Ville Valo about the relationship between music and social media: “I’m so old school”

After talking about the importance of metal in Scandinavian musical exports, during the same interview with Gustavo Maiato, Ville Valo tackles an even more intriguing question: the relationship between musical artists and social media, an increasingly invasive reality.

Ville Valo declares:

I’m so old school that I still believe in imagination; I believe in stuff that is left for the imagination. 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. 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. 

– Ville Valo (transcribed by Blabbermouth.net)

A position very close to another leading Finnish metal personality, Tuomas Holopainen. According to Ville Valo, it’s all a matter of imagination, the so-called power of the unseen:

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

– Ville Valo (transcribed by Blabbermouth.net)

Therefore, Ville Valo shows himself perfectly aware of the advantages and dangers of the social media world:

I understand its power. 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. 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.

– Ville Valo (transcribed by Blabbermouth.net)

Via Heartagram Records, Ville Valo debut as a soloist will arrive on 13 January with the album “Neon Noir” distributed by UMG/Spinefarm. In the meantime, you can enjoy the complete interview below: