VITO: Raw Emotion, Genre-Bending Truths

VITO: Raw Emotion, Genre-Bending Truths

VITO is a solo artist from Upstate New York, whose genre bending music is both catchy and cathartic.  Selection such as Shame On Me and Hollow are vibrantly heartfelt, presenting an artist absolutely fearless with the depth of songwriting and vocals. In a musical landscape often diluted by trends and algorithms, VITO stands out as a voice for the unheard —his music is raw, uncensored, and deeply human. Blending elements of indie, punk, and experimental pop, he crafts tracks that feel like diary entries set to a soundscape of pure sonic auditory bliss.  Highwire Daze recently interviewed VITO to find out more about this compelling artist on the rise.

We are here with Vito and let’s find out more about him. First of all, where are you based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
Currently I’m based out of Upstate New York. The local music scene out here is not really privy to what I do specifically, but there’s a lot of hardcore music and alternative rap stuff, like trap metal. There’s a couple artists out here that I’ve gotten to work with in a studio setting and it’s a pretty cool community. It’s just a little different than the stuff I make.

Tell me about the new beginnings and the creation of Vito2300.
I started this project technically back in 2016, but in 2017 is when I started doing music consistently and more like seriously. Before I felt really restricted to the sounds I can make in a studio setting and how comfortable I was with my voice. I started off as a rapper, like $UICIDEBOY$ kind of stuff. But I always wanted to put my voice on a song. And I never felt comfortable enough doing that with all my friends around in a studio with an engineer. When I got my own music set up is when I started exploring the singing and all that stuff.

I started making music at like a really weird time in my life. When I was younger, I used to skateboard. all the time. I still do, but that was like my main thing. That’s how I let out all my angsty teenage emotions. And I got an injury skateboarding.  I messed up my knee skateboarding and a couple of weeks after that happened, I was still resting this injury and my dad passed away.  I didn’t really know where to vent out all of those emotions I was feeling. So, I had been writing music and stuff like that, just like little like rap songs or whatever with my friends. This was in 2016. I felt like I had so much to talk about, and I started like putting some of that onto paper and singing about shit and it really helped me get through that chapter and not lose myself.

What was the inspiration behind Shame on Me? And how did the collaboration come about with skele come about?
skele is a long time, really, really consistent friend of mine. We lived together for a couple years, and we’ve always just been super, super close. skele is an openly trans gay artist that speaks a lot about their experiences through music. I haven’t been super social about things like that with myself, but I’m bisexual and I’ve never said anything about that publicly. I’ve never written any music about it. But that song kind of came about organically where I just found myself talking about that aspect of myself. And I guess it was maybe subconsciously an emotional support – to hit up skele and be like, “Hey, do you want to get on this song with me?” Cause it feels really vulnerable. I’ve never talked about anything like this before, but I feel like, at least, introducing my audience to that side of myself. I wanted to share that with a friend that I’m close with and comfortable with that also shares some of that experience with me as well.

Congratulations on that very amazing song. I feel like that could be played on the radio. Let’s talk about some of the other recent songs. Elevator. What was the inspiration behind that song?
So my friends, love matt and junkai – actually matt had hit me up.  And we had been talking about diving back in together and working on another record. And he had recently started doing a lot of collaborations with Blocktane. So, they sent me a little pack of like probably five or six instrumentals song start ideas. And I heard the drop on Elevator and it just grabbed me right away.

I was coming out of like a weird mental funk at the time where I hadn’t been writing music. I hadn’t really been doing anything other than like sitting and playing my guitar. I had this internal battle with myself, trying to sit down with my thoughts long enough to write a song and not overwhelm myself. It just came together super organically, and rest is history on that one.

Tell me about Hollow and the inspiration behind that one?
I have known IOF for a long time. I think we met back in 2018 when I was first starting to explore the pop punk / alternative rock genre. I feel like it was a lot bigger back then. There were a lot more artists navigating into that genre. And between IOF and then there’s another producer, King Theta, he didn’t work on that song, but he’s another producer from around that time that I kind of discovered that sound with. But all these years later, IOF actually hit me up.  He’s been trying to do more collaborations with different artists. So, he remembered the songs that me and him had made together in the past. And we’ve always been mutual followers since back in those days. But he had hit me up and he was like, “Hey dude, I wanna do some alternative rock, pop punk stuff, like do a co-release together.” So we bounced a couple of things back and forth. I don’t think I really had much say in the production on that one. I mean, IOF is just so fucking talented. He just ships something out. Like he sits there, and he locks in, and he sends it over and it’s like one of the best instrumentals you’re going to hear. That one was not super, super complicated to put together.

That one, as far as substance goes – that was a song that I had written just about feeling claustrophobic in your own skin. I have dealt with a lot of mental health issues. One of the biggest ones is when I get into like internalized OCD shit and I feel like I want to like peel my skin off so I can breathe. That was kind of what I was talking about in that song. I was just feeling like I’m suffocating in the brutal winter that I had just gone through in upstate New York, because I haven’t lived out here in so long. And I come back in the winter and it’s brutally cold and I’m stuck inside my bedroom and I can’t do anything. And I’m just internalizing and going back in these spirals and these thought loops and all this other not so fun shit. And I just had to let some of that stuff out on that song. Again, IOF is just so incredible. I couldn’t have picked anybody better to work on that song with.

Have you ever played live or is that something you would like to do?
I’ve gone on tour a few times with idkconundrum. I’ve played shows from the east to the west coast. I’ve done quite a few. I’ve been off touring lately. Just again, I keep going back to it, but just the mental health shit. I’ve been taking time to myself and putting myself out there a little bit at a time. I want to start doing shows. I think the last one that I did was in Chicago with yung van, sewerperson, and guardin . And that show was incredible. Shout out those guys for being so fucking cool.

What is it you’d like a listener to remember after hearing your music for the very first time?
I want them to realize that you can approach this vast ocean of music and artists – and all these people and everybody who’s trying to be a part of this community and do music. And it’s like this huge cesspool of just so many different people and genres – and you always feel like you’re trying to carve a way through it and fit in. But I want them to hear my music and see that like, “Damn, I can do my own thing and be confident in it.” And there’s an audience for it. You know what I mean?

I feel like the music I make personally doesn’t really conform to a specific genre or a specific sound. It just feels like me, you know? And I feel like through all of it, there’s not a lot of people who are just them. And from a listener perspective, I’ve always just wanted my music to make an impact on one person that feels memorable – where they can listen to a song of mine or my discography and feel like they’re not alone through the shit they’re going through. Because when I was younger and going through all my shit, I had music – and music pulled me from such a dark place. Where now as a musician, all I want to do is give back a 10th of what music gave to me when I needed it. So, I hope that my music can be that for somebody.

And maybe it’s not that for you. Maybe you like the beats, and you think the voice sounds good and you like it – that’s super sick. To the people that it really resonates with, I want you to feel like you’re not alone. This music is super, super personal and super important to me. And if it feels that way for you, then we are the same – we’re twins. You’re just like me for real.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Vito on Instagram