Daina Venskutė
Daina Venskutė | |
|---|---|
 Venskutė performing on her Fascination World Tour. | |
| Born | September 22, 1987 |
| Nationality | Juznik |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 2012-present |
| Spouse(s) | Pranas Jankūnas (m. 2016) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
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| Labels | Velvet Records |
Daina Venskutė (born September 22, 1987) is a Juznik singer-songwriter. She originally started out her career writing songs for other artists of the folk genre but in 2012 she signed a record deal with Velvet Records, a Višnevas-based record label, and released her debut single Blurred Image in November 2014, followed by another single Quiet Nights in January 2015 and her album Blurred Image on February 27, 2015. The album received critical acclaim and hit number one on the Juznik album charts. She won multiple awards for the album.
In 2018 she announced she would be releasing her second album, Colours of Love, and released the lead single Wild Butterfly on 6 April. The song reached number 2 on the Juznik charts. The album was released on May 11, 2018 to widespread critical acclaim and hit number one on the Juznik album charts, a position it kept for 6 weeks straight. In July 2018 she released a second single from the album, Fascination, which became her first number one song in Juznia. Colours of Love won the 2019 Juznik Academy of the Arts Album of the Year award with the single Wild Butterfly winning the Song of the Year award.
Early life
Daina Venskutė was born on September 22, 1987 in Karsuva, Juznia to Linas, a factory worker who had joined the effort for Juznik independence, and Milda, a former grocery store clerk who was unemployed at the time of her birth. Her mother had fled southern Juznia with her older sister, Violeta, and older brother, Tauras, to stay with family in Karsuva.
The civil war ended in 1989 when Daina was two years old and in 1990 her family left Karsuva for the town of Kalvarija, where she grew up. Her mother worked in a grocery store and her father took up work on a farm. Her family struggled to pay their bills and her parents often fought, something which had an impact on her view of the world. In 1994, when she was 6 years old, her father left the family and left Daina's mother and their three children with no money. Venskutė's mother struggled in the aftermath of the breakdown of her marriage, which is something she has often mentioned in her songs and was a recurring theme in her debut album Blurred Image.
In 2005, when she turned 18, Venskutė left Kalvarija and moved to Višnevas in the hopes of forming a musical career. She had often looked up to folk musicians during her childhood and listened to their music and began to write her own songs during the turbulent times in her teenage years. Daina found little success in getting signed to sing the songs herself but managed to get some of the songs given to other artists and received payment for them. On top of this she worked as a waitress in the city to help support herself.
Career
2005-2012: Songwriting and street performing
Despite being turned down by record labels Venskutė was determined to get her songs heard and signed to a record label. She began to do street performing on top of her other work. During this time she was offered label agreements on numerous occasions but all the deals fell through before they could be signed. In 2010 she considered returning to Kalvarija, where her mother lived, and finding a job there following almost five years of struggling in the industry. However, two weeks before her planned move she was hired as a performer at a local club which she believed would allow her to launch into her own career.
In October 2011 Venskutė was approached by the founder of Velvet Records, Florian Nachbaur, who invited her to join his label based on her performances. Soon after Velvet Records entered financial difficulties and almost went bankrupt but following it's purchase by another record label Venskutė was offered the chance to sign to the label. She signed her record deal in April 2012.
2012-2017: Scrapped debut album and Blurred Image
Immediately following her signing to Velvet Records Venskutė began work on her debut album, originally meant to be called Taming Tears, but she felt that the album did not accurately represent her story and made the decision with label executives to scrap the album and re-write the album. She was introduced to producer and songwriter Giedrius Antanavičius and the two instantly became friends. Antanavičius agreed to collaborate with her on her debut album and ended up producing every song and co-writing most of the songs with her.
The albums lead single which bore the same name as the album, Blurred Image, was released on November 14, 2014. The song received critical acclaim and did well on the Juznik charts managing to reach number seven on the chart and staying in the top 10 for five weeks. The second single, Quiet Nights, was released on January 9, 2015 to similar critical praise. It managed to reach number eleven on the Juznik charts. The album itself was released on February 27, 2015 to acclaim by critics and hit number one on the Juznik albums chart in April 2015.
Following the release of the album Venskutė embarked on the Not So Quiet Night Tour around Juznia playing 13 shows across the country. Her live performances were received well by critics who said that her live vocal talent matched that shown in her albums.
2017-present: Colours of Love
Venskutė began writing Colours of Love shortly after the release of her first album, being inspired by her recent engagement to her now-husband. Work on the album intensified following her marriage in July 2016. The album was recorded between August 2017 and January 2018. Venskutė worked on the album with Giedrius Antanavičius, who co-produced her debut album, as well as two other producers and writers, Arūnas Pölzl and Sonata Songailienė. The first single, Wild Butterfly, was released on April 6, 2018 and was praised by critics and reached number two on the Juznik singles chart.
The album was released on May 11, 2018 to similar critical acclaim that Blurred Image had received. The album sold over 60,000 copies in it's first week and debuted at number one on the Juznik albums chart and holding that position for 6 consecutive weeks. The album has sold over 420,000 copies in Juznia since then. A second single, Fascination, was released on July 13, 2018. Fascination reached number one on the Juznik singles chart, becoming Venskutė's first song to do so. It occupied the top spot for two weeks and was in the top 10 for 12 weeks in total.
In October 2018 she embarked on the Fascination World Tour playing 25 shows mainly in Juznia as well as a few in Hytekia, Tudonia and Dulebia.
Personal life
Venskutė started dating her now-husband Pranas Jankūnas, an engineer, in 2011. The couple married on July 16, 2016 in Kalvarija, Juznia. Venskutė has spoken openly about her long-distance relationship with Jankūnas, who works in Mascylla, and said that "distance makes the heart grow fonder".
Discography
- Blurred Image (2015)
- Colours of Love (2018)
Tours
- Not So Quiet Night Tour (2015)
- Fascination World Tour (2018-19)