Meet… Vanessa Gimenez

Born and raised in the heart of Camden, Spanish/Scottish Vanessa Gimenez is ditching the past and venturing the routes of going solo with the dreamy yet resonate debut EP, Make It Rain.

Photo Credit: Reuben Bastienne

Being no stranger to the music scene with past experiences of being part of Swimming Girls and amassing over a million streams, Gimenez finds herself freer in the music she delves into but admits "It’s definitely harder to motivate yourself on a day-to-day basis."

Making her debut at the beginning of 2021 with the title track 'Make it Rain', you would have thought it would have been a crazy idea, but Gimenez has proved the odds and finds herself routing down a path of pop prosperity with follow up singles ‘In My Dreams’ and ‘Doing Better.

With a future that no one can imagine, we caught up with the fast-growing Gimenez about her latest project, what is it like going solo, and the dream to play Glastonbury again.

Let's get straight into it! You're planning to release your debut EP, Make It Rain, next week - how excited are you for this to be out in the world, and what can fans expect?

I’m really excited to be releasing something so personal to me. I didn’t expect to be releasing anything this year, so it’s all very exciting.

Being only a small collective project of three tracks, how would you describe the creative process, and did you ever find yourself cutting songs out or wanting to add more?

It was a natural process. To me, writing is very therapeutic, and it was only natural that I ended up writing quite a lot during lockdown. My team and I then chose three songs out of the music I had written that we felt were fitting as an introduction to this project.

From the addictive title track 'Make It Rain' to the dreamy 'In My Dreams', you explore a plethora of emotions and themes of today's society, but what influenced you to delve into these, and how does each track entwine with each other?

Every track on this EP is personal to me. I take a lot of my inspiration thematically from my own life whilst still retaining relatability for other people. Every track on the EP explores themes of money, class, and dreams. ‘Make it Rain’ is about holding onto your dreams, despite the chances of them coming to fruition. I explore this more bluntly on ‘In My Dreams’ with lines like ‘you’re in my dreams’. In ‘Doing Better’ I am comparing my life and situation to someone else's and realising that that person doesn’t even have to try to one me because I’ve already been dealt a bad hand in comparison. This idea is also explored in ‘In My Dreams’ in lines like ‘you’ve got a big house and my city’s run down’.

If you could, which is your favourite track and why?

My favourite track on this EP is ‘In my Dreams’. I’ve been excited about this track ever since I wrote it in London with Nick Hanh. I love the combination of acoustic and dream-like sounds. The verses remind me of the songs I was writing in my bedroom when I was 14, and the chorus sounds a lot more like the songs I was writing at uni. Bringing these two worlds together has been a dream.

Looking back at your time of being a musician, what were those first steps that got you into music and what influenced you to pursue this specific career?

I’ve been attending music courses at The Roundhouse and WAC Performing Arts in Camden since I was 12 years old. That’s what got me into music. I’d go to school Monday- Friday and spend all my weekends on music. There was nothing that interested me more, so it felt right to carry that love on into adulthood.

After spending time in a series of projects, including Bristol-based Swimming Girls, do you feel you're heading into a new era as you venture going solo?

Absolutely. This project is relatable and unfiltered, which is way more fitting to who I am.

From bands to now going solo, how do they differ in terms of facing challenges? And do you feel more creatively free to do your own thing?

It’s definitely harder to motivate yourself on a day-to-day basis. But it’s also incredibly liberating to have the freedom to write about anything you want and to be able to dress it however you feel like dressing it at that time.

In other news, with live music coming back and already experiencing established festivals, where is the dream to perform next?

My absolute dream is to be able to play Glastonbury again.

Following on from your debut EP, Make It Rain, what else do you have planned for 2021, or is it going to be a chill ending to the year?

Hopefully, a support tour and maybe some more music. We will have to see what COVID is saying.

Finally, where do you see Vanessa Gimenez going in the future?

I hope to be putting out albums, playing shows and growing creatively.

Make It Rain is now out.