Social media and the reality it constructs have become a massive part of socialization. Most people spend more time interacting with others on social media than they do in real life. But there are those who prefer to stay away from it, and Ville Valo is one of them. In a conversation with Gustavo Maiato, he explained the reasons for this.
“I’m so old school that I still believe in imagination; I believe in stuff that is left for the imagination,” he said when asked why he isn’t that active on social media. “Especially in my world of music, I think there’s too much info. People let people know too much about them, and all the info is very fragmented, like little tidbits.”
He continued, “I’m not interested in telling people once again that I didn’t have a breakfast — you know, a picture of an empty table. It’s not a way of communicating I feel comfortable with. The record company is communicating through Heartagram, the Facebook, and Instagram — and Twitter, I guess, too; I’m not quite sure.”
It sounds like Ville Valo has always preferred more mysterious things and believes that social media has broken this spell. Ville explained, “I’ve always liked artists that are a bit mysterious, and I like that there’s a sense of detachment. And that also gives, I think, the people, and me as a listener, that makes my imagination to do more work. And I think that when you really start imagining things, and you start building ideas about an artist, that’s way more powerful and special and unique than the little info — the constant bombardment of info — on social media.”
“I understand its power,” Valo admitted. “I do understand the fact that it’s so easy for people to communicate, especially if they’re far away from each other; it’s a great way of doing so. But I just don’t feel comfortable. I don’t have enough to say. And I think that it easily becomes this game that you start it and you can’t stop.”
Ville added, “And I think that it’s better that I keep myself out of it. I don’t have any passwords or anything like that for Heartagram. I gave ’em all away. I said, ‘I don’t wanna know.’ ’Cause I don’t wanna wake up in the middle of the night and start all of a sudden writing some truth down in all caps. ’Cause that’s exactly what I’d probably do.”
The musician, whose words show how much he believes in his imagination, has been silent in the music industry for a while. However, he broke this silence with a brand new album. ‘Neon Noir,’ Valo’s debut solo album, will be released by Heartagram Records on January 13.
Several singles have dropped from the upcoming album; ‘The Foreverlost,’ ‘Echolocate Your Love,’ and ‘Loveletting.’ Following the March 2020 release of the three-track ‘Gothica Fennica Vol. 1’ EP, also through the VV label, this was Ville’s first new music in over two years.
