Victoria Hesketh (aka. Little Boots) is a phenomenol electro-pop artist, producer and DJ. She explains that she studied Culture Studies and worked in TV production right up to the point she signed her first record deal. Since then, she references a rollercoaster of highs and lows throughout her music career whilst trying to keep her artistic intergrity in tact. We caught up with the artist following the release of her latest single Landline. Music inspired by how for Hesketh, music has the power to bring people together. Which brought back memories of school where she would call school friends through their landline and play songs to each other down the phone.
Landline – Development as an Artist
Hesketh explains how her biggest developent as an artist has been stepping up as a producer on her new album. The first she has written and produced. She explains that her music is electronic pop, yet stands out due to encompassing an authentic DIY edge to it. Complete with personality and soul!
Pointing to her stage name Little Boots, she explains how her favourite song to date has without a doubt been her first ever release “Stuck on Repeat”. For the very reason that it felt incredibly genuine for the artist. A naievity you only get from writing without any real goal or motivation, she explains. In reference to choosing electonic pop as a genre, she explains how she always love great pop music since a very young age. Having grown up playing piano as a child, she evolved her skillset into exploring synthesisers and keys. Thus for the artist, it made total sense to move into electonic music from there.
Little Boots does however believe that the music industry in general needs a revolution. With Major labels having been gatekeepers for a long time. Whilst admitting that this is slowly changing, she points to how we still pay big companies like Spotify to essentially rent music via a license fee with the artist and writers getting paid proportionally very little. In this respect, she does not feel this can last forever and hopes new technologies will enable artists and writers to take back ownership of songs in a digital form.
The artist recommends for anyone looking to get into the music industry, that you be realistic and have a back up plan in place, in case it goes south. “I know that’s not as romantic as saying follow your dreams, but I think it’s important, it is really tough and it isn’t just talent or hustle that cuts through, it’s a pretty unique combination of both. But hey, energy, creativity and persistence conquer most if not all things”. Little Boots goes onto highlight how she is currently placing the final touches to the physical product for her new album. In addition to undertaking collaborations with a number of dance artists and exploring the NFT space.
Looking forward, Hesketh is keen for her new album to be as successful as possible and have a bigger reach than her last few releases. I’ll be pretty busy playing in Abba Voyage from next year so I haven’t thought too much beyond that, but I’d like to do more songwriting for other artists and collaborations as well as continuing working on my own music. Alongside her Patreon channel which she is keen to keep building to grow her fanbase.#watchthisspace
