Victory Sweet
Santa Cruz, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
With a winsome voice that fools you into assuming she's a delicate little flower, Victory Sweet affirms a relentless positive vibe in the face of life's many travails.
She really brings a solid musicianship to every song, no matter what genre she might be sampling. Ultimately, listeners hear a singer of assurance and creativity.
For the 100th time, I find myself reviewing an independent artist that has more creativity and talent in one song than all of Britney combined. Here's hoping that Victory Sweet finds whatever success is meaningful to her because, at least as a musician, she certainly deserves it. - Indie-Music.com
A big factor in Victory Sweet’s favor is her voice—one of those taunting, sultry coos that sounds like innocence and naughtiness sharing the same sleeping bag. By album’s end, we feel as though we’ve made a new acquaintance, and a pretty cool one at that. | DO - Santa Cruz Good Times
"Personal, evocative, [with a] natural vocal timbre."
--TAXI, The World's Leading Independent A&R Company
- Taxi
Victory Sweet mixes Edie Brickell and India.Irie and her own amazing coastal meets mountain quality of sounds from the roots up. She is high and flying and pixie-like with the grounding of drummy and bassie. She is Ella, The Forest Queen of All Faes. She makes me happy. Silly. Smart. She makes me think. She is everything but Bling and I love it. Good music to play hard to. Wear combat boots to. Wrap up your hair to and just get dirty in the garden with. - Misplaced Mama
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
She’ll lure you with her voice —a taunting, sultry coo that sounds like innocence and naughtiness sharing the same sleeping bag. Then, once Victory Sweet has your attention, she’ll keep a kung-fu grip on it with her insightful lyrics and her sleek, catchy electro-pop sound. Call her music an MIA/Annie Lennox/Betty Boop sandwich; Lily Allen, hold the sarcasm; Gwen Stefani, hold the glam…Victory continues to break down the barriers between genres. Her works pack all the punch of the hottest modern pop, but she’s got the substance to back it up. Her music is straight from the heart.
“I'm ready for a shift in mainstream media,” the San Francisco Bay Area vocalist says. “I'm convinced that the majority of us are! I'm over hearing girls on the radio sing about shoes, diamonds and waking up in bathtubs. Music is a very powerful tool, and when it is used improperly like this, it's toxic to the planet and harmful to the youth! I am far from perfect, but I promise you that if I am going to spend my creative energy in a studio making music, my intentions are to uplift... maybe even make people laugh.” She is steadfast in her belief that “entertaining” and “smart” are not mutually exclusive. “Music can be fun while maintaining its integrity," she states. “I'm a real goofball on some of these songs. I never thought I’d expose this side of myself to the public. It's so... me.”
Victory’s lighthearted side has always been evident in her performances: She shamelessly admits that as a preteen living in Chicago, while debuting as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, she forgot her lines and erupted into such intense laughter that she peed all over her ruby slippers. Later, for her eighteenth birthday, her mother bought her a guitar. She spent her first year writing "dirty joke songs." As she studied acting at University of Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, her songs grew more emotional and heartfelt.
Though Victory found money and success in a postgraduate film career (she’s appeared in such movies as 40 Days and 40 Nights and the Sundance Channel’s Dopamine), music ultimately took the lead role as her creative outlet. In 2005, she put out her debut album, Life Lives, and hit the open road in a biodiesel-fueled bus with her backup band The Courteous Rudeboys. Mixing soul, funk and reggae, Victory and her group quickly built a substantial following, wowing audiences at clubs and large festivals nationwide. Standout gigs included a 2008 Main Stage performance at the Oregon Country Fair and opening sets for The John Butler Trio and blues legend Taj Mahal.
A quirky meld of paradoxes, Victory seamlessly weaves opposing ideas together. This marriage of extremes can be heard in the wide range of characters embodied in her voice. The most apparent of these, of course, are “Sweet” and “Victorious.” “I’ve found that juxtaposing the sweet with the strong can be a very effective method,” the singer offers. “Sometimes sweet by itself isn’t taken seriously, while victorious without the sweet can be a real turnoff.”
Victory is currently working with a myriad of producers, including Gabe Pannell of Gadgetbox Studios, R2 the Specialist and Mad Zach on Muti Records, and Will Kahn of the afro-samba band Sambada. The sound to emerge from her most recent recording efforts is a dynamic hybrid of live musicians and electro beats. “This music, to me, is like sonic theatre,” Victory says. “There are so many subtle nuances in the transitions as players and instruments enter and exit the stage.” She affirms that many more songs will soon be released which feature collaborations with a host of artists spanning various genres. Among them is a remix of “Never Give Up” featuring Raashan Ahmad and Headnodic from the Bay Area’s Crown City Rockers, Jesse Molloy from On the One, The Stovall Sisters and members of The Courteous Rudeboys. Although a full-length LP may be in the works, Victory is content with producing singles for the time being. “This way, I treat each song like a little baby,” she notes. “I don't want any ‘skippables’ on this next one.”
So, why the moniker Victory Sweet? The literal translation of the singer’s first name, Nicole, means “victory for the people.” Most know her by her middle name, Naomi, which is Hebrew for “sweet and kind.” And if her songs didn't convince you of her lean towards the sweeter side, Victory is fluent in Braille and works with blind elementary school students. She is also the proud owner of three beautiful alpaca. Awww, ain't that sweet? ..
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