FVMusicBlog

Photo: Violet Love

Violet Love is a queer, Latin American artist whose journey has taken them from punk bands in Vegas to indie folk in Arizona, and now to their most vulnerable solo work yet. Their upcoming EP, Destined to Fail (out October 3rd, 2025), was written, recorded, and mixed in their bedroom and explores themes of trauma, honesty, and transformation. We caught up with Violet to talk about the making of the record, the story behind its lead track Serpent, and how their identity and experiences continue to shape their evolving sound.

Destined to Fail is such a bold and raw title. Can you share what that phrase means to you personally, and how it frames the emotional journey of the EP?

‘Destined to Fail’ is such a hopeless statement. But it’s very honest about how I felt. This EP is an expression of where I was in life at the time of writing, and was meant to take someone on a journey through my thoughts, emotions, and ultimately, where I landed on all of it (at the time of finishing the writing of Artist). I was hopeless and feeling like there was no way out of that hopelessness, as if it were a predestined thing that was beyond my control.

You’ve said that this project came from being brutally honest with yourself, even when it hurt. Was there a particular moment or realisation in the last year that pushed you to start writing this record?

Yes, there absolutely was. It came more from an assessment of the world we are living in and the time frame that we are in throughout the course of human existence. The thing is, telling myself that I’m not a part of all of that just simply wouldn’t be honest. No matter how much we like to believe sometimes that we aren’t the problem, the fact of the matter is that all of us have a part in the state of the world around us. If nothing else, then as bystanders. It’s a hard realisation, but it’s the truth.

Trauma is a central theme throughout the EP. How did you balance telling your own story while creating something listeners could see themselves in?

This is such a great question. To answer this, I have to bring you back to a younger, more impressionable version of me who idolised the adults that I looked up to. I had a music/music production teacher and mentor who told me, in the context of writing music, that what’s “most personal is most relatable”. And I’ve totally lived by that statement ever since, not just in music, not just in art, but in life. When writing this, I wasn’t really thinking about the world or about the listener, just me and how I felt and who I was.

“Serpent” captures the feeling of being changed by someone else’s hurt. Can you take us inside the songwriting process for that track—what did it look like from the first spark of an idea to the final version we’ll hear?

I was having a very difficult time processing through my own trauma and life events, and I knew that I wasn’t gonna be able to move through it without writing a song. It’s just how I work and who I am. A lot of the time, before I start writing a song, I have a phrase or a thought or even just a word replaying in my thoughts for sometimes weeks straight before I’m able to sit down and explore what that really means to me. For this song, it was “Serpent in the Garden of hell”.

I knew that it needed to be a part of the song. I didn’t know how or why, and I’m still not sure if I do. But it’s important and I know that.

You’ve been in punk bands, indie folk bands, and now a solo project. How do those different musical worlds show up in Destined to Fail?

That’s a difficult question to answer because my idea for this EP in terms of instrumentation was to be something I’ve never done before, and maybe somewhat adjacent to what I’ve done, but something completely out of my comfort zone in an effort to push the boundaries of what I was capable of musically and in terms of production and mixing as well. In the end, there are definitely parts of my past, musically, that have shone through. The parts with the heavy distorted guitar and the guitar solo on Apple are totally the punk version of me coming through.

The EP was recorded and mixed entirely in your bedroom before being mastered professionally. What were the biggest challenges and rewards of that DIY approach?

It was very challenging but very rewarding. Not the first time I’d recorded things solely in my bedroom. But I just totally went out of my way to challenge myself and try things I’ve never tried before. I both acoustically treated and soundproofed my bedroom for this EP. I bought gear I had never used before. I spent night after night after night trying things, only to figure out I didn’t like how it turned out and that I had to do it all over again. But that’s me, that’s who I am, I’m a perfectionist at heart and always will be. It’s still not perfect, but I’m proud of it.

