AVIV
AVIV is a 15-year-old Toronto singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who writes emotional and captivating D.I.Y. pop that is both nostalgic and foreboding. She continues to develop this approach on a series of tracks for Photo Finish Records after amassing millions of streams independently and getting recognition from Atwood Magazine and others.
AVIV grew up in a large household with four siblings. Every Saturday, they went record shopping on Queen Street in Toronto, where "most families went to the mall," she laughs,"we headed to the record store as a group."
She began studying piano at the age of six, developing her voice, and later picking up a guitar. Her everyday poetry evolved into songs as she performed her early pieces for friends and family on a regular basis. Throughout high school, she was enamored with Clairo, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey. "They're my three mothers," she jokes.
In her most recent track "You Feel Like Depression" the singer delves into the myriad sentiments of "self-guilt, self-blame, and an overall sense of failure."
This sensation is heightened when the person with whom you've broken up blames you for the split AVIV admits. Finally, with each song, AVIV maintains sensations you never want to lose.
“I’m just a teenager who acts much older, still gets excited about little things, and really loves to over-analyze her emotions and put them into music,” she says. “I try to be true to myself with everything I do. The more AVIV the music is, the better.”
In an in-depth interview with AVIV below, we discover her talent, aesthetics, get a feel for her music and showcase the recent visuals for AVIV's single "You Feel Like Depression".
Will you let us know what it is like being a 15-year old Canadian artist in the music scene right now?
Well, right now especially everything is a little different in every aspect of my life, including music. I love being on the younger end of the industry because it grants me much more flexibility and room to grow creatively.
What was your journey into the industry like? As a child were you surrounded by sound? Did you listen to any household names that influence you now?
I began as a music lover, surrounded by family members who forced good music taste. I come from a big family, and I honestly don’t remember a time when music wasn’t playing somewhere in my house. I learned to play instruments young as well and hated it. Something about endless practice and playing classical music at the age of 5 sounded boring to me. It was the pandemic that reintroduced this world back to me, and I am so happy it did because now it’s my outlet for everything. I look back at artists whose songs I used to play like Radiohead and the Beatles that I have drawn inspiration from.
I read you are a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, how is it merging those skills?
I kinda just always correlated the three together. When I sang I saw instruments, when I played I saw lyrics, etc.
Most of your music follows themes of love, heartbreak, romance - do you pull from your own life to create your tracks?
I pull a lot from all sorts of relationships of mine, romantic or not. I keep a long list on my notes' app of every time something made me feel a certain way. Then when I’m writing I pull from those stories.
Your new single "You Feel Like Depression", is about self-guilt, self-blame within breakups, can you let us know what it was like producing this track?
I collaborated on it with Liam Kevany, an incredible writer. It was originally a sorrowful slow song that we wrote on guitar. We didn't think this version of the song captured the frustrations and emotions we were looking for. We then presented it to producer Rian Lewis, and the three of us spent an entire day testing out various ideas till we felt happy with them. The song ended up with different time signatures and speeds, back and forth - something I had never done before.
The visuals for this single are completely animated, and follow a nostalgic cartoon aesthetic, what made you choose this style of video?
The song captures a lullaby-like, reminiscing verse. I like the innocence and nostalgia associated with this verse and wanted to reflect that into the video by using child-like cartoons.
How do you want your audience to feel while listening to "You Feel Like Depression"?
I want them to get into a car past 10, put the song on full blast, roll the windows down, and just get it all out.
Are you going to perform the single life? Have you got any shows lined up, can you tell us a bit about them?
Yes!! In may I’m opening up for the Happy Fits in Toronto and Montreal. There are many more plans in the works that I cannot wait to share!
How would you like your music to develop even more over the next couple of years?
Right now I’m still figuring out what I enjoy and is the most authentic to myself. I am excited to see what lane I chose and how the music will develop and sound in the future. I'd love to collaborate with a bunch of different sounds and just grow overall.
interview IZABEL ROSE
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