Vérité
Kelsey Regina Byrne, known professionally as Vérité, is an American singer and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York City. Her first single "Strange Enough" was self-released in July 2014, reaching number one on Hype Machine and becoming the #1 Most Viral Twitter Artist the week of release. Described variously as indie pop, electropop or alternative pop, Liza Darwin of Noisey wrote that her 2014 Echo EP is "packed with crisp, delicate vocals, soaring melodies, and glistening production." Her second EP, Sentiment, was self-released on June 8, 2015. The EP was praised by Time, who called her vocals "rich and ethereal". She has toured internationally and performed at events such as Neon Gold Popshop, South by Southwest, The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn Bowl, the Firefly Festival and Lollapalooza.
Early life and education
Kelsey Regina Byrne was born on May 6, 1990, in Orange County, New York, where she was raised. Introduced to music at a young age, her father was a rock musician, and Vérité began performing at small local venues while still in elementary school. She learned piano when young, and also grew up listening to 1990s alternative rock bands such as The Cranberries, The Breeders, Nirvana, and Green Day. In middle school she was in an all-girls punk cover band, and she started writing her own music around the age of 16. She supported her schooling at SUNY Purchase by waiting tables, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in studio composition.Music career
2013–2014: Career beginnings
Circa late 2012 or early 2013, she began collaborating with producer Elliot Jacobson, after Jacobson reached out to her on Twitter. Vérité in turn started writing and recording music under the name Vérité, which translates in French to "truth". She eventually left her job in the food industry to work on her music full-time, after ten years waitressing, the last three of which were at Applebee's restaurant in Times Square.She started promoting her first single "Strange Enough" in July 2014. It also reached number one on Hype Machine, with Vérité at the time keeping her real name hidden. The song was generally well received by critics, with Complex calling it a "scorching breakup anthem... whose scathing chorus could burn any bad relationship with a vengeance." Casey Lewis of Noisey called it a "haunting, euphoric piece of electro-pop."
Her second track "Weekend" was a "Pick of the Day" for the CDS Music Chart on August 26, 2014. She described "Weekend" as "written to be a snapshot of a moment. It's caught between the nostalgia of everything that was exhilarating and the reality of how temporary that elation can be." Interview Magazine called the track a "beautiful pop gem", where her vocals were "layered gorgeously into something that could perhaps be described as musical fairy dust.'"
2014–2016: ''Echo'', ''Sentiment'' and ''Living''
Her first live show as Vérité was at the New York Neon Gold Popshop. She went on to play a number of gigs promoted by Neon Gold Records, including their showcase in March 2014 at South by Southwest. In September 2014 the song "Echo", the title track from her then-upcoming debut EP, was released exclusively through Billboards website. Billboard wrote the song "positions the singer as an artist capable of delivering a sweeping hook while emphasizing the subtler details of her arrangements."On October 20, 2014 she self-released her Echo EP, which includes four tracks: "Strange Enough", "Weekend", "Echo", and "Heartbeat." Liza Darwin of Noisey wrote that "the EP is packed with crisp, delicate vocals, soaring melodies, and glistening production..." After the release she performed a number of late October shows in Brooklyn, including an October 21 show at the BMI Showcase at The Knitting Factory, and shows afterwards at Brooklyn Bowl, Santos Party, and Glasslands with Kate Boy. She self-released Echo EP on December 15, 2014, which included five remixes by artists such as Penguin Prison.
| "The songs are complex electronic arrangements, layered with Byrne's rich and ethereal vocals. The runs in the chorus of 'Colors' require a vocal control and stamina she calls 'a beast' to perform live. 'Wasteland' is at once meditative and pulsing, her voice alternately sweet and booming." |
| — Eliza Berman of Time |
She released her single "Wasteland" on February 25, 2015. ChartShaker.com described it as "exquisitely meshing Vérité's ethereal vocals with pounding, uptempo electro beats." Sean Moller of Paste magazine described "Wasteland" as having a "Lana Del Rey vibe that goes a long way."
Her single "Colors", produced by Zach Nicita, was self-released on April 22, 2015. After being featured in Spin magazine on June 3, 2015, Vérité then self-released her second four-track EP Sentiment on June 8, 2015. Her previous singles "Wasteland" and "Colors" were included, as were the new tracks "Rearrange" and "Sentiment", About the overall lyrics, she stated "there's definitely a few brief themes that run through it: mainly, nostalgia, apathy and the exploration of how to connect." Time magazine praised the release, calling her vocals "rich and ethereal."
She has performed internationally and opened for notable bands such as Stars, whom she performed with at Webster Hall in New York City. Early in the summer of 2015 she performed at the Westway with Gallant, the Firefly Festival in June 2015, and Lollapalooza's BMI stage. On March 3, 2016 she released "Underdressed" to serve as the lead single from her Living EP. Living was released on May 6, 2016 On September 9, 2016, she released a cover of "Somebody Else" by The 1975; the song was a streaming success, attaining over 100 million streams on Spotify as of March 2019.