V Exclusive! Vali Breaks Down Her New EP 'Kiss The Sky' Track-By-Track

Track 1: Ben N' Jerry

Vali Says:
Well it was me, Hit Bangers, & [producers] 86. We were going through tracks, kind of in the beginning stage when I was still figuring out what kind of beats I wanted. We would get a lot of submissions. I heard [the beat for " Ben N' Jerry"] and there’s just something about it that was just really cool. We were all sitting around trying to think what we would write about, and people were throwing in different things. [The song] sounds like ice cream to me. It just has like this sprinkle thing. I'm very visual, so for me I was like, "Mmm, Ben & Jerry." Then I thought it would be really cool to have it represent two guys or just represent guys in general—where it's like Ben’s so sweet and Jerry’s the bad boy, you know? So that’s kind of how it started. 86 are these two writers, Silky and Unique, that I love working with. They get my style—they get me. They get my voice and we just vibe so well. The song came in and we wrote it really fast, maybe in like an hour.

I mean, hasn’t everybody [had to choose between two guys]? Of course! [Laughs]

Track 2: "Top Of The World"

Vali Says:
"Top of the World" was New Genesis, Billy Wes and Stanley Rudolph. It was actually written at like four or five in the morning. After Juicy J finished one of his sessions, I was just there chillin and he was like, "Why don’t you guys just work together ?" He just sat back and literally let me do my thing. It was my first session in L.A.—honestly, like my first big session. I just worked with great producers and we came up with the beat in 20 minutes. They had some ideas, gave it to me, I took it home, and I came back the next day with the whole song done. It just happened really, really fast. It was really cool, and it’s one of my favorite records.

Track 3: "Muah"

Vali Says:
"Muah" is by OMG and Fresh B. A lot of the beats that we were listening to that day were very pop and commercial, but there is something dark about it that I really liked. I didn’t feel like my album had any darkness, so I liked the vibe. I don’t know where I came up with "Muah," but my brain went to "muah" and it just happened. I can’t even explain that one—it just kind of came.

Track 4: "Bon Voyage" (feat. Juicy J)

Vali Says:
DJ Flict—who’s done stuff with Sublime With Rome, Wiz [Khalifa]—sent me this track and I fell in love with it. I wrote it with my best friend in the car, like on the way to the studio. Juicy J came through and just laced it. It just was perfect.

I love Juicy! He's great. He’s very, very motivated and has a drive like no one I’ve ever met. He does not sleep—like if you follow him on twitter he tweets 24/7! I don’t get it [Laughs]! Like at 6am, when I'm like, "Oh my God! I'm gonna die," he’s like, "Alright! We trippy mane! Next record! Lets go, lets do it!" I'm like, "Juicy, how many records do you have?!" Like, he just doesn’t stop! It was kind of inspirational. Plus, he’s won an Oscar. What rapper wins an Oscar? Like that’s just awesome.

I think [I learned a lot from] his work ethic. I just love that he doesn’t sleep. I wish I could do that. I just need to sleep. At least for like four hours.

Track 5: "Polaroid"

Vali Says:
I'm a little weird, not gonna lie. When I first decided I wanted to do a theme about "Polaroid" and pictures, I wanted to do a play on word with polar bears. And that was another one [produced by] True Collins—one of my best friends. We were in the car, actually driving to the DMV, and I played her the track. She was like, "Oh, I like it. I'm feeling this." I wanted to write something about Polaroid’s and polar bears and she’s like, "What?" [Laughs]. It’s really weird, but it kinda just came out. We finished writing it like by a pool, wanted to make it like weird and cool—creative. The video is just a visual. I wanted girls with polar bear heads! I was like, really set on that. it was not easy getting polar bear heads! Let me tell you, we found them the day before the video. We weren’t even sure if we were gonna get them. We drove to The O.C. It took like 4 hours to get there, and the store was closing when we pulled up. We like ran in there crazy. One of [the heads in the video] is a Panda head because we couldn’t find another polar bear head. We got a panda head and taped white stuff on the eye. It's insane.

Track 6: "Light The Sky"

Vali Says:
E. Dan produced that in Pittsburgh. Benjy [Grinberg] thought would be really cool if I just went in and made the beat [on the spot]. I told him my ideas, we did it, and we kind of just wrote it together. That’s exactly how it happened. I went in, he was like, "What do you want?", and I played him a couple of songs. I think I just tapped out a beat kind of the vibe I wanted and he started working. As soon as he started making the track, I started writing and the song was done really fast. I love that track. It's hard.

Track 7: "Blur Skies"

Vali Says:
This was another one my friend True Collins was on with me., and DJ Flict. We got in the studio, he played some reference beat patterns that he had, and I was like, "That one!" Once he started getting into it, I kinda wanted a Reggae feel to it. I love like Reggae/Urban Pop too. I do that in a lot of my songs too. Like I spit-sing. I just think it’s really fun. We just had this ides of just like being in love and you can’t see because it’s blurry, but you just jump into it—no parachutes. We’re diving. It just feels good.