Vérité

Early life and education

Kelsey Byrne was born in 1990 in Orange County, New York, where she was raised. Introduced to music at a young age, her father was a rock musician, and Byrne began performing at small local venues while still in elementary school. She learned piano when young, and also grew up listening to 1990s alternative rock bands such as The Cranberries, The Breeders, Nirvana, and Green Day. In middle school she was in an all-girls punk cover band, and she started writing her own music around the age of sixteen. She supported her schooling at SUNY Purchase by waiting tables, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in studio composition.

2013-14: Career beginnings

Circa late 2012 or early 2013 she began collaborating with producer Elliot Jacobson, after Jacobson reached out to her on Twitter. Byrne in turn started writing and recording music under the name Vérité, which translates in French to "truth." She eventually left her job in the food industry to work on her music full-time, after ten years waitressing, the last three of which were at Applebee's restaurant in Times Square.

She started promoting her first single "Strange Enough" in July 2014. It also reached #1 on Hype Machine, with Byrne at the time keeping her real name hidden. The song was generally well received by critics, with Complex calling it a "scorching breakup anthem... whose scathing chorus could burn any bad relationship with a vengeance." Casey Lewis of Noisey called it a "haunting, euphoric piece of electro-pop."

Her second track "Weekend" was a "Pick of the Day" for the CDS Music Chart on August 26, 2014. She described "Weekend" as "written to be a snapshot of a moment. It's caught between the nostalgia of everything that was exhilarating and the reality of how temporary that elation can be." Interview Magazine called the track a "beautiful pop gem," where her vocals were "layered gorgeously into something that could perhaps be described as musical fairy dust.'"

2014-present: Echo and Sentiment

Her first live show as Vérité was at the New York Neon Gold Popshop. Byrne went on to play a number of gigs promoted by Neon Gold Records, including their showcase in March 2014 at South By Southwest. In September 2014 her track "Echo,” the title track from her upcoming debut EP, was released exclusively through Billboards website. Wrote Billboard, the song "positions the singer as an artist capable of delivering a sweeping hook while emphasizing the subtler details of her arrangements."

On October 20, 2014 she self-released her Echo EP, which includes four tracks: "Strange Enough," "Weekend," "Echo," and "Heartbeat." Liza Darwin of Noisey wrote that "the EP is packed with crisp, delicate vocals, soaring melodies, and glistening production..." After the release she performed a number of late October shows in Brooklyn, including an October 21 show at the BMI Showcase at The Knitting Factory, and shows afterwards at Brooklyn Bowl, Santos Party, and Glasslands with Kate Boy. She self-released Echo EP (The Remixes) on December 15, 2014, which included five remixes by artists such as Penguin Prison.

She released her single "Wasteland" on February 25, 2015. ChartShaker.com described it as "exquisitely meshing Vérité’s ethereal vocals with pounding, uptempo electro beats." Sean Moller of Paste Magazine described "Wasteland" as having a "Lana Del Rey vibe that goes a long way."

Her single "Colors," produced by Zach Nicita of MS MR, was self-released on April 22, 2015. After being featured in SPIN magazine on June 3, 2015, Byrne then self-released her second four-track EP Sentiment on June 8, 2015. Her previous singles "Wasteland" and "Colors" were included, as were the new tracks "Rearrange" and "Sentiment." About the overall lyrics, she stated "there's definitely a few brief themes that run through it: mainly, nostalgia, apathy and the exploration of how to connect." Time Magazine praised the release, calling her vocals "rich and ethereal."

She has performed internationally and opened for notable bands such as Stars, whom she performed with at Webster Hall in New York City. Early in the summer of 2015 she performed at the Westway with Gallant, the Firefly Festival in June 2015, and Lollapalooza's BMI stage.

On March 3, 2016 she released her 9th single "Underdressed".

Musical style

The genre of Byrne's music has been described as indie pop by Billboard, while Rachel Brodksy of SPIN defined it as alt pop. About how she sees her own music, Byrne explains that when she released her single "Heartbeat" in 2014, "people called it pop. I was just like, ‘OK, I guess it’s pop.’" About her songwriting process, she states "when it comes to production and the overall sound I don’t really have a lot of intentions with it. I start off with melody and a lyrical idea, and then build off of that story.” About themes, she states that "people can really ascribe their own meaning, which I kind of encourage.” Eliza Berman of Time Magazine opines that Byrne "writes songs about the human condition: what it’s like to be here, to inhabit your own mind, to try to connect with others. If that sounds incredibly broad, that’s because it is."