Interview: Vena Klymo Chats About Her Recent Single, ‘Soft Spot’

Vena Klymo recently revealed her dynamic new single, Soft Spot. The playful new single has been turning heads all over since it’s release and today we catch up with Vena to find out more about the track and more!

Congratulations on the release of Soft Spot! How does it feel to have it out in the world?

Thanks! It’s a really nice feeling. I had a great team involved who have made the experience feel exceptionally enjoyable, so it’s been nice to be able to share that. I feel like a proud mum. 

Soft Spot has been described as having an upbeat, sassy, and clap-back energy. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind this single and what message you wanted to convey through it? 

Soft spot was one of those songs that I wrote really quick, it wasn’t really planned and there was no message in particular I was meaning to convey. I was feeling a bit pissed off at the time, because something had gotten back to me that made me feel really mistaken and underestimated by someone I had previously been involved with. It was kinda a knee jerk reaction song, a gurgle of emotional vomit. 

Your music is known for its eclectic and genre-fluid style, with roots in rural folk. How did your background influence the sound and feel of “Soft Spot”?

I guess my background doesn’t have too much influence on Soft Spot. All my previous albums I’ve recorded predominantly alone in the studio, trying to play all the instruments myself and with the main focus being the lyrics …… my passion lays more in my songwriting than my musicianship, so I guess that is still similar to this release. A lot of my older songs to me when I listen to them feel really heavy, where as Soft Spot i think is the first time I’ve allowed some playfulness to *enter the chat*.

The process of recording and producing “Soft Spot” involved exchanging voice memos from different towns and collaborating in Bellingen with Lttle Kng. How did this unique recording process shape the final product?

Lttle Kng is honestly just the best human ever and has made me feel so safe as an artist. I knew when I first heard his music that he had the exact sound for “Soft Spot” that I envisioned, and so I just sent him the voice memo I recorded (in 2018). He liked it, we had a few phone calls, he whipped up the whole thing on his own at home in Bellingen and then I drove up from Sydney and laid my vocals and keys down. It was effortless, we had the best time and it felt super right. I think that happy / easy energy translates in the track.

You directed the music video for “Soft Spot,” which is described as twisted and comedic. What was your vision for the video, and how does it compliment the song?

I really just wanted it to be quirky, colourful and not too serious. But also a bit dark. It started with a Pinterest board with bunch of 70’s housewife get ups and some cowboy inspiration too. I was tossing up between a hairy chest bodysuit but then went with human organs and linked sausages for the ‘de robe’ scene. I was really lucky to have Em @dragonsweep on board to do all the styling, and we brainstormed as many cooked ideas as we could together. Overall the vision was “weird girl next door”.

I think it married well with the track, to me it felt like it captured the frustration of being misunderstood pretty well – full credit to Lukman Syafiq Ibrahim’s cinematography. 

After spending significant time writing and refining your music in the bush, how did this period of isolation and connection with nature impact the creative process and the themes explored in “Soft Spot”?

I think my time in the iso incubator really allowed me to play for fun again, and not because there’s an audience listening. Not to try and do something that works well with previous releases. I really feel that when I listen to ‘Soft Spot’, I can hear that childlike kinda joy in the track. There’s songs I have been scared of releasing for a few years, and this was one of them. But that period I really sat with a lot of my lyrics and ideas and felt more drawn to the ones that showcased perhaps not the highest or maturest sides of my personality. 

Those were some really serious years after the bushfires, then we had crazy floods and blackouts, then the pandemic lock downs topped it all off. I think like a lot of people I really just craved some feel good juju, and learned to appreciate the fun side of my artistry a lot more. It’s put me in this place where I just wanna play music with my friends and have a laugh at our simultaneous cleverness and stupidity. I think that’s all life is really about.

Do you have any other plans for the rest of the year? What can we expect next?

I’m working on more tracks! I’m really just enjoying this phase of creating from home and bouncing off the team of people I’ve got around me right now. More feel good juju to come.

Vena Klymo’s new single, Soft Spoit is available now, everywhere.