E: How did you begin your musical journey, what was your musical upbringing like?

V: I started singing from an early age. I grew up surrounded by so many genres being played in the house by my Nigerian dad and my English/ Irish mother, who both heavily influenced my sound as an artist today. Soul music always brought me the most joy. There's something about soul and R&B that really connects differently compared to any other genre. I also grew up going to church every Sunday. That was a huge influence on myself and my musical journey.

E: How did you go about building your confidence and being comfortable singing or being on stage?

V: The confidence part was hard. I’m still trying to build and work on that, but I guess I just thought to myself at one point in uni, who really cares? I think that made me just try to be as comfortable as possible on stage. I still get nervous of course but I'm definitely not as shy as I used to be.

E: What’s been your favourite song you’ve created & what has the creative process been like for curating these songs, when creating music is it methodical or a more spontaneous process?

V: My favourite song I’ve made, that is a hard question wow. I think my favourite released song that i’ve made would have to be Sunday. I made it when I was working in a call centre about the feeling you get on a Sunday not wanting to go back to work the next day. It’s just so soulful. I like to be spontaneous when making music. If you think too much the feeling just goes and music is all about the feeling, that’s what separates a good record from a great one. I like to work with the producer and let them have the freedom to create as well as myself. The producers i’ve been working with all allow me to really create greatness when in the stu.

E: Where do you see your music in the near future, on a scale of 1-3 months from now, 6 months or even a year, are there any major milestones approaching we should hear about?

V: I just want my music to reach places it’s never been. I would love for my music to be recognised more on a national scale this time next year. I plan to release quite a bit from now so just for those releases to really resonate with music lovers. Oh and of course the dream… a COLORS performance. I won’t put a timeframe on that but that’s a dream.

E: What are the 3 most important values to you? (This can be musically or personally)

V: Honesty, Humility and Respect

E: When you are coming with these values in mind, how are they translated in terms of community & how do they translate into your everyday life?

V: I feel like each of these values are the base of the community. They represent to me some of the qualities all the people around me posses and having that in my everyday life is just a blessing.

E: Who would you say influences you today and who have been some of the biggest inspirations in your life?

V: A million percent my parents. I also grew up listening to a lot of Amy Winehouse, Etta James, Corinne Bailey Rae. Lianne La Havas. Then there are newer influences such as Cleo Sol and Teyana Taylor.

E: Finally, this Summer you’ll be performing at Cross The Tracks festival in Brockwell Park, London - How much are you looking forward to this, and if you could give us 1 or 2 words to describe your emotions, that would be great!

V: Ah, I'm honestly so excited! It’s gonna be such a special day, it's so hard to put into words how much I'm grateful to be a part of it. But if I had to say one word to describe it would be… ‘Joy’

Interviewed by Elizabeth Adeleke