“Follow your dreams even if they seem unachievable. Because you won’t achieve your dreams if you won’t even give it a shot.”
Why pineapples you ask? Because she loves them, but at one point, she feared them.
“I have an obsession with pineapples.” She explains, “I don’t know even know what sparked my obsession with pineapples. I was looking back at the old social media I had back when I was ten. I was posting about pineapples and my love for them”.
It’s a love and an aesthetic all rolled into one. However, it wasn’t always that case. She used to be terrified of pineapples because she choked on one when she was really little. That experience stayed with her for years, until she faced what scared her and gave pineapples another chance.
“At one point, I embrace the fear. I stood up to the fear. And I’ve just tried pineapple again and I fell in love with it. So now I’ve got all these pineapples, I have ceramic pineapples in my room, pineapples hanging on my wall. The cup I’m using right now for my tea has pineapples on it”.
The obsession with pineapples is only a part of the quirky name. Veronica Pineapples became the name of her as a musician because she got a mixed CD as a gift from someone she really looks up to. They titled it Veronica Pineapples and the name stuck.
“I hope it interests people, and they look into me,” she explains, talking about the impact of the quirky name.
Veronica Pineapples is one of Naked Cybercafe and Espresso Bar’s regular patrons at the open mic night.
Veronica frequents the cafe. It’s one of the few venues that are open to all ages. As a 17-year-old musician, there aren’t many venues that cater to minors. Most venues that have live music are 18+.
From the article on Naked Cybercafe & Espresso Bar, she’s one of the artists from the Open Mic Night. It’s an event that she goes to often, to share her music.
“I’ve been to Naked Cybercafe a lot. I love that place,” she said.
She’s a versatile artist with influences ranging from country to metal to polka. Together these genres make an eclectic combination that inspires her. Veronica’s love for music started when she was young. Family was a major part of her musical start. Some of her first memories of her loved ones are intertwined with music.
“My earliest memory that I can remember was my dad holding me when I was really little, and we would dance to the hits of the ’70s,” She said, “Then my mom gave me a little music box toy that would play different genres. I would just constantly annoy everybody by pressing all the buttons on it.”
It wasn’t until she was a bit older that her love for music turned into a love for making music. When she was 8, she got the game Guitar Hero and that’s what really started her into music.
She remembers, “I played that for hours”.
It wasn’t easy. As she started with her first guitar, she had no idea how to play it. She started with YouTube instructional videos, a little bit here and there while she taught herself.
“It would frustrate me,” she explained. And that led her to quit.
In 2012, she picked up her guitar again after convincing her Dad for guitar lessons over the next two years. After leaving the guitar lessons, she had a base knowledge. From there she was able to teach herself and learn on her own. It has been a bit of a struggle for Veronica, but she keeps coming back to music.
“Honestly I’m not very musical. Music is a struggle for me,” Veronica explains that some musicians have natural musical talent, but for her, it’s not the case, “They got the rhythm and an ear for it, whereas my rhythm is going to struggle. But you just gotta keep on keeping on.”
With over 7 years of practice and learning, she’s gained experience and technique through hard work. There’s more to come, and she wants to continue learning to get better. Music is a part of her life and an industry she wants to be in.
“I always dreamt of being a rock star,” Veronica said, “Now I’m playing open mics and I’ve got my first gig at the Naked Cybercafe”.
It was never about fame for her, however. It was about the music, about sharing it with people. Fame, it seems, comes with compromises. For Veronica, the lack of privacy is something she doesn’t want to compromise. Instead of fame, she wants a simple life. Music, for her, is not about fame. Music is about connecting with people.
For many people, music is a way to cope through rough times. There’s music for when you’re heartbroken, for when you’re mourning, for when you’re angry. For Veronica, that’s the main aspect of music for her. If she went through anything hard, music was and is there for her. She wants to be there for people in the same way.
“Music has always been a comfort for me. It was one of the only things that made me happy for a while because I was going through a bunch of tough times” She said, opening up to the impact that music has for her.
Through her music, she wants to have, “lyrics that people can relate to or that really speak to them even if it’s not relatable. Something that’s kind of comforting. Sparks something inside of them.”
At the moment, Veronica is working on an acoustic album with 3 songs so far. It takes time but it’s something she and her fans are excited for.
For young musicians like her, she says that perseverance is key.
“Don’t give up on it. There will be points where you’re learning and feel like you’re at a point where you know what you’re doing, and you realize there’s so much more to learn. You’re like ‘whoa I don’t know what I ‘m doing’. It’s super discouraging.”
“It just takes time,” she said. It’s not easy but if that’s what you love, it’s worth it.
