Victoria Blue Puts Her Heart on the Line in New EP

Singer-songwriter Victoria Blue is embracing the unknown these days. In a not-so-distant past life in marketing, she quit her day job, sold her house, and got to work building a solo singing career.

Blue wrote and recorded for the first time at just 11 years old. Her family's neighbor owned a studio.

"I still have that song," she says, and starts singing it over the phone. At age 11, she was rhyming words like "star" and "far," but she wrote it all herself. On weeknights she'd gig with her family band led by her father, a pastor whose managerial role echoed some famous fathers in music history.

"My dad would be managing us, and he had great connections with all these venues. People associated us with Selena y Los Dinos and the Jackson 5," Blue recalls. Performing from a young age was just part of Blue's upbringing. "I'd be in school and I knew that I had a gig that night."

Over the past year, Blue has performed at Faena's cabaret revue C'est Rouge, while writing and recording songs for her upcoming EP, Heart on the Line, which she'll debut at 1306 this Thursday. She will play a full set with her band and premiere a new music video for the EP's title track.
That track, "Heart on the Line," holds a special meaning for Blue. The idea for the song came to her after she heard the phrase "life on the line" on a TV commercial, and inspiration struck. "I came up with the title of 'Heart on the Line,' and then I wrote the song [around] the title." The words resonated with her in connection with the growing pains and setbacks she'd experienced in her transition to a solo singing career.

Blue hopes the message resonates with other people who wish to pursue their dreams but are hesitant or fearful of failure. "It's for those people out there that need encouragement, that are working 9 to 5, that are doing something that they don't want to be doing. I feel that God has given us this passion, this dream, this gift of talent; that you can go out there and make it happen. You just kind of have to take that first leap of faith and make it happen."

Plans for a tour in support of the EP are in the works, but Blue is the first to admit she's learning as she goes along. "I feel my message is to do it. Chase your dreams. It's possible. I don't know all the answers. I'm still in the middle of it."

Victoria Blue Heart on the Line EP Release Party. 7 p.m. Thursday, July 20, at 1306 Miami, 1306 N. Miami Ave., Miami; 305-377-2277; 1306miami.com. Tickets cost $7 via eventbrite.com.