“I want people to think I’m smart. I don’t want people to think I’m sad.” Is what Boston’s up and coming musical artist ‘Brittle Brian’ said when asked what she wanted her music listeners to think of her.

Brittle Brian’s, Victoria Rose, has been a singer and songwriter since the age of 14 and has been playing shows for about a year now. While she has said that she has “barely touched the music industry,” she’s been lucky not to run into many issues that could be gender related. But don’t get me wrong, Victoria has strong opinions on some of these issues and, I would say, good advice to other teen girls, in the spotlight, or not.
One question that I asked Vic, was what she could do to be inspiring to other girls through her music, her response was great! She simply said,

“ I could show girls that their emotions and interests are valid.”

Delving into that response more, I found out that Victoria believes it is a common problem to deal with people and artists that would like to romanticize being sad and that she didn’t just want not to be one of those people, but she didn’t want her listeners to think she was sad at all.

“Yes,” she says about if she thinks critically about what messages her songs will send. 

“I don’t want to romanticize negative emotions in a tacky way. I don’t want people to think it’s cool to be sad.”  She wants to be seen as smart; As a girl, and as a lyric writer.

From articles that both Victoria and I have read, she states that it seems that a lot of women working as musicians, get taken advantage of, and are less credited than their male counterparts for the same amount of work. It seems to her that women in this line of work are treated as lesser or less knowledgeable. Though it seems rough out there, Vic says it’s a very small circle of people that have treated her differently for being female.

With more eyes on the performer in the room than the listener, it isn’t magnifying what may or may not happen already. Going anywhere as a female , you are going to have people sexualizing or objectifying you. That’s a harsh truth.  But being an artist, to Vic, isn’t making you any more susceptible to this, it’s simply just being a girl, and people she has met in the business have been good to her, when asked how she feels about how they’ve treated her, as a female artist she replies,

“For the most part I feel respected and have been treated well”.

By listeners, she says that there have been only a few small things, maybe to do with her as an artist maybe not.

“ I have been asked out a couple of times, been told I was cute through my music related email. I’ve been sexualized, but the circle is so small. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with being an artist. Most artists I have met have not sexualized me.”

It’s a wonderful thing when a woman can feel respected and not-sexualized by her peers, but she does realize the problem of these incidents occurring all around her.

“I’ve found that females are always being watched and objectified. It’s not the female’s job to avoid being sexualized. Just be genuine to your desires and goals. You’ll probably get objectified in some way - it’s not your responsibility to avoid this. You are not the problem.”

With words of wisdom like that, it makes us wonder where this inspiration to be genuine to your desires and goals comes from, and when asked, Vic has the sweetest answer.

“This one is a thinker… My closest friends probably. I am inspired by them because they are all very creative, talented, and driven people who pursue things out of genuine interest or love. I like that they are so interested and good at something but don’t try to be seen doing them. I think the people that inspire me the most are a little secretive and let their actions do the talking. They are independent and selfish in the right ways. I’m a little jealous of those traits but my friends inspire me to really think before speaking and to think critically about what I really want. They provide focus.”

It’s clear that the longest answer I recieved all night,  had definitely been thought out. It depicts her inspirations for sure, but truly proves that she loves and is inspired by her friends. And maybe trying to be a little secretive, she is deliberate in her actions and believes the first song on her newest album ‘Verisune’ has some of the most deliberate lyrics she has ever written. She likes playing this song best because of this and it’s “mathy” beginning and “stormy” ending. She feels confident that  ‘EV Human’ is a good song.

And hopefully there will be more good songs to come, and I expect there will be, but when asked straightforwardly what she would do with this experience when she was older, she seemed to have a positive but not made-up mind about where music might lead her.

“ I’m not sure. If I have kids I’ll probably show them. I see music as being a part of my life, but I’m scared of making it a whole identity. I want to make music but remain relatively low-key about it. Hopefully I’ll have a job that can support me and make me fulfilled.” 

And I am sure that you will.