I’m proud of how I’ve grown, and I’m proud of the art I’ve created and the hard work put into it. The biggest challenge was definitely finding a unique way to overcome the fact that I simply didn’t have access to the kind of studio equipment I was used to using. And to an extent, it’s just simply not possible to get a multi-million dollar studio recording sound without multi-million dollar equipment. But I did the best I could, and even if I don’t have multi-million dollar equipment, I have been collecting different music gear since I was 8, I’m very, very grateful for what I have.

In regard to rewards, I’m just a different person and an artist who is more accustomed to trying new things, thinking outside of the box, and making things work while not settling for anything other than the best I can do. And I’m proud of that. I’m not perfect, but I’ve grown.

As a proud queer, Latin American artist, how does your identity shape the way you write, the stories you tell, and the audience you hope to reach with this EP?

The ways I view the world and the person that I am affect every facet of my life, as with everyone else in this world, even when I try to step outside of myself, there is only so much of that in which we as humans are capable of. I want people of all shapes, colours, sizes, and identities to relate to my art because I believe music can bring us all together. But I wouldn’t be surprised if my fan base ends up being more and more aligned with my experience of the world. We naturally gravitate towards what we know as humans; it’s simply who we are.

You’ve moved around a lot—from New Jersey to Vegas, Arizona, Texas, and now Michigan. Do you hear those places reflected in your sound or perspective as Violet Love?

Absolutely. Moving around a lot has shaped me so much as a person. For a 23-year-old, I can say I’ve experienced a lot more than most at my age. I’ve met so many people, seen so many things, heard so many stories. These things shape people and make us into who we are, even when we don’t want them to.

I’ll always be a Jersey girl at heart, but Violet Love is a version of me that has seen the world, at times maybe a bit too much of it. I’ve lost many people in many different ways. Moving around and experiencing life naturally forces you to lose parts of yourself as well. I’ve chosen to try my best at having those things help me grow rather than stunting my growth. Whether or not I’ve achieved that is up for debate. My perspective is that it’s some of both.

You’ve described yourself as “constantly trying to evolve as a person and an artist.” After releasing Destined to Fail, what do you feel is the next step in that evolution?

I’m in the process of relocating to Michigan at the time of writing this, and Michigan is going to be a new version of me, in a lot of ways already is. This version of me is dedicated to living by my values and being disciplined in the ways that I do that. I’ve decided this about myself, and I’m not turning back. Changing myself and my art will follow; that’s my philosophy on it as of right now. How this might change and affect my art is yet to be seen, and honestly, I myself am excited to see.

If a listener walks away from this EP with just one feeling or message, what do you hope it will be?

I have a lot to say about this question, but the TLDR, ironically enough, is hope. I know that sounds funny, considering the title is Destined to Fail, but hear me out.

When I wrote this EP, I didn’t really have a message in mind. It was purely for me, my own healing and processing of my thoughts and emotions. If anything, my goal was to have an accurate representation of who I was and how I felt and saw the world in 2024 to early 2025, and I believe I accomplished that. To be honest, this EP isn’t indicative of how I feel anymore, though. I feel like I can now finally leave this version of me behind.

The version that felt hopeless, resentful, and alone. It’s just not me anymore, and so it’s kind of taken a life of its own. To an extent, I want people to develop their own connection with this EP and develop what it means to them. But if I have one intended response, it’s to provoke rigorous honesty.

With ourselves, with each other, and with the world around us. I believe it’s important for all of us to do our best to see things objectively, and honesty is one of, if not my biggest, values. The sad part about all of this, though, is that this kind of brutal honesty is so painful nowadays, and it’s very easy to be cynical and feel hopeless.

There is love in this world, no doubt, but we are at a time in history where things aren’t looking too good, and there’s no way around that. And I think it’s pretty obvious by now that I’ve been there, I’ve felt that. And I’ve made my way out of it. So can you. And so can all of us. It’s who we are, and it’s what we’re made to do. To survive.

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FVMusicBlog October 2025

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