Photo Credit Jack Witkor
Aunty Social is the moniker for 24-year-old artist Daniela Gitto. The name comes from past insecurities and periods of isolation where she’d use music as a therapeutic aid to address toxic lifestyles and her own struggles with mental health. She has already caught the attention of outlets like Consequence of Sound, Line Of Best Fit, Earmilk, Collide, Ladygunn, Refinery 29, Flood, Under The Radar, and influential Spotify playlists like Indie Pop, EQUAL, Indie All Stars, Outliers, and Fresh Finds. Last year she was part of several live stream festivals including Aesthetic Magazine Festival with U.S. Girls, Hunny, No Joy and she played It’s A School Night (at Home) earlier this summer. Her debut EP, The Day My Brain Broke, was released in March 2020.
Tell us about the story of your act
Aunty Social was made during a transitional period in my life. While trying to get my shit together I met Sam Arion who ended up becoming my producer and teacher. I dropped out of college to dedicate myself to music and got an office job to fund my dream job. I wasn’t experiencing much during this time, just thinking a lot and music was the only way to organize my thoughts. Inside my brain was a stressed out man trying to sort through stacks of paper and my first EP, The Day My Brain Broke, was kind of like a filing cabinet.
What is the message behind your art?
I don’t think there’s one clear message. Maybe that self-reflection and humility are cool
What are some sources of inspiration for your lyrics and storytelling?
Most of my lyrics are pulled from my journal entries. It’s weird because I won’t let anyone read my journal yet I’m comfortable singing whole entries to a crowd of strangers. I guess thats why my lyrics are very personal, I don’t write in my journal expecting to turn it into a song, I just use it to air out.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
Right now Xavier Dolan, I’ve been watching a lot of his interviews and he’s so secure in his artistic choices and its really inspiring.
Was there a record or artist that changed your life?
Visions by Grimes, she’s one of the reasons I felt confident enough to learn production.
Tell us about It Looks Friendly and how it came about
It Looks Friendly came from the pit of my gut. I was so anxious and hyper-alert during the making of these songs and it sort of slipped into the music. Luckily my co-producer, Sam, was there to mediate. I just remember writing these songs in an overstimulated fit and every demo felt like a time-sensitive competition with myself. I think that was my brains way of processing the expectation I set after the success of my first EP. I am not in that place any more but I am still glad it happened that way.
You seem to be fusing several musical genres. What inspires your sound?
Lots of things that don’t have to do with music like books, movies and the weird little unnamed feelings at the cusp of two emotions. I like little hybrids and making stuff using contradicting elements.
How would you want people to feel while listening to your music?
Any way they’d like I just hope it doesn’t fuel any inner turmoil, if anything I hope it releases them from it.
Where are some things you really want to accomplish as an artist?
That feeling of creative security where I trust myself enough to know exactly what I want and exactly how to get it.
What inspires your style?
My friends inspire me a lot. They are all so talented and just seeing them in the zone gets me going I just wanna run home and body slam my keyboard.
Was there ever a moment when you felt like giving up?
Yes, that’s my default resolution to everything that goes wrong and I hate it but I’m working on it.
What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Art for art’s sake. It wasn’t really advice, I heard it in my friend Nikitas short film. I wrote it down all over the place and now its just a mantra I repeat in my head.
Where do you think the next game changer will be in the music industry and entertainment scene?
Banking on Toronto
