Violet Love, real name Autumn Granados, has been writing music since the age of thirteen and has taken her talents across the US. Now, her music is appearing on our blog for the first time through her debut solo EP, Destined To Fail.
By Graeme Smith
“I know this may sound strange, considering the title of the EP is Destined to Fail, but I’d like people to find a sense of hope in this EP,” Granados say about the record. It’s a brave statement given the trauma that has inspired the three track collection.
Destined To Fail opens with a striking introspection. Glitching percussion provides the undercurrent over which pleading vocals are poured in Serpent. As the track progresses, the drama ramps up subtly but unmistakably, and you get a sense of the strong emotion that sits behind its image-laden lyrics.
Granados wrote the EP “purely out of necessity” and sees music as a way of processing trauma and the world around her. “When I wrote this, I didn’t really have a message in mind,” she says. “It was purely for me, my own healing, and processing of my thoughts and emotions. If anything, my goal was to have an accurate representation of who I was and how I felt and saw the world in 2024 to early 2025, and I believe I accomplished that.
“To be honest, this EP isn’t indicative of how I feel anymore, though. I feel like I can now finally leave this version of me behind. The version that felt hopeless, resentful, and alone. It’s just not me anymore, and so it’s kind of taken a life of its own.”
The EP brings together the always underground yet popular genres of emo, hyperpop and glitchpop. “These are all genres that I love and music that I listen to every day,” says Granados. “However, during the writing process of Apple, I kind of hit a moment where I was thinking to myself, ‘there are two ways I could go with this right now,’ and I found myself having to choose between keeping things strictly in that sort of hyperpop/glitchpop arena or really letting that Pierce The Veil influence in, and, at that point after playing in punk bands for so many years, I just couldn’t help myself.”
Apple does indeed expand the record’s sound with hard-edged riffs and a certain sense of maximalism. It threatens to overwhelm before offering a way out through a shout-along chorus.
Aside from the aforementioned Pierce The Veil, Granados cites classic songwriters such as the Beatles, Billy Joel, and Simon & Garfunkel among her inspirations – artists she grew up listening to in New Jersey. From there, she’s lived all over the US from Las Vegas to Arizona, to Dallas and will soon call Grand Rapids, Michigan home.
“I’m looking forward to the fresh start among many other things,” she says. “I feel like I can really put the version of me that wrote this EP behind me now, and I’m excited to lean in to a better version of me. How will that affect my art? I’m not entirely sure, but I’m excited to find out.”
The EP is rounded off by Artist which feels like Granados at her most honest, a characteristic she values above all.
“To an extent, I want people to develop their own connection with this EP and develop what it means to them,” she says, “but if I have one intended impact, it’s to provoke rigorous honesty with ourselves, with each other, and with the world around us. I believe it’s important for all of us to do our best to see things objectively, and honesty is one of, if not my biggest, values.
“The sad part about all of this, though, is that this kind of brutal honesty is so painful nowadays, and it’s very easy to be cynical and feel hopeless. There is love in this world, no doubt, but we are at a time in history where things aren’t looking too good, and there’s no way around that. And I think it’s pretty obvious by now that I’ve been there; I’ve felt that. And I’ve made my way out of it so can you, and so can all of us. It’s who we are, and it’s what we’re made to do – to survive.”
Destined To Fail is out now, and you can listen to it below.
Supported by Musosoup #SustainableCurator
