New York City-based collective VRSTY (pronounced “Varsity”) — Joey Varela [vocals], Javy Dorrejo [bass], Chris Cody [drums], and Paul Gregory [guitar] — will drop their new album Welcome Home on November 19 via Spinefarm. Pre-order it
here.
Today, the band has shared the lyric video for the new single “Finesse” (Feat. Notions). Watch and listen to the confident and rowdy track
here.
‘Finesse’ was a fun process,” Varela recalls about the genesis and back story of the track. “I think I wrote this song about two years ago and re-wrote it about three more times before scrapping it. Something always brought me back to it, though, and it was worth it, since it ended up making the record.”
He opens up about the track’s deeper meaning, saying, “The song itself is about finding all of my heartaches and faults to be a blessing in disguise. Sure, everything hurts at the time, but it has all made me stronger. It has also made me a little crazier. Crazy is good, though.”
Varela, an admitted fan of Notions, connected with the artist online and that’show this collaboration was born. “Over the years, I watched him develop into this incredible artist and I always told myself, ‘The day I get to do a full length, he ABSOLUTELY needs to be on it’ And here we are. I clearly couldn’t have chosen a better artist to feature on this song.” Notions adds another layer of straight up vibe to this hard-hitting, album-opening song.
Welcome Home is the band’s debut full length for the label and follows last year’s breakthrough Cloud City EP, which has accumulated six million streams in less than a year and yielded the head-turning singles “
Shameless” and “
Massive.” The latter was the most played on SiriusXM’s Octane for two weeks in a row in late 2020. VRSTY have perfected their seamless and fearless cross-pollination of metallic grooves and R&B-influenced, after midnight vocal swagger on this 14-track offering. VRSTY aren’t just offering their own take on a genre; they have authored a fusion style that is entirely their own.
“Welcome Home is an incredibly personal album to me,” Varela shares. “I know everybody says that, and hey, maybe they’re not lying when they do. I sure as hell am not. It was definitely a task, at first, trying to figure out how to phrase or sing something without getting too personal. But somewhere along the way, I threw that idea out the window and decided to say exactly what I felt. You won’t find me trying to sound cool or using any fancy wordplay. It’s just me in my rawest form, saying exactly what I’ve felt or experienced over the years, which is what has made me who I am today. I think if anybody ever wants to get to know me, this record will give you everything you need to know. No secrets. Just me.”
