SINGER Vita Chambers is using the St Philip breeze to dry her hair, having washed it before the EASY magazine team arrived. We start the interview so her hair can be camera ready when we are finished, and so photographer Randy Phillips is scouring her beautiful family home for the perfect spots to capture her.
Vita was on a break from making music and where does she go when she wants to unwind and relax? Barbados, of course.
It was last month that she did the interview and at that time she had only a couple of days left before she headed back to frigid Canada.
“This vacation gives me time to recoup so I go back to Toronto with a fresh mind. When I am here I sleep, go to the beach and hang out with my small group of friends.
“I come home frequently. I feel safe here. I know everyone,” she said.
She said she misses the little things like “greeting.”
“You know Bajans how they pass you at the bus stop and say ‘good morning’ even though they don’t know you? In Toronto I walk into a room and say good morning so cheerily and no one answers. They look at me strange but I am so used to that type of mannerisms in Barbados I can’t help it,” she said, laughing.
Vita calls herself a “mutt” in explaining her Bajan roots.
“I was born in Canada but came here to live when I was
three weeks old so I’m very much immersed in the culture.
“All the family on my mum side is 100 per cent Bajan and my mum has Jamaican roots. My dad is British and on his side he has Nigerian and Scottish roots.”
We then went on to talk about music, and she lights up when she speaks about her fans.
“Remember I was discovered on social media (MySpace) . . . . It has been the reason I am where I am with an EP, music videos, being nominated for awards and performing at shows and holding my own music showcase.
“My fans are who I make music for. Therefore you will see me a lot on social media, checking in with my fans, answering their posts. Yes, I have negative feedback, but I don’t mind because I know not everyone would love me and love my music.”
Vita laughs as she relates how
she has seen her fans in cyber combat with the ones who throw shade her way.
“One person asked who is Vita and my fans replied hastily to let them know. But when I see negativity I say thank you because I like different opinions too.”
To that aspect Vita says she leaves her music and videos open for interpretation by her fans.
“My songs are truth, raw feelings. I go deep down and connect with myself. We all have gone through something and I put mine in my songs.”
Looking back, Vita says December 2013 was the turning point in her life and calls it an “interesting and liberating time”.
That was when she left the label she was under and started navigating the waters as an independent.
She released Fix Me, which was the first time she ever did a song by herself from putting it to paper to studio direction of the song.
She said she had to learn a lot – finding dancers, getting the choreography right, selling the video concepts, going on tour.
“I am hands-on with everything now. I take apart and put it back. I warn people when I start working with them that I am a bit neurotic,” she said giggling.
So said, she has names that she works with that understand her and “get her”.
Vita says for now she is sticking with the Canadian and European markets as the United States market is “very tough”.
“It is a bigger market and everyone tries to get into it. I have adopted the motto of not going for the big kill and being content with trying to be the big fish in a small pond.”
Vita has toured Russia, Indonesia, Bali, Brazil France, Tykyo, Thailand, Poland and has opened for Chaka Khan in the United States.
She says family reunions are very interesting as she is the singer and the rest are academics, “but music is not just my career, it is my passion so we go back and forth in lively discussions, all in family fun”, she said.
Vita said 2014 was difficult but exciting, and she “did all I wanted to do. I released music of my choice, I did videos I wanted to do, I even did three remixes of one song, Tell Me and two versions of the song A+D.”
Vita has songs on the CDS music chart and won Best Canadian Act at the CMCA for Tell Me. She was also nominated for a Juno Award for Fix Me which is a platinum single as is A+D and Masquerade.
Her hair has dried and Randy is calling her. She said the change from the big curly hair she was known for to the short, nape-length cut took her quite a while to get to.
“I was sooooo against cutting my hair. When it was decided I needed a new look I said no. But then I literally one day just sat in the hairstylist chair and said do what you want and I ended up with this. It took me two years to finally fall in love with it but I have and the bleached look just adds an edgy vibe.”
Before she disappears with Randy to go by the pool I asked what are her plans for 2015.
“World domination”, she said laughing.
“Why not? I have so much songs in my head that are really, really expressive, I might come back here to shoot some videos as my director is begging me to do so he can have a working holiday.
“I am looking to do a few collaborations with different artistes. I want each song to be different. I don’t like being predictable. I am always going to try to make it better and improve on my craft.”
Vita dashes away and her managers finish telling me her “world domination” plans: fashion, charities, TV pilot and so on.
Vita says if she wants to make it big she has to put in the work and make the time to put in the work.
So far that plan is working for her.
‘For 2015 I am looking for world domination. Why not?’