Valentine’s Day in Detroit is set to be on fire with a hot Valentine’s Day concert showcasing the talents of R&B crooner Joe, newcomer Ro James, Chrisette Michele and the amazingly talented Vivian Green.
Rolling out caught up with Green to chat about her upcoming performance, how she plans on spending her Valentine’s Day after her concert performance and also to find out when she’ll be dropping new music. Check out the exclusive interview below. Tell us what you think in the comments.
Welcome to Detroit! You’re performing tonight, a Valentine’s Day concert set with R&B crooner Joe, newcomer Ro James and Chrisette Michele at the Fox. That sounds like an amazing lineup. Tell us what we can expect from the show.
It’s definitely a one-off kind of a show, so we’re all not on a tour or anything. But I can say that I’ve performed with all of them except for Ro, but I’m sure that he’ll be amazing too. And Chrisette is a fantastic singer, and Joe is an R&B legend. And, you know, it’s a group of R&B artists who can sing. I don’t think you can go wrong on Valentine’s Day with a lineup like that — unless you just don’t like R&B music.
Speaking of Valentine’s Day, we need to know if you have a special boo this year.
You know, this is horrible, but I am very anti-holidays where somebody is supposed to do something for me because someone said that’s what they’re supposed to do. I’m such a rebel in that sense. I really don’t celebrate it like that. I don’t want any flowers or candy to increase these corporations profits for the month of February. [I feel like you should] do something for me just because you want to, not because someone said you’re supposed to. So, that’s how I feel about that. So, I’ll be working Valentine’s Day. There’s no romantic dinner going on before or after my performance. I’m going to bed [laughs] and I’m getting on a plane the next day. That’s what’s happening. I will say that.
That sounds good and we can definitely understand that. But, we have to pry just a little bit more. So, you do have a special boo, you just might not be partaking in the Valentines day festivities.
Yeah. Yes. Exactly. We just don’t do it. And I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer to anybody. (laughs). That is not my intent. But I’m a bit of a rebel in more ways than one. So, that’s one of them. [Laughs.]
You stepped away from the music industry for a while, but you came back strong in 2015 with your fifth studio album, Vivid. That album contained the hot song “Get Right Back to My Baby,” that was themed after Frankie Beverly and Maze’s hit “Before I Let Go.” Tell us what new projects you have coming up.
I’m finishing up my new album in the studio right now. “Get Right Back to My Baby” was my biggest hit since “Gotta Go, Gotta Leave,” and I think it made it to number two or three on the charts, so it was actually a really big hit for me, not having one for quite some time. So, “Get Right Back to My Baby” kind of just brought me back to life in so many ways. So, I want to still always sing ballads, and I will do that, I do that every album, I did that on Vivid as well. But I definitely need to keep the energy of my last album in any future albums that I do. So, this album is definitely going to have that energy and always have the ballads for the people who expect that from me. But not all ballads. We don’t have a release date yet, but it will drop sometime in the spring.
How would you say your sound differs from when you first came out?
It’s definitely very different. I think when artists first hit the scene, they have a lot of outside influence on what they should do and what they should sound like. And then, usually they get a little bit more control and are able to do what they want to do, things that are a little bit more true to who they truly are as an artist. I think a lot of times people feel like your first album is like the music you had been working towards your life, and that really may not necessarily be the case. And with me, it definitely wasn’t the case. I think that if someone were to hear the demos I made before my first album was released — the songs that I’ve recorded for years before my first album released, it doesn’t sound anything like my first album. What’s changed I think is, I’ve never considered myself a Neo-Soul singer. I don’t think that my music sounds like neo-soul artists’ albums. It’s more R&B. It can be soulful, it can be pop-ish, it can be lots of different things. I don’t think any artist likes labels. Because we’re all creative people we don’t like to be put in boxes. So, since my first album, I’ve been trying to show people who I really am as an artist, as opposed to what they may have thought I was in the beginning. I say that as an independent person, and that’s how I feel about myself as an artist.
So, how would you describe your brand of music today?
I’m an R&B singer. So, sometimes it can be R&B jazz, sometimes it can be R&B soul, sometimes it can be R&B pop. It can be somewhere along those lines, but it’s not just one thing.
Vivian Green is set to perform on Valentine’s Day at the Fox Theater in downtown Detroit. A limited number of tickets are still available for purchase. Visit the Fox box office to purchase tickets.
