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What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

Vivienne Chi is a London based independent artist and songwriter who best describes her sound as Alt-Pop. Her evolving catalogue of work combines decades of influences resulting in an electro-infused blend of folk and soul that is emotive, sultry and somewhat haunting.

Born in Bristol and brought up in Spain, she found her voice practicing to the likes of Portishead, Massive Attack, Kate Bush, Eva Cassidy, Prince & D’Angelo. She started performing at 8 years old and recording her own songs at 11. Her upbringing in Andalusia, Spain was wild and carefree but lacked a platform to grow musically, at 18 she moved to London to pursue a full-time music career. She quickly became entrenched in the city’s live music scene performing regularly at jam nights where she met the musicians and producers she works with today. Experimenting with ideas and genres in writing sessions for various original projects lead her to eventually develop her own unique sound.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

‘Hard To Get’ out May 17th.

Description of release:
I wanted to create something with an all-out Brit Pop feminine feel with for the live set. A song to get stuck into on stage at festivals. We started with the beat and went from there…

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

I’m influenced by so many things in life its hard to pinpoint one in particular, I am probably influenced sub-consciously by the music I listen to. At the moment I am listening to alot of Sharron Van Etten, Justin Vernon & In Rainbows by Radiohead.

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

I would say my sound is a fusion of elements from soul, punk, indie-rock, folk, 80’s pop… each song carries different amounts of those elements!

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

The Big Lebowski, Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind & Voodoo – D’Angelo

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Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

Both for different reasons, both studio & live are extremely rewarding & challenging. I like the adrenalin of performing live & the creativity of being in the studio.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

I wrote a song called JUNK which we forgot about for 2 years until I found it a played it to my manager – he said YOU HAVE TO RELEASE THIS’ it reached #n1 in the Hype Machine chart and have had nearly 1 million streams on Spotify! Im glad I stumbled across it!

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

My personal favourite is Vivienne – my first release. I love how sparse it is and the anger in the chorus – so much fun to play live.

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

More releases and a show at El Dorado Festival this summer!

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

Why do you do this?

Because it feeds my soul 🙂

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

Recommended listening:

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