After making a splash online with his breakthrough single “everything sucks” in 2021, Florida sensation vaultboy is making his way to Australia for the very first time. Ahead of his shows in the East Coast capitals, I caught up with vaultboy to chat about making music in the digital age, that King of Sad Songs tag, and what he expects from his time Down Under.
You’ll be touring Australia for the first time in June. What do you expect from the shows here?
I expect to have a great time and hopefully not run into spiders. That is what I expect.
A valid answer.
That is my real answer.
Will you get any downtime while you’re here? And if so, is there anything you are hoping to do?
Yes, I’ll have a few days off before the show starts in Sydney. And I am just hoping to try some great food. And honestly, I don’t know if it’s possible because I have no idea where they’re located, but I’d love to see a kangaroo in person. That would be great. Maybe at a zoo. I hope they’re not just running around. That’d be a little terrifying. But we’ll see.
You’re visiting us after touring Europe, and then you’ll be heading to Asia. Your schedule seems very hectic. So how do you keep things fresh when you’re on the road for so long?
I think on the road, the biggest thing is like, not going crazy after being gone so long and traveling so much. So making sure when you have time, take time for yourself, and do things that have nothing to do with your work. I’m hoping to try and find some time to go rock climbing at some rock climbing gyms in different countries. But yeah, just finding things to do that aren’t related to tour that make you feel like you’re just a human being and not just a performance machine.
I was actually introduced to your music when Spotify just randomly threw up “everything sucks” one day. How important has streaming been for growing your fan base?
Really important. I recently did a post where I asked some fans where they had found my music and a lot of people found it on TikTok, which is super fair, but a good amount found me on Discover Weekly or on a playlist on Spotify. I once had a fan say they found my music from one of my playlists on Spotify. They just found one of the playlists I made on Spotify randomly. And that’s how they found out about my music. They didn’t even know that I made the playlist. So yeah, definitely streaming is a huge part of growth, I think. But that said, I think everything just kind of goes hand in hand.
Rolling Stone dubbed you the “King of Sad Songs”, but recent releases “closer” and “Where tf have you been?” have been pretty happy. What’s behind the change in tone?
So my upcoming album has a bit of a theme that I haven’t really talked about too much. But the foundational theme that I went with for the album was duality. And so about half the songs are like lighter, let’s say a happier perspective. Or if it’s a sad song, it may be a sarcastic perspective, versus a purely sad perspective, you know, it may be kind of like a laugh at the pain type of perspective.
And so the first half of the album is that, and then the second half of the album is much darker. And some of the darkest songs – and I use the word dark not just sad – but some of the darkest songs that I’ve ever released.
I think the biggest reason for that though, is you know, I put out two really sad songs that are on the album last year and then we put out a couple of the happier ones and I think part of the reason I’m excited about these happier songs coming out is because when the album hits they’re getting mostly sad songs. All the unreleased ones are mostly sad so I am not releasing a perfect one-to-one ratio for the singles, but I’m a very multifaceted person. I feel a lot of different emotions, a lot of very positive and negative, and this album I think I did a good job showcasing both.
Your single ‘closer’ sees you reunite with Salem, who you worked with on “don’t shop when you’re hungry” last year. Why do you love collaborating with her?
She’s so easy to work with. Like, she’s a great gal and she’s fun to hang out with. She put out an album last year and now she’s looking forward to the music she wants to make now and I think it was just a good time for us to work together, because when we wrote “closer”, it was around the same time as “don’t shop when you’re hungry”. So we were kind of in that creative zone. She’s so talented, like so much more talented than people think she is. She’s an insane songwriter. And yeah, just super fun and easy to work with. I really try to work with people that I like. I’m not like trying to just collaborate with a bunch of random people just to get a feature or trying to get a big song. I really want to work with people that can be my friends and that I know are good people that I feel really good associating with, you know what I mean? And she’s one of them.
You’ve released a couple of EPs over the years, but you mentioned a full album is in the works. What can you tell us?
Yes, my debut album is dropping on May 10th. And it is called everything and nothing. And it bangs. It’s going to be so good. And no one is ready for it.
Finally, do you have a message for your Australian fans before you get here?
Yeah. We live on the opposite side of this globe that is floating in space. And so I’m excited to finally venture out there and get to hang out with all of you. So bring all your friends to the shows. And let’s have a good time!
Vaultboy plays the following shows along the East Coast in June. Tickets are on sale now, but with venues this intimate, you’d better get them while you can.
6 June 2024 – Oxford Art Factory, Eora/Sydney
8 June 2024 – Northcote Social Club, Naarm/Melbourne
9 June 2024 – The Brightside, Meeanjin/Brisbane
Image used with permission from Bigmouth PR