With a debut album finally on the horizon, and a brand new single that sees her collaborating with The 1975’s George Daniel and Ross MacDonald, VICTORIA CANAL is embarking on a new era of self-discovery and sonic reinvention. Check out the latest cover story for our New Music Friday playlist edit, PLAY.
Words: Martyn Young.
Photos: Jennifer McCord.
Victoria Canal has had many special moments in her short career so far. Moments of significance that illuminate what an exceptional songwriting talent she is. Co-signs from people like Chris Martin from Coldplay, who heralded her early signature song ‘Swan Song’ as one of the best ever written, and validation from the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards with not one but two prizes. All of that early success and recognition burnishes the person Victoria is blossoming into as the Spanish-American multi-instrumentalist looks ever deeper into who she is and wants to be. She’s embarking on the biggest year of her career with a whole new era and sonic reinvention ahead of a forthcoming debut album, led by one of the indie-pop songs of the summer, ‘June Baby’.
“I’m passionate about figuring out the meaning of life,” she begins as she tells us about her ongoing quest for self discovery and reflection. “Why we’re alive and what to do with it and being very intentional about it rather than passively watching your life go by.”
A lot of her passion for deep thinking comes from her dad who was really into the concept of stoicism, and for Victoria the desire to reflect on herself and the world around her defines everything she does. “It’s more an active desire for aliveness, but I don’t know if you can consider aliveness a hobby?” she laughs.
That spirit to feel every moment is evoked in her songwriting, and the period of awakening that represents her new era. “I think I’ve changed a lot since I first started out,” she says. “I was always so anxious about reaching a certain place to feel better about myself. These days I’m practising being happy with who I am and where I am as I grow. It’s still with a growth mindset. It’s not like I want to stay still, but as I’ve gotten older, I have a real desire and intention to reframe my worthiness as a person.
“There’s so much joy and meaning in the dream and this confusing thing happens when you start to feel your dreams coming true, that it feels a little weirder than you might expect. You start to touch the thing instead of looking at it from far away. When you touch the thing, it’s like, eww, it’s actually quite slimy, or the texture’s not quite right. It doesn’t feel quite as beautiful as it did from far away.”
With a different perspective on the potentially overwhelming initial rush of acclaim Victoria is able to approach her current work with a fresh confidence. “I’m enjoying it from the outside rather than clinging on to it because as soon as you do that, you realise that it’s prickly and complicated and can really turn into something that consumes you if you’re not careful,” she explains.
“I’m practising being happy with who I am and where I am as I grow”
Victoria Canal
So, what of this new awakening, then? Well, firstly, there’s a banger of a single. ‘June Baby’ is light and blissed out and a perfect evocation of summertime love and the rush of youthful feelings and excitement that feels unlike anything Victoria has released so far. “It feels summery and breezy. It’s about innocent teenage puppy love,” she smiles. The song came about when two new collaborators entered her world, who you might possibly recognise. “At last year’s Ivor’s, I met two of the guys from The 1975,” she explains excitedly. “I connected with Ross the bassist and said let’s write a song together, and we did, and it was ‘June Baby’. We sent it to George, the drummer and producer for The 1975, because we knew he had produced The Japanese House, and I really loved her albums. I wanted something that sounded like her a little bit but also like them. When I went into the session, I had this piano riff, and it just flowed out. It was a pretty easy song to write. I started the song with Ross and Ed Thomas in London and finished it in LA and sent it to George, and he put his sparkle on it.”
“HE’S A BEATLE!”
Two of the biggest moments in Victoria’s career so far have been winning Ivor Novello awards back to back in 2023 and 2024 for Rising Star and Best Song. All before she’s even released her debut album. A bit mad, innit?
“”This award felt very surreal. I was not expecting it,” she says. “I didn’t have a speech prepared because I was so sure that it would not happen. I was just honoured to perform, and that’s where my attention was. Having the opportunity to perform in front of all your favourite songwriters in the world.
“I literally met Paul McCartney; he’s a Beatle. HE’S A BEATLE! He changed music, and he was the first one to win the award that I won. I had already studied the list of winners of the best song category and it was David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Queen, The Beatles, all these insanely legendary artists. It doesn’t quite compute that I would be on the same list.
“The difference between this year and last year at the Ivor’s is last year I didn’t have any imposter syndrome. I was like, okay, this is right, rising star. I’m getting going and heading in the right direction, and this feels like I belong. This year was like, this does not make sense. This has to be a mistake, is it just because of my disability that everyone pities me? All of those thoughts start trickling in.
“I definitely did feel a little bit more emotionally conflicted as I didn’t feel I totally deserved it. It’s a song that I love but I compared it to the iconic mind-bending, culture-breaking songwriting on that list and I feel like I’m a bit of an odd one out.”
The single acts as a lovely, blissful portrait of that thrilling moment when you’re falling in love with someone but don’t quite know what’s going to happen. “Conceptually, it was in a time when I was feeling myself fall in love with someone and feeling slightly scared too because I didn’t want them to break my heart,” she says. “I was hoping they were on the same page as me, and I wasn’t leaning in too far straight away. I was feeling amused and charmed by someone.”
The song is the first in a series that sees Victoria exploring desire and how her relationships and feelings have changed over the years. “It’s funny because through this campaign, I’m going through the motions of discovering who I actually like and not who I should like. This chapter is interesting because it represents the time in my life when I was like, this is who I’m supposed to like. I’m excited. It’s coming out with a strong statement.”
“I’ve written an album that has a bit of a story to it”
Victoria Canal
Ross is universally considered the true 1975 fan fave so it was fun for Victoria to discover just how beloved he is while spending the last few months teasing the song online with an incredibly engaging TikTok game that even the notoriously camera shy bass player joined in. “He’s so funny. He’s up for it!” she laughs. “He said, ‘Use me’. He doesn’t give a shit about the internet or use any of that stuff, but he’s like, ‘I don’t care, use what you want if it helps with the song, let’s just go for it’. He’s so lovely and easy and sweet. Super creative and so humble. He’s really quite British in the way that he’s so self-effacing. He pretends he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but as soon as he picks up an instrument, he’s ripping it to shreds. I love him and love working and being friends with him.”
‘June Baby’ is the first teaser for an album that looks to raise Victoria’s work to a whole new level musically and conceptually. “I’ve written an album that has a bit of a story to it,” she explains. “It’s a story that I’m excited to dig into with the fans. It’s exploring a coming of age and blossoming into womanhood. It’s an energy of falling in love for the first time and feeling myself open up sensually and sexually and exploring my sexuality and queerness. There’s a bit of a hangxiety aspect to the record. There’s a journey of tension and release as it pertains to getting older and life becoming more complex. It’s framed in a story that will be really cool for the fans to discover. Sonically, it’s a greater risk than I’ve ever taken, more production, more drums, more genre-bending than ever. The last two EPs I’ve put out were very acoustic and stripped; this one is a pop record, but my way.”
Ready to blossom into a pop star on her own terms, 2024 promises to be a landmark year for Victoria Canal.
Victoria Canal’s new single ‘June Baby’ is out now. Follow Dork’s PLAY Spotify playlist here.
