When you’re young, there’s always the fight with your own feelings. One day you feel strong enough to conquer the world within seconds, the next day you’re too depressed to get out of bed and you just want to hide from life. On her debut album, ALBA, German singer/songwriter LUCA VASTA deals with those two sides of human nature. It’s black and white,dark and bright, hopeful and hopeless at the same time. Just life as you might know it.
Taking voice and piano lessons as a child or playing songs with her family at home established the position of music in the now 25 years old’s life . No wonder one of her main goals was to release her own music one day. After moving to Berlin and working for several German TV stations, VASTA also started writing on tracks for her first record. Dealing with loneliness and heartsickness during this period, the artist produced a record which would be described later on as a ‘portrait of a young woman’s emotional ups and downs’ among critics.
In March 2013, almost a year before the release of ALBA, VASTA leaked her first single Cut My Hair on the web. Her first statememt as a musician was a catchy and coltish dedication to her hair. The song was used immediately for a German commercial. The track’s music video, which was filmed within three days in Italy, her native country, reached almost one million views by now.
After uploading some more stuff during the past months and clips about the production of ALBA, the singer finally released her debut LP in April this year.
Suddenly people started to recognize the former TV host with the long brown hair again. Bloggers spread the word about LUCA VASTA‘s so-called ‘vintage pop’, the music station she used to work for introduced her right before and after its commercial breaks. TV performances, a lot of interviews on radio stations followed. It’s like everyone wants to know the ambitious girl who has switched position from interviewer to interviewee, starting her career once again, this time in music. Her real passion.
NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION didn’t miss the chance to get to know the charming singer as well, so we visited her in Cologne right before her gig to talk a bit about life on tour, feeling alone and timless music.
So it’s your first tour. How is it so far?
It is great. I’m with my hole family here and I know the band for a long time. We worked together on the album and it’s just great. It’s really funny, we’re super childish and laughing all the time. Our band is a very good combination. There are four guys and one girl. She’s been a really good friend of mine for a long time and we’re giggeling a lot.
You’ve also spent some days in Toronto earlier this month? How was your time in Canada?
Amazing! It was the firt time for us in Canada. It was a good feeling to travel somewhere and to show your music to other people and not to be only in Germany. We’ve played in small venues and it was a whole new experience for us. We couldn’t do soundcheck or anything. It was just like going there, putting all your stuff on stage and then perform. It was definitely an interesting experience. And, of course, Canada is great. Toronto is great. We would like to go back there someday.
Is there any difference between a Canadian and a German audience?
(Thinking) Yeah. Maybe the people there are more fun in a way. Toronto is like a music city. The people are not that super critical, I think. Sometimes the sound was a bit shitty, I would say. But they had so much fun. They were all dancing and screaming and everything. They gave us a really good time.
Let’s talk about your first album. What does the title stand for?
ALBA is Italian. It stands for sunrise and I think it fits as the title for my first album. It’s like the sunrise of my music.
The record has been described as a ‘portrait of a woman in her early twenties’. It’s about feeling lonely, being young and alone. Was it an emotional journey for you then, while working on your music?
Yes, it was. I started to write songs about three years ago. I moved to Berlin and it was a new situation for me. I moved into my first own apartment. I come from a big family, so I never had my own space. Then suddenly I was there: first job, big apartment. I started to feel kind of lonely. Berlin is a great city and I admire its vibe, but if you don’t have much friends there or people you know, it can become depressing. It was a very special time of my life. The first time I felt really lonely. I also had a big breakup before.
So what song would you call the most personal then? After all you’ve experencied during this time?
I think it is Take The Gun. It tells the story about a boy and a girl who meet for the last time. They just can’t breakup, even when they have to. It’s the last time for them. Before it all ends.