Beautiful People 2010: VV Brown

"As much as I'm an artist and a creative person, I'm a business woman," says V V Brown. "And I understand the game." Sizing up the statuesque 26-year-old chanteuse's current career, one has a hard time disagreeing. With her hyperactive, "indie doo-wop" debut, Traveling Like the Light, which colonized American shelves in February, V V brings with her a major-label deal (Capitol Records), a modeling contract with Next, a comic book series (The City of Abacus, which launched in the UK in March) and her own vintage clothing line -- styles inspired by, among other things, "being broke."

Growing up in hardscrabble Northampton, England, Brown's Caribbean-born parents infused her with "A love of music: it was never, like, one thing." Dad brought old-school reggae and ska, as well as a love of punk; Mom was a devotee of En Vogue and pop. Classical music was never far off, either. These influences (as well as some Ella, Tina and Billie) are all apparent in an album that is, aptly for Brown, eclectic above all else, drawing parallels to fellow Brit Lily Allen, which Brown doesn't mind one bit. "Her lyrics are a little bit more of storytelling... mine are a little more poetic. I respect Lily. I respect Amy [Winehouse]. I respect all those kinds of artists because they're doing their own thing and they're not afraid of being themselves."

If authenticity is the real commodity, then perhaps listeners can be grateful that Brown's heart is in her music: "When we were on tour, in London I was looking out over the crowd, and everyone was singing along... And I was like, 'You know my album.' And I cried."
JOHN ORTVED

VV wears a top by H&M, bra by Honeydew Intimates, skirt by Toni Maticevski and Lohng Chain by David Yurman

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