You don’t expect the kind of songs Valeree writes to come from her experiences. The mononymous artist’s slinky funk-disco grooves demand dancing. Her carefully-crafted, sugar-pop hooks stick like bubblegum in your ears. And her lyrics are rife with witty wordplay, women’s empowerment messaging, and earned wisdom. Until recently, the optimism in Valeree’s music was largely aspirational. The Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer, and PTSD survivor has faced addiction, mental health struggles, and periods of homelessness. Her upcoming album (title TBA) represents a shift from smiling through the pain to emanating equilibrium. Just the title of the album’s leadoff single, disco anthem “Thirty, Flirty, Thriving!”, speaks to an invigorating feeling of healing and liberation. With more than six million streams and over 150,000 followers across socials, Valeree’s steadily built a devoted audience. She’s received a Hollywood Independent Music Award nomination, a nomination for Best Music Video at the San Antonio Film Festival, and was the featured headliner for Billboard Argentina’s Live Session Jam. Her work has been praised by outlets including Wonderland., LADYGUNN, American Songwriter, and Galore.

A true polymath, Valeree takes on a new level of artistic ownership in this new era. The Pittsburgh native wrote, engineered, and produced the project herself. Embracing a maximalist yet organic approach, she filled the project with live horns and strings and performances by an international roster of elite musicians, enlisting engineer John Ho (Chlöe Bailey, Demi Lovato, Mac Miller) to mix and master. Like many breakthrough works of art, this milestone is the result of a breakdown. Valeree stepped away from music to work as a licensed optician after anxiety drained the joy from performing. “I felt even more lost without music,” she admits. So, she decided to work through every obstacle standing between her and becoming a better artist: tackling performance anxiety through busking and jam sessions performances; confronting imposter syndrome by formally studying voice and music theory; even taking an unpaid studio internship at age 30 to learn engineering. Perhaps the greatest reward of this work has been learning to trust herself. For years, Valeree wrestled with feelings of inadequacy working alongside highly trained musicians. “While they were at prestigious schools, I was in rehab,” she says with a good-natured laugh. “But I learned to let go and believe in my vision, and that’s how I became the producer. I should add, I’m very proud to take up some male-dominated space!”

written by Lorne Behrman