With Faces of AB, we briefly wander into the life of someone at AB. Together we muse about Brussels, these strange times, and AB. For this edition we went out and about with none less than Anysa Grammenoudis!
I’ve been working in the ticketing and communication departments at AB for 5 years now. But actually, I was already a huge concertgoer before I began working here. I think I was 12 when I first went to a Destiny’s Child concert. I didn’t start making music myself until I was 25, because I was so anxious. But then came that quarter-life crisis and I thought about how for all my life I’ve wanted to be an R&B singer like Alicia Keys, Aaliyah, Ashanti , Amy, Aretha… and Anysa fits perfectly amongst them (laughs). So, in the meantime I’ve released my EP.
It's a creation I worked on for 4 years. I really needed quite a bit of time. It’s always amazing to me when it seems to come so easily to other artists, that’s not the case for me. Making music also costs a lot, especially if you’re on your own without a band. You have to pay producers and musicians, artwork, photoshoots… and it all adds up. That costs heaps of money, and also slowed down the process. Paying it off monthly was the only way I could get it done – I financed everything myself. You can feel the life slowly returning to the music sector, there are concerts sometimes, and music is a topic of conversation again. You can’t sit on your egg forever either. I have the feeling that a lot of people were quite depressed during the pandemic, I suffered a lot from that. Your entire life just disappeared, and I was already in the habit of constantly seeking stimuli in all sorts of places. When all that disappeared, I just stopped completely. Since a few months ago, I feel more cravings for what is going on around me.
The title of my album ‘Gosh.’ comes from ‘Oh my God’, but then “Oh My Gosh” because that’s just a tad frumpier. ‘Gosh’ is one of those words with which you can express frustration in a certain teenage girl drama way. My family and friends think I’m dramatic. I consider myself sensitive, but I like to add some drama ‘for comedy’s sake’.
My next step is to work on a new EP, I have absolutely no ambition of becoming a big star. I don’t necessarily enjoy performing on stage either, it makes me nervous, that stresses me out. I just have songs that I want to record, and when people enjoy them then that gives me a great deal of pleasure. I’m not doing it for the world, I just like to make and work on music. But before, during and after a show, I feel terrible the entire time. I’ve already done quite a few gigs and I thought it would improve with time, but it has never left me.
Now, due to Corona, it’s been SO long since I performed that I’m really going to have to pep myself up next time, like ‘don’t stress’! I could almost throw up before a performance, and afterwards I’m thinking about all the mistakes I might have made. Maybe I’m too perfectionistic. In AB, I see a lot of artists pass by, and that doesn’t really help either. Here you really only see the toppers, everyone seems so professional (laughs). I would like to be known on the down-low. That people like to hear my songs but have ever seen my face. I actually do that with artists too.
