Exclusive Premiere: Venessa Michaels Releases ‘L’amour’

Venessa Michaels is well-known for her moody and emotional bangers, heavily influenced by hip-hop and pop music from the ‘90s and early 2000s. On Thursday, Dec. 15, the producer will drop “L’amour,” which Forbes receives an exclusive premiere of on Wednesday, Dec. 14.

The track boasts bouncy basslines, a sensual French sample, snarling synths and more, staying true to Michaels’ distinct sound.

“I was inspired by the vocals, the sample chops,” Michaels says. “I built the whole production around that. Initially, it was just ‘easy to love,’ which is the second little sample you hear. Then I did some digging and I found that beautiful French sample when I was like ‘Oh, this is awesome. I need to blend both.’ I thought that they complimented each other very well.”

The artist’s work is inspired by hip-hop and pop music from the ‘90s and early 2000s by artists such as Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott, Gwen Stefani, No Doubt and Aaliyah. She notes that everything from that era “speaks” to her as she grew up during that time. She also finds having fewer production resources at that time made the experience of creating music more intimate.

“I believe that the writing and production are really special. You don’t have as many tools as you have now. I think it makes you as an artist or a producer be more creative,” she adds. “I definitely pull a lot from inspirations and how to write [from] that time. How does that translate now?”

Michaels’ has even coined her own genre and created a label, 2090 and 2090 World Music, respectively. The name is a nod to her inspiration from the two eras, and she says that her label is an “eclectic” and inclusive imprint to make the artists feel as though they “exist there.” She adds that 2090 is also a lifestyle, something that she even brings to the clothes that she wears, which are inspired by those times.

As a member of the LGBTQI+ community, Michaels believes that the music industry can be more inclusive by listening to more artists within that space.

“I think we need to keep our ears open and our eyes open and support whenever we see someone who’s doing something amazing, which is a ton of people,” she says. “I feel people as human beings tend to focus on what’s being talked about, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but if you took your own time to dig, you’d find some amazing people from all communities because music is a universal language. It exists everywhere within everyone.”

When Michaels is creating music, she says she aims to not be influenced by many other artists, though she finds inspiration from Calvin Harris as he writes and produces his music. She adds that the first song that developed her love for dance music was the A-Track remix of “Heads Will Roll.” If she didn’t go until music production, she says she would still be involved in music somehow by creating music videos. Her favorite music video is “Island in the Sun” by Weezer. In addition, her music style tends to be diverse as she has produced a theme song for DreamWorks as well as created music for kids’ shows. Indeed, Michaels proves to be a multifaceted creative as her music lives in different worlds.