Hope Vista

Name: Hope Vista Oberwanowicz

Stage Name: Hope Vista

Age: 21

Year: Senior

Major: Writing Arts

Hometown: East Brunswick, NJ 

 

HV: My new single, “It Hurts To Know,” is something that I had been working on for about 2 months in the comfort of my apartment. At first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the song because it was kind of an abnormal sound for me. Power ballads have never really been my forte, so I was really challenging myself here and working towards a small change of pace. There’s not a central story, it just touches upon a bunch of little scenarios that hurt to know about. “It hurts to know you kissed the girl who you said was not a threat to us” is an example. I wanted to use that tactic, the one of touching upon different areas of hurt, to yield lyrics that people could find a piece of themselves in. 

 

HV: This question is always difficult, because I feel like when you try and describe your sound, that answer puts you in a bubble. I incorporate the electric guitar into every single song I do, except for acoustic versions, but I’ve always depended on the grittiness of that sound. Very guitar heavy, and a lot of vocal rawness. I know my voice isn’t Christina Aguilera-esque range-wise, so I always try to find ways to bring a vulnerability to my vocals. No pitch corrector, no autotune. Nothing like that. So I’d just say guitar-heavy, raw, and normally music you can jump around to in your room… just not this single. Which is very strange for me. 

 

HV:I don’t have many childhood memories that I can remember in full detail, but I have this one repeating memory of my dad, who’s the driving force behind all of my inspiration and work. He’s a classically trained guitarist, and when I was a kid, I’d wake up in the morning to find him sitting on his kitchen floor with sheet music scattered from wall to wall. Just everywhere. I wanted to be just like my dad, and I still do to this day. I realized at a very young age, around 3, that music has the power to just run through your veins and completely take over. I owe everything musically to my dad. 

 

HV:I was listening to The Rolling Stones in elementary school, but then I was also listening to 90’s pop on the side. Classic rock is something that I’ve always been able to just immerse myself in, so artists like the Stones, Joan Jett, Aerosmith, Pat Benatar, and The Eagles have taught me a lot about longevity and artistry. Then on the other end of the spectrum, I’d see the performance quality of the artists in the 90’s bubblegum era, like the Backstreet Boys, Britney, NSYNC. They drove stadiums full of people completely wild, and in kindergarten I actually studied what they did, why they were succeeding. As I got to be 9-10, I started falling in love with the Goo Goo Dolls too, and they still continue to be one of my biggest sources of inspiration. Pure geniuses. That whole era, the late 90’s alternative era, is genius. Then some solo artists, Demi Lovato and Avril Lavigne, have given me a ton of modern inspiration. But mostly older stuff. 

 

HV:This new single. And I know it was just released today, but with this came a lot of hard work, frustration, and new opportunities. Writing this song itself was a huge challenge, but the side work put into it is something that I’m extremely proud of. Over a span of 2 1/2 days, 24 hours of recording was done to just bring the entire track to life. For the first time ever, I have a merchandise line of physical CDs, wristbands, and promo material just based on this song. I got booked at the legendary Trocadero in Philadelphia after I announced the release of the single, thousands of new Twitter followers, and a whole lot of support. Someone came up to me in Philly a few weeks ago and asked to take a picture with me. I was completely thrown off and felt like an awkward little girl, but my heart immediately filled up with so much warmth. It honestly feels like a brand new era in my career and I’m super excited to just run with it. 

 

HV: It’s a tough situation to picture at a glance, because this business is very cut-throat. This is all I’ve wanted to do for nearly my entire life, but I also know that I have to be able to support myself as well. If all goes well, I’ll still be doing this after graduation and just pushing myself to keep expanding and growing as both a person and artist.