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Fabienne Verdier Le Mont des Immortels 1993 Cobalt ink and cinnabar seal on silk canvas

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VanJess - “Honeywheat” (Live) | All Eyes On

Soul sisters (and real sisters) Ivana and Jessica comprise the R&B duo VanJess. Born in Nigeria, the girls moved to the U.S. by the ages of eight and ten while 90s R&B was still at its peak. Much of that 90s R&B influence permeates through their debut full-length album, Silk Canvas. Released in 2018 via Keep Cool, the fourteen-track album plays as a journal of their lives up to that point and touches on all the relatable tropes of love, heartbreak, and personal growth. Features on the project include a whose who of their emerging adult contemporaries like Masego, Leikeli47, and GoldLink. I’d describe their music as orthodox R&B tinged with dance, electronic, and hip-hop.

They first started gaining attention when they began uploading YouTube covers of popular songs in high school. After releasing covers consistently, they started gaining attention from celebrities on social media. Around 2011, they decided to take music more serious and it was around this same time that they released their biggest YouTube cover to date. It’s a mash up of Drake’s “Headlines” and Frank Ocean’s “Thinking Bout You” which has garnered over three million views to date. Taking time to fully develop their unique sound and voices, they released three singles in 2016. “Adore”, “Through Enough”, and “Touch The Floor” were all well received and helped solidify them as artists to watch out for.

Fast forwarding to 2020, we were so lucky to have VanJess perform at our All Eyes On showcase earlier this year. We were able to catch up with them for a few quick questions as well. Watch their performance of “Honeywheat” above and read our interview with them below:

Photo: Mark Peaced

Ones To Watch: You guys released your debut album, Silk Canvas, in 2018. So, where are you guys right now in your musical journey?

Jessica: After the album, We were really overwhelmed with the reception and the positivity that we got from our fans and peers. Right now, we’re just focused on elevating. There’s always room to grow but we feel really proud of the music we put out and the legacy we’ve created so far because we did it on our own terms and made a project that we’re really proud of.

You were both quoted saying “Silk Canvas was a journey of R&B through the VanJess perspective.” What makes your perspective unique?

Ivana: We’re talking about our lives and what we’re going through on a daily basis - individually and together. All of the songs are about different phases in life that we’ve gone through and that a lot of our listeners can find relatable.

Jessica: We’ve always had an array of influences, sonically. Growing up in Nigeria and then moving to the US, we not only listened to traditional Igbo praise songs but my mom played Elton John, 90’s R&B, pop music, UK pop, and hip-hop. This gave us a wide range of influences.

How are you both approaching your second project?

Ivana: Everything we did that first time around was a trial, so this time we’re being more intentional with what we’re saying because we’ve gone through a lot, especially this year. A lot of what we’re talking about is directly hitting on what’s going on in the world and what we’re dealing with.

Speaking on things you’re dealing with. A lot of Black women in the industry recently have been very vocal about hate and disrespect from fans at live shows and on social media. How do you deal with being black women in the music industry?

Ivana: As a creative and black woman, you have a responsibility to lead. It is important for us to be seen in a positive light and to encourage other black girls that they can do this too. We’re always looking out for comments from girls saying “wow, she looks like me.” It’s really such a beautiful thing and it just lets us know that we’re doing something right and we’re doing what we’ve always wanted to do. We’re making an impact in the right way.

Jessica: We know how important it was for us growing up. One reference I can think of is Brandy. Growing up, I didn’t necessarily feel super confident in the way I looked and people would always tell me that I resembled Brandy. I would look at her and think that she was so beautiful and when I saw her in all these commercials, it made me feel better about myself. It’s crazy because we did an event for our label last year and she was there. She came up to me and said, “you look like me.” I was blown away. I don’t think she understood that she was the reason I was able to accept myself. I hugged her and it reminded me that it’s so important for us to not only be represented, but for us to support each other and see each other in these positive lights.

Stream Silk Canvas here.

#VanJess #Soul #Honeywheat #Silk Canvas #All Eyes On #R&B

Did y'all see Vanjess serving looks AND acoustics

#vanjess #inava #jessica #music #rnb #video #honeywheat #silk canvas #black girl magic #black girls rock #Nigerian

to say the last 2 years of our lives has been the biggest life “flips on its head up down rollercoaster” would only be scratching the surface. in march 2016 we sought out to create a body of work completely on our own, no management no label no team, just us writing and vocal producing and harmonizing on keys in our little creative space after being tired of waiting for gatekeepers to take us through what we thought was the only road to success. we’d just finally truly discovered ourselves as VanJess the artist vs the cover artist musically vocally and as writers and wanted to give our fans what they’d followed us since we were kids for. never could we have imagined that a month later we’d experience the lowest point we’d ever faced in our family/personal lives and for the first time it seemed impossible for us to continue. but we took that life curveball and without us realizing it gave us more drive more passion more soul and more determination that ever before to pursue this dream we both share. the inspiration came left and right, heartbreak pain the need and realization that we needed to appreciate cherish and celebrate life drove us immensely. we just created with our hearts full & aching but open. broken by life “happening” but we stayed resilient and somehow we were lucky enough to meet two of the best people on this entire fucking earth named tunji balogun and joshua bloom who simply decided to give us a chance. this all came after years of no’s being told to split up people behind the scenes trying to take advantage of us keep us from opportunities and every other negative industry experience you could imagine. they fully supported and guided us and along our path we met the incredible producers on this album, who happen to also be incredible people and friends. 2 years later we’ve found ourselves with a body of work that we couldn’t be more proud of.

we truly poured our souls our passion and every ounce of ourselves into this project. so without rambling further we’re so thrilled to finally be releasing our first ever album “silk canvas”. to anyone who feels that things seem hopeless and impossible, who’s experienced family devastation or extreme heartache, people telling you no not “getting it” slamming doors in your face being the under dog or anything that’s caused you to feel like giving up please take it from two people who have been there: keep going 💜