by Brittney Corridean
Photos Courtesy of Grandstand Media & Management
The weather might be cold and dismal these days, but Adia Victoria will be bringing the fierceness and heat of the south as she sets out for her first headlining tour this month. Her single “Stuck in the South” has been making great headway and her live performances have been duly noted as being “haunting”, “raw” and “honest.” This will the Nashville singer’s first time on the road so albeit there are mixed feelings, but she is mostly looking forward to finding new challenges on tour and traveling back to some old roots including our neighbor, the Big Apple.
“I suppose the dominate feeling right now is disbelief…I’m pretty excited to play NYC, obviously. I lived there in my late teens and early twenties; it was the first place I lived out on my own, so I’ve always had a bit of a complex when it comes to New York,” Victoria states about the upcoming tour.
Victoria started writing as soon as she could pick up a pen. She also has a background in the performing arts so her innate talents only kept progressing over the years. Her music goes into her life experiences/inspirations and factors in things like growing up with immigrant parents in South Carolina. “Life inspires me. Human behavior inspires me. I like to examine the idea of what our society can do to the human psyche and the emotional toll our daily life takes on us.”
She is very in touch with her emotions and when you see her perform or read her lyrics, this is quite obvious. “There are times that I feel rage, I feel elated, I feel defeated or queen of the fucking universe. Often in one day. Or one hour. And that’s one of the biggest reasons why I make art—to express all these complex emotions that live inside of us all,” she about putting herself into her music.
She also is very fond of poetry and notes some of her favorite authors as being Toni Morrison and Sylvia Plath; “No one else manages to wring out wry humor from mental illness quite like she could,” she says.
Victoria also isn’t a fan of posting videos online. She likes to keep her performances authentic and really connect to the audience. “Personally, I would rather that the first time someone see my live set not be on a tiny iPhone screen.” The other band members openly go along with this (not so regular) practice and it seems to entice fans to go out and see the live shows.
“Every show is different. We’re playing to different people and different energy. If you can accept that, then every show will stand on its own.”
For Victoria, being a musician has really opened her up emotionally, spiritually and artistically. Her performance and lyrics lets her resonate with fans on an extreme level and it has been really eye opening. “One thing is that I am afforded the opportunity to express myself and connect with others in a way that I would never be able to,” she says.
Be sure check her out on 1/28 @ Boot & Saddle this week if you’re up for some heat in this cold weather we’re experiencing! While Victoria is in Philadelphia, she plans to catch up with an old friend who recently moved from Nashville. Other than that, she’s always up for a good meatball sub!
