Victor Internet
ABOUT
Bedroom pop was a choice for lots of artists, but a necessity for Victor Internet. The now-21-year-old musician became an indie hearthrob and playlist darling while still a teenager, sharing space and stages with the superstars of bedroom pop even as they chafed at that genre description. Recording and even shooting videos in their bedroom on Chicago’s South Side, Victor’s career has been a case study in ingenuity, scrappiness, and reinvention.
Growing up in a musical family–their father is a mariachi trumpeter, while their mother was a pop singer in Mexico–Victor’s interest in the artform started young. Tagging along to their father’s gigs and singing in church choir, Victor was fascinated by music and the visceral thrill performing gave their parents, but wanted to put their own spin on it. Drawn to pop music through early exposure to MTV, Victor began playing ukulele, before transitioning to guitar, and later learning how to produce and record their own songs.
After the mammoth success of singles like 2017’s “Tinder Song” (50+ million streams) and 2018’s “U Got My,” Victor relocated to Los Angeles, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to hit the emergency break on the runaway train of indie success. Victor admits that they worried at times about being unable to recapture that buzz, but that has led to the kind of artistic freedom that has ushered in a new era of electronic experimentation.
“I’m still figuring out how to get back to where I was at, but also realizing I might never get to that same position again, but I can try something else,” they say. “I don’t have to get back to where I was in 2019… I’m kinda grateful that it happened, because my career was going this way–I was this young indie star–and now I can reinvent myself.”
Drawing on a wide range of influences ranging from James Blake to classic horror movies, Victor has left their comfort zone as a DIY pop progenitor, opting for a new life on the creative edge alongside fellow mavericks like Jean Dawson, Pink Pantheress, and Paris, Texas. Now back in Chicago, Victor has been inspired by the unity and camaraderie of their city’s musical community to take their sound in a new direction.
“I feel like before it was messy and all over the place, which was really cool in itself. I think that was part of the charm that people liked about my music, but I think now I can present to people this refined version,” they say. “I want to show people the refined Victor Internet.”
Growing up in a musical family–their father is a mariachi trumpeter, while their mother was a pop singer in Mexico–Victor’s interest in the artform started young. Tagging along to their father’s gigs and singing in church choir, Victor was fascinated by music and the visceral thrill performing gave their parents, but wanted to put their own spin on it. Drawn to pop music through early exposure to MTV, Victor began playing ukulele, before transitioning to guitar, and later learning how to produce and record their own songs.
After the mammoth success of singles like 2017’s “Tinder Song” (50+ million streams) and 2018’s “U Got My,” Victor relocated to Los Angeles, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to hit the emergency break on the runaway train of indie success. Victor admits that they worried at times about being unable to recapture that buzz, but that has led to the kind of artistic freedom that has ushered in a new era of electronic experimentation.
“I’m still figuring out how to get back to where I was at, but also realizing I might never get to that same position again, but I can try something else,” they say. “I don’t have to get back to where I was in 2019… I’m kinda grateful that it happened, because my career was going this way–I was this young indie star–and now I can reinvent myself.”
Drawing on a wide range of influences ranging from James Blake to classic horror movies, Victor has left their comfort zone as a DIY pop progenitor, opting for a new life on the creative edge alongside fellow mavericks like Jean Dawson, Pink Pantheress, and Paris, Texas. Now back in Chicago, Victor has been inspired by the unity and camaraderie of their city’s musical community to take their sound in a new direction.
“I feel like before it was messy and all over the place, which was really cool in itself. I think that was part of the charm that people liked about my music, but I think now I can present to people this refined version,” they say. “I want to show people the refined Victor Internet.”
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