Victoria De Angelis, known simply as Victoria, has made a major musical shift in the past year. Many know her as one of the founding members of Måneskin the Italian alternative rock band that first shook X Factor audiences, then the world. She helped earn the band’s cult fanbase with her bass playing and headbanging, barely there outfits and signature cat eyes.
The group, also consisting of lead singer Damiano David, guitarist Thomas Raggi and drummer Ethan Torchio, has spent the greater part of the past decade touring the world, selling out shows for each new album they’ve put out. In 2023, Måneskin released Rush!, their third studio LP, and spent the subsequent year putting on live versions of its tracks for the record’s world tour.
Late last year, Victoria took things in a solo direction. She released her first single, “GET UP BITCH! Shake ya ass,” which featured Annita, one of Brazil’s dance music scene’s boldest voices. Since then, she’s put out a slew of tracks that similarly feature her pivot from pop rock to electronic and industrial. Most recently, “DADDY,” a collaboration with Ashnikko took fans by storm. The track is rap-heavy, featuring distorted vocals set against pulsing electronica. It effortlessly blends De Angelis' history with rock and Ashnikko’s signature ethereal sounds. The pair beckons to audiences, “Welcome to daddy town.”
This summer, De Angelis is fearlessly putting these experimental, hypersexual sounds and visuals on full display. Victoria’s Hot Summer Tour kicked off in May and continues across Europe and Asia through September. Audiences will get to sweat it out at the hottest shows of the season with De Angelis, where bikinis and bouncing beats are not only accepted but encouraged.
De Angelis sat down with PAPER to discuss the release of “DADDY," working Ashnikko, her work as a solo artist and the expectations she has for Victoria’s Hot Summer.
I want to start by talking about “DADDY” with Ashnikko. How did you guys come to pair up for that track?
We saw each other play at a festival a year and a half ago. We both fell in love with each other's music and I thought the way she was performing was so cool. I've been loving her music for a very long time and I thought it was really cool to mix our worlds together. She’s doing some stuff that's very influenced by electronic music, so it felt like the right moment. And I thought it was really cool to kind of mix her more aggressive way of rapping with this more Latin and sexy beat. So it was really cool, the contrast between that. We were chatting on Instagram and WhatsApp for some months before and we were trying to send each other some tracks we could work on. In the end, we met in the studio in London six months ago and it immediately worked out and we came up with “DADDY” and made the whole song in two days.
That’s incredible. It’s so so good. What did you guys expect the fan reception to be? Was that different from how it ended up getting received?
I didn't have so many expectations, to be honest. I try not to think about that before releasing music, because I like to just put out stuff that I like and that excites me and not have to worry too much about how it's going to be perceived or people's judgment. But I mean, in the end, I'm super happy of how people responded to it, because it's something a bit different, both for me and for her, but everyone seemed to love it.
That’s so good to hear. I want to pivot away from collaboration and talk about your recent solo work. Obviously, you spent a lot of time in a band. How has creating and writing and putting out music shifted since embarking on this solo career?
It's a completely different creative process. With the band, we were used to just going in the studio and jamming all together. Something would come up, or maybe if one day you're a bit low on inspiration, then another member of the band can have a great idea and lead the process. When working solo, you're alone and have to build every instrument from scratch, and I feel like there's endless possibilities. So sometimes it's easy to get lost in the creative process if you don't have a very strong direction or vision of where you want to go. But at the same time, it's very inspiring because it's so creative and it's something new for me. So I just feel like I have so much to learn about. And there's so much electronic music from different genres and worlds that I like. So I feel like I can never get enough inspiration from different artists and producers to bring into the studio and into my tracks. For me, it's super fun and I'm really enjoying experimenting with it.
Definitely. And you can hear that in the music. Who are some of these artists you’re drawing inspiration from?
I'm really inspired by the Latin club music scene. Producers like CyberKills and others who are part of this more underground wave that's coming up from South America, they're all doing really amazing stuff. That's where I get most of of my inspiration. But I also like more simple, techno, percussive stuff. I really like to collaborate with different artists and mix these worlds together. I'm really into rap vocals. So for example, I would really love to collaborate, with Tokischa. There's a lot of different worlds where I like to take a bit from. There's a lot of inspiration.
And what are some of your nonmusical inspirations? I love your fashion sense and visuals.
It really depends. Sometimes I can watch a movie and get inspired by the costumes, and then go from there. Sometimes I get the chance to work with some amazing designers and that's super inspiring. Alessandro Michele, now he's working with Valentino. I love everything he's doing so it's been really nice to collaborate with him. Or with David Koma, he's doing the Blumarine stuff. Dilara [Findikoglu] of course.
Love her.
Yeah! And also just sometimes exchanging ideas with my friends and family around me, just having different visual inspiration.
What are the differences between a solo tour like this and a tour with your band?
They both have their harder parts and their easy part. When you DJ a lot and are touring a lot as a DJ, it gets really hard with schedules. Sometimes you play from 4 AM to 6 AM and then you have a flight at 9 AM, and you play the next day from 3 PM to 5 PM. You really get no sleep. It gets really intense. It's also easier because I just travel with just one friend of mine, and with the band, there's such a big team traveling. You have to be in the venue many hours before sound check. While with DJing, you travel alone with your little USB, and it's much easier.
Does live DJing feel like it comes from the same creative place as playing a rock show?
It's very different, because with the band, we play our own music. I feel a bigger confidence in myself, because I know that the people coming are coming to listen to our music. You have to perform at your best. I think everything is much more about the performance and the physicality on stage. But once you tour every day, you get really used to the technical part of playing the tracks. You can almost do it in your sleep. I think because DJing is new to me, I feel like you have to adapt to the crowd. You always have to be on the edge between playing something that you think is cool, something that the crowd doesn't expect, but at the same time not lose the energy from the crowd. You never know what you're gonna play.
There’s a ton of variables. What can be expected from Victoria’s Hot Summer Tour?
I think what I want with my sets is just for people to have fun. I love seeing people coming together, sweating. I just want to create the hot and sexy and fun moment for everyone. I like to bring in many different influences. So You can expect a lot of variety, different sounds and sonic landscapes.
And what should fans expect from this new era of Victoria?
I’m coming from somewhere different musically. Some people might think it's unauthentic. It might seem a bit random, but it's something that's been part of me for so many years and I'm really happy now that I started this journey. A lot of people and fans can see this. They really understand this and for other people, it's such different music that maybe they don't like it. But I just want them to know that I love it and I’m having fun with it. It's a true passion I've had for so long. I'm really happy that finally there's people connecting with it.
Photography courtesy of Victoria De Angelis
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