After her self-produced EP Lost In Thought, released in 2016, she took the Swiss music industry by storm by winning the Demo of the Year award at the M4Music-Festival. She was then awarded Best Talent by their national radio station SRF3 and was nominated for the Swiss Music Awards in 2017. Having performed in India recently, we caught up with the 22-year-old to find out more about her love for India and her future projects. Excerpts:
Hi Veronica! We were excited to see you in India. How was the performance?
Yes. This is the First time I’m in India. Thanks to 9122 Records for getting me here and I’m very excited for my maiden India Tour. I have heard EDM is very popular in India. I’m yet to dive deeper into that. I would love to know more about music in India. I travel with my guitar; it was an acoustic set and I played with the loop station. Basically, it was a stripped-down version of my original song tracks.
For the uninitiated, tell us a bit about yourself and how you were inspired to become a musician?
My Name is Veronica Fusaro. I grew up in Switzerland and I’m half Italian. I’ve always loved making music. I’ve always enjoyed singing ever since I was a little girl. I was in school choirs, school bands. Whenever there was a possibility to play, I was there and ready to sing. Then I started playing the guitar. I started writing my own songs and the passion grew bigger and now I get to do this full-time today which is awesome. I have recently launched my new 5-track EP called Sunkissed exclusively on 9122 Records.
Take us back to your first ever performance. What were the challenges you faced until then?
The first performance of my own song was when I was 16 and I was playing with my guitar. It was in this little bar venue pub in my hometown, a little stage, and small fairy light. My friends came by, some of my teachers were there along with the rest of the visitors. As it was the first time, I was very nervous standing on the stage and singing my own songs. But I have very positive feelings and emotions connected to it. It was an amazing experience.
How do you look back on your journey over the years? What are the biggest lessons you learnt along the way?
There are many. There have been ups and downs which showed me the hard times and the happy times both. All you need to do is be yourself, don’t forget why you are doing this and just have people around you whom you trust. It’s very basic but classic. Just be yourself!
How would you describe your musical style? How much has it evolved over the years?
I would describe my music style today as soul-pop music since I’ve been very much influenced by my organic music and instruments and the whole feeling of soul music, the vibe. I also grew up listening to soul music and not much of electronic music. For my first two projects, it was more electronic-based music. But now I’m diving more into the soul music world.
When producing new music, what are the factors or themes that inspire you?
Whenever I write or produce music, it’s a combination and an amalgamation of the music that I’ve heard or basis the emotion tells me. I don’t consciously decide anything I just go with the flow and put forth whatever comes from within.
Take us through how you prepare for your live performances.
I usually get to the venue, do the sound check to get into the mindset that I’m going to perform on the stage. I make sure that stage feels comfortable to me. Then I go back to the greenroom, get dressed and get my makeup on. I started doing some warm-ups and once I’m ready the last thing I do is I go to my manager to calm myself down because I'm always a little nervous before my performance.
Who are the musicians who have inspired you and influenced your music?
One of my biggest idols is Amy Winehouse. She has definitely influenced the way I make music and the songs that I like. I love her work, she was incredible. I also love artists like Frank Ocean. Lana Del Rey. I grew up listening to this Italian artist Vasco Rossi who was a video legend in Italy. I also love Janis Joplin.
Are there any upcoming projects or tracks in the pipeline? Could you shed some light on the same?
My last EP just came out so my focus was on all these songs. But yes, there are a couple of songs that haven't been released yet. I’m constantly writing songs and soaking up inspirations which will eventually turn into a song. There is nothing planned yet, for now, it’s my tour and the new songs of my EP Sunkissed. Especially now as it’s the beginning of the winters in Switzerland, I hold on to the feeling of Sunkissed.