think my views on most topics and how I operate are just generally unconventional which has always been somewhat innate for me. I don’t only want to make music but I want to talk about the topic at hand as well. Make people laugh, perform choreography, etc. I want to entertain in more ways than one and I think a lot of musicians just want to make music which is beautiful as well… I think I just have a passion for a lot of forms of entertainment and expression. Even if it doesn’t necessarily involve me being featured in it. I used to film and edit videos a lot which is yet another form of expression so at this point I just refer to myself as an artist. I just don’t like being put in a box, which is probably the most relatable thing to most creatives.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

One of the biggest reasons I started releasing music and content was because I wanted to provide a form of escapism to a community of people. I look back on times in my life when I felt so alone but music and content would feel like a warm hug…felt like home. As I get older, it’s becoming more apparent to me how individualistic American society is. We live in silos and our sense of community depletes as we get older unless you’re lucky enough to have cultivated a smaller one on your own. So because of that, there are a lot of lonely people amongst us that just want that “warm hug” or sense of home that I also once craved. Music and content provide that for a lot of people. So I really wanted to contribute to that. I call it “digital altruism”. It’s much more impactful than I think people realize.

I’ve had people message me directly telling me how much my song may have resonated with them or just that they love it and continue to replay it. Whether my music or content is making someone laugh, feels comforting, makes them happy or whatever it may be, I love being able to provide that for others. It really melts my heart whenever I get messages like that.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Ironically I was just talking to a friend about this exact topic but I think most non-creatives don’t understand that we can’t exist happily without exercising our craft. We can’t function. It tends to go one of 2 ways. You are a creative and you know you would be unhappy working a normal full-time job because you just want to create all day so you try to pursue a life where that is your full-time job or you are a creative that is ok with working a normal job but you still have to create to some capacity in your life to stay fulfilled. I often get frustrated talking to people who aren’t creatives about my craft because they don’t understand that it feels like life support for you. It may sound dramatic but if it were taken from you, it feels like your world is ending. You need to be able to stimulate that part of you regularly to remain somewhat sane and functional. Creatives are also often misunderstood and tend to think much deeper than non-creatives so there’s also usually some dissonance in a lot of social interactions. Creativity and art aren’t bolstered in society the way it was back in the days when Leonardo Davinci and Beethoven were alive. People tend to scoff at creatives, which inevitably breeds a great deal of depression, suicidal ideation, or just straight-up suicide amongst creatives. We tend to be severely misunderstood. Ironically, it makes for great music but most non-creatives simply don’t take creatives seriously until they’ve reached a certain level of recognition and financial success from it. We live in a mixed economy so your craft has to be a commodity nowadays to garner respect.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/nadiaxvenice
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NGqVjVizvbWc9fWWMUWfQ

Image Credits
Photographer: Dvnielle J.