Interview with Valley.
Interviewed by: Sarah Evangelista
The Canadian indie-pop quartet has been one of everyone’s favourites recently. They’ve played shows with talents like Lennon Stella and The Band CAMINO, and have gained so many supportive fans since becoming a band a few years ago. After the release of sucks to see you doing better, Valley’s back with yet another bop, “Like 1999”, after it went viral on TikTok. Read our interview with them below.
Sarah: “Like 1999” is your latest release, it got super popular from a teaser of you playing the guitar and singing the song. Was this release planned before so many people wanted it to be released, or was it just like a demo in your files?
Valley: NOT AT ALL! The story of how it happened is quite funny tbh..We decided to all get tested and go away to a cabin in the woods and just write music and hangout for the first time in a few months! The first night there we were doing a Zoom writing session with our friend Jonathan & Charli! It was a pretty slow day and no one was really stoked about the song we were writing so Jonathan suggested we set a 30min timer and challenge ourselves to write a whole new song! In that 30min we wrote “Like 1999” pretty much the way you hear it now on spotify haha and then from there our friend Chris just posted a tik tok of us dancing to the demo and the rest is history...completely unplanned, we had 0 idea the song was gonna take off!! Happy it did though :)
S: For “Like 1999”, what came first, lyrics, melody, beat, etc…?
V: Definitely the melody of the chorus!! Someone just started humming that melody and we worked out the lyrics by playing the chords on loop!! We had the “use my phone as a coaster” lyric written first, which sparked the entire 1999 concept... ignoring technology like it doesn't exist! Being in the moment!
S: The music video, as well as the song, links with the year 1999, obviously. With references of MTV (VTV), and all the nostalgic outfits. What were your favourite trends in the 90s?
V: Omg so many haha. Definitely frosted tips- just such a vibe in my opinion if done right!! Also I feel like people's human connection was still materialistic in a way but through really ancient tech now like tamagotchis and gameboys, where you’d get together to play with those things, it was like an event- now it's just easier to stay home on your phone all day cause we have the internet to connect us!! I guess we saw a bit of revival of that with Pokemon when everyone was outside haha remember that?? Also just fashion was so bold and fun, i love 90s inspired fits so much! From the jeans to vests and all the jewelry!! I will say one thing I miss the most is watching music videos on T.V..being at a friends house for a sleepover in the early 2000s and waking up at 3am to Blink-182 on the screen! Something that the 90s really ingrained in pop culture etiquette...setting up the early 2000s!!
S: What was your original idea for the music video? Is it more different or similar to what the final product turned out to be?
V: Honestly with the tik tok going viral unexpectedly we did not have the usual amount of time to brainstorm a video!! We’re super lucky to work with some incredible friends of ours who also happen to be our creative collaborators! We sent the song to the director (our friend Oliver Whitfiled-Smith) and within like 48 hours he had the treatment done!! It was all moving VERY quick but he did an amazing job and we couldn't be more happy with how it all came together! Having Boman star as the “disrespectful director” was really the cherry on top of the whole video and felt so full circle for us, given that tik tok was the spark that started the fire in the first place!!
S: I also love the late night mix of “Like 1999” - it’s so dreamy. You’ve done something like this before with “There’s Still A Light In The House”, do you get the idea for different versions of your songs after creating the ‘original’ versions?
V: Yay!! Glad you love it! That was really fun to make! We always find a lot of happiness in re-imagining our music and Like 1999 felt like the perfect song to do a more movie/soundtrack version!! We recorded and produced that in one day! It came together easily because we’re obsessed with anything sonically related to the 90s and early 2000s, so in our heads we just told ourselves we were producing an additional song to the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack!!! I also love that we managed to sneak in that voicemail as the second verse haha it felt so No Doubt or something to me! It was good for us to make something and not overthink it, just have fun with it!!
S: Could we also talk about like1999.com? I think it’s so cool!
V: Yes!!! That was so cool. Really happy we managed to launch that in time to promote the music video and the Late Night Mix!! Shoutout to our amazing A&R Matt and Andrew at Universal Music Canada for leading that launch and developing that whole website! Watching fans dig up clues, videos and play minesweeper was incredible!! Also the music player was so awesome, fans were filtering our songs and making “Through the wall at a party” versions of Like 1999 haha I loved it!!!
S: sucks to see you doing better was actually released on my birthday last year, and MAYBE was released the year before. Are you currently working on another project?
V: No way!! I’m happy you have that memory on your birthday!! Short answer is yes, always working on the next song and we have about 30 in our dropbox!!! In terms of a body of work or ep, album ect., it all depends on the state of the world!! We’re dropping singles for now in hopes that touring comes back and we can plan more of an era around our music, which involves playing shows! We love connecting all the music and treating each body of work like a chapter of Valley so yes!! Always planning and thinking about the next chapter:)
S: Describe your music as an animal.
V: Ouuuu GREAT question. I’m answering on behalf of the whole band here but i think they trust me so I will go with Dolphin!! They're hella creative in the wild and just so sweet and unproblematic. They speak to each other too !!
Who knows maybe they write songs underwater? There’s just so much we don't know about the ocean and I feel like there’s so much inspiration hidden there so I would like for Valley to exist there in animal form as a...Dolphin!!!
S: Our music website focuses on up and coming artists, do you have any faves at the moment?
V:Yes!! So many!! We have so many talented friends that we grew up with and look up to so much!!
Definitely checkout Elio, The Accents, Bestfriend, Babygirl & Nodisco. <3 all from toronto!!! Where we’re from :)