Back to Basics with Vandetta

34-year-old Vanessa Fernandez, or more popularly known by her singing-songwriting alter-ego, Vandetta, has got a lot of achievements tucked in her belt. Although she has dabbled with a plentiful of things in the Singaporean entertainment scene, she is showing no signs of slowing down from experimenting and evolving as of yet. From being in a church choir to national talent shows, to becoming part of the Singapore Repertory Theatre Young Company and hip hop groups Urban Xchange and Parking Lot Pimp, to working as a radio DJ as well as working behind-the-scenes in a radio station, you’d be hard pressed to find another multifaceted artiste anywhere else. We go back to basics with Vandetta, who is currently gearing up for her “Mindkiller” tour. A: I actually got into music very young because my Dad’s family was super musical. When I was growing up, all of his brothers and sisters during birthday parties would all gather around the piano and sing “Happy Birthday”, and three-part harmony, and then launch into a huge singalong, so I guess I grew up being really comfortable with music. When I was 12, I was part of the church choir, which is kind of where it got a little bit more about soul and more harmonies, and that’s kind of..I think how I developed my love for music. After that, I went into doing musicals when I was 16, and that’s how everything kicked off into a more professional space. A: I actually got the name Vandetta from one of my bandmates in Urban XChange, Terry Lee, who basically called me that because I used to be really aggressive and aggro. So he’s like, “Ugh, Vandetta!” and I was like, “You know what? I’m just gonna roll with it”, you know? And then I guess the name kind of stuck. I went into radio and I was Miss Vandetta for a while. At that point, as usual with a lot of group dynamics, people wanted to go off and do different things, at that time I decided to just focus on radio so I went into radio for a while. When I was deciding on doing my own solo project, I guess Vandetta just felt like the right space for me in terms of..as an artiste to experiment with music, in the electronic music space. Which was where I was kind of going into. So, yeah. That’s why I use Vandetta. A: Being a DJ helps me with doing things like these..just like talking to a camera or being on stage and just talking to people. You know, when you’re a radio DJ, you’re just sitting there talking to a microphone and there’s nobody that you’re really talking to. It makes you okay with, I suppose, doing things that might feel a little bit awkward and uncomfortable. But then also knowing that there’s somebody on the other side of the camera or the stage or whatever, who’s like watching you or listening to you and connecting with you. I feel like that’s how being a radio DJ has made me a little bit more comfortable with being open with people. A: The things that I’m super excited about would be the release of my second EP, the “Mindkiller” EP. It has got five tracks produced by five different amazing producers from Singapore. Some of them have been in the scene for over 10 years and some of them are kind of like just getting their feet in the water, and all of them are amazing. I’m also super looking forward to doing the “Mindkiller” tour. Actually we’re going in 2 days to Russia to V-Rox Festival, and BIGSOUND in Australia, and Concrete & Grass in Shanghai. I’m very excited! Thanks for speaking to us, Vandetta. And guys, definitely, definitely check out her latest release, “Mindkiller”!