Vaeda Black

Raised in Centerport, NY, Vaeda Black is the pseudonym of 17-year-old singer-songwriter Celia Spero, a senior at both Harborfields HS and Long Island High School for the Arts. The most prominent thing you notice about Vaeda Black is her powerful stirring voice reminiscent of early soul, which is most unexpected. A masterful songwriter, Vaeda is able to tap into a profound and sometimes dark place and it’s certainly reflective in her music both lyrically and sonically. Live performances with her band display her ability to connect with audiences, a skill she's developed from many years on the stage. Attracted very early on to musical theatre, she found her confidence and harnessed her vocal power playing stand-out roles and experimenting with poetic writing. It wasn’t long until she discovered songwriting was merely adding structure to poetry. To this day, she credits her younger years in musical theatre for shaping her stage presence and performance. Black is quite tenacious in her focus to remain artistically genuine, with lyrics that are both thought-provoking and at times provocative. In a world that tends to speak about art in terms of genre, this can be somewhat problematic for artists that don’t exist in a box. “When I write, I like to just start singing and writing down whatever the music makes me feel. When I wrote ‘Face Down’, I was singing along to the track and the words and melody flowed perfectly with the vibes the music was giving me. The song is about accepting your deep dark desires and that they’re not something to be ashamed of, because everyone has them. I wanted this song to be directed at the listener like I’m speaking to them. A quiet reassurance that whatever thoughts you’re having or whatever you’re going through mentally isn’t something to hide, but is something to embrace. When I listen to this song it makes me feel at ease. I think it was subconsciously inspired by the things that I’m afraid of and what I need to accept about myself. Writing this song brought me to a place that I’m afraid to go to sometimes, but being able to put out a record that is so real to me set me free. It’s amazing how one song can change a person.” Her second single “Suicide Love” will release on all digital platforms 10/10/18 with an EP to follow in early 2019.