The (Cover) Singer | Vesë Neziri
It is 6 pm on a Friday afternoon. The sun shines brightly over the shaded balcony facing the western side of the small Southwestern town of Blagoevgrad. Vesë Neziri, a junior at the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG), is sitting comfortably on an old folding chair with her legs crossed.
She says that the perfect time for her to work on a song cover is a Friday night when all her friends are away, but she chooses to stay home instead. To Vesë, it is the peace and quiet that make this the perfect scenario.
Her tablet sits on another chair right across from her, displaying the lyrics on the screen. She places a huge water bottle on the floor, so it is easy for her to grab it when she needs it. She has her headphones on as she holds her acoustic guitar in her hands.
“Basically, I’m left-handed, but left-handed guitars are harder to find and more expensive. When I started learning how to play, I used someone else’s guitar, and that is why I use a right-handed guitar to this day,” she comments.
Everything is all set for her to begin.
“I have a Spotify playlist titled To Cover, and it is full of songs that I think would sound good if I covered them or songs that I really want to cover even if they are different from my style,” Vesë states while explaining the types of songs she usually goes for.
“Some of these are songs that I loved from the very first moment and they made me feel very strong emotions. Some songs are from female artists that have a similar vocal range to mine. Others are songs that people have asked me to cover. The rest sound incomplete to me, so I want to play around with them and make them better.”
After she sets her mind on the song she wants to work on, she elaborates on the process of putting everything together.
“The thing is, I’m actually so impatient that I don’t learn one thing, and then the other. I always go the hard way and add chords to the lyrics even if I don’t know them,” she explains before starting to actually practice the piece.
She smirks as she lets out the first few words that comprise the first verse of “In vain” by Sigrid. Every word is accompanied by the sounds the guitar strings produce.
Her eyes remain shut throughout the whole thing. “I can’t sing unless I have my eyes closed,” Vesë explains. “If I keep them open, you’ll feel no emotion coming from my words.”
She messes up some words here and there and starts over two more times before getting the whole thing right.
Vesë eventually stops singing and starts smiling shyly. “How did I do?” she asks. “I always try adding my own twist to the covers I do. My go-to thing is making songs slower than they actually are and when I play them, they sound just a tad bit sadder. I don’t focus as much on the melody as I focus on actually conveying the emotions through singing.”
The ultimate piece sounds amazing even to an untrained ear. It is raw and appealing to anyone willing to have a listen. She never posts the recordings directly, though.
“I have to go back and listen to it again, add something I think the initial version was missing, and then I record the whole thing again before I decide to finally post it.”
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Altea Sulollari is studying Business Administration at the American University in Bulgaria. She is interested in creative writing and media.
