Their current merch range includes jumpers emblazoned with ‘THE VERONICAS STILL EXIST?’, showing a wry self-awareness in tune with many of the US’s current pop idols, but the sense of irony is emboldened by their indelible Aussie charm.
In My Blood, their new song shows hints of EDM anthemia, anchored by a sense of intimacy. It’s a divide that The Veronica’s have effortlessly bridged since their breakthrough, that knack for massive hooks, while still connecting on a personal level.
As we sit in a lobby café along Melbourne’s Yarra, Lisa and Jess, resting their takeaway coffee cups, generate perpetual energy from each other. It’s beyond the telepathic sense of finishing each other’s sentences, each passionate response hitting the mark like scripted beats.
“As far as music we’ve been listening to, we’ve been listening to a lot of old school Kylie, Grimes, Elle Goulding, Tove Lo, and DJs like Peking Duk, Alison Wonderland, Yahtzel,” Jess says. “I think that we were trying to create something that had an electronic feel. But the way we write, that comes from personal stories.”
Lisa adds, “Lyrically, it does tend to be emotively deeper and darker in a lot of ways, that’s just what we do. That’s who The Veronicas are. But we have been inspired by that kind of music, and it’s been so much fun melding the two together.”
The track is the first taste of a yet to be detailed new album, marking a slight shift of modus operandi. “The main approach when writing this record has been us wanting each song to feel a certain way, then deciding what the song is about from that feeling,” says Jess. “With this track, it was that feeling of falling in love with someone at first sight. We wrote that story because we’ve had those experiences and just pulled from that.”
“It’s been a fun, different way of writing this record for us,” says Lisa. “We have started with the music first rather than the lyrics. We let the music guide the lyrics this time around.”
The Veronicas are versatile in their ability to traverse between heartfelt balladry and communal pop shout-alongs, or in the case of In My Blood, somewhere in between. It’s a versatility that comes from a genuine passion for the power of music and its ability to conjure meaning.
“We hope what people get out of the music is that it moves them in some way,” says Lisa. “Whether it’s a song that someone puts on before a night out, or whether it is their dancefloor anthem, or it is that heartbreak song when they’re going through something. That’s how we use music. Music should be the soundtrack to your life at that very moment, a snapshot of that. That’s the kind of music we try to create.”
Popstardom is a funny notion, especially in the relatively small pond of Australia. “The first time I actually felt like a popstar was when we were up on stage at the ARIAs with Tina Arena, thinking ‘We’re on stage with an absolute musical legend.’ And she was there inviting us to sing beside her,” says Lisa. “We were so proud.”
“We get so immersed in the music that we don’t really think of the public perception of us, to the point where we go out and still get shocked that people will recognise us, or want a photo with us, and we regret wearing our pyjamas to the grocery store,” says Jess.
The landscape for the music industry, particularly that of the pop music world, has undergone dramatic changes since The Veronicas came into existence. But they’ve managed to adapt. “We’ve never really been rewarded musically for being on trend. When we released Untouched, it was hard to get it on radio. We had to beg everyone because it didn’t have guitars,” says Jess.
Lisa pantomimes, “‘It’s too dance, it’s too electronic’.”
“Australia led a little bit because we’ve always had a heavy dance following. The US and UK were ‘no, no, no’, until eventually they did, and it went fucking crazy,” Jess says.
“It was a little ahead of its time, though,” adds Lisa.
“Because we have been rewarded in being adventurous and risk-taking, that’s always what we’ve wanted to do,” reasons Jess.
“I think we’re always gonna carve our own path. Because we’re twins, we’re always going to cheer each other on in whatever we cook up, whatever we dream up,” Lisa says. “If you’re a solo artist, you’re always looking for other people’s opinions. Because we have each other, we can just say ‘that sounds great’ and it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks. Having said that, we’re loving where pop music is at currently.”
“We’re more inspired than ever…” Lisa says, giving a slight pause for Jess to complete her sentence, in true twin style.
“…about where you can take pop music.”
By Lachlan Kanoniuk
