Many people around the world have heard alt pop singer-songwriter Scott Oatley aka Vân Scott’s voice, but they probably didn’t know it. As a sought-after singer in the Hollywood session scene, Scott has had the chance to perform on some of the entertainment industry’s most well-known projects. Since his first professional recording session as part of the High School Music 3: Senior Year cast, he’s had the opportunity to sing for renowned film composers like Danny Elfman and Michael Giacchino, sung on blockbuster scores for La La Land, Jurassic World, and Sing, been a featured singer on ABC's Black-ish and FOX's The Simpsons, and has performed as a background vocalist for The Oscars and The Voice, to name just a few of his credits. But now, Scott's own artistry is stealing the spotlight, putting his multi-instrumental talent and songwriting skills front and center.
“To the Girls” is the latest installment from Vân Scott’s upcoming full-length album titled Songs I Never Wrote (because they would have been about you) out this May via AWAL. The list of gifted collaborators on the project includes hit songwriter and former classmate, Alexis Idarose Kesselman, best known for co-penning the billion-stream global smash “Glimpse of Us” by Joji. Although Scott was the sole songwriter and producer of “To the Girls,” most of the album’s tracks were co-produced with his longtime friend, Jack Kleinick – one exception being Scott’s 2023 summer single “Never Breathe the Same” produced alongside his NYC pals, Jack Manning and Noah Gottdenker, who also moonlight as engineers for Jack Antonoff at Jimi Hendrix’s iconic Electric Lady Studios.
“To the Girls” epitomizes Scott’s "hopeful yet melancholic songwriting" (Earmilk), making it the perfect addition to a retrospective sophomore album that looks back on love lost. When Scott first played the song live as a Berklee student for Oscar-nominated writer-producer and friend, Will Wells (JP Saxe, Cynthia Erivo), he was immediately paraded around campus to perform it. Recorded in part at the legendary Power Station studios in NYC as well as Spotify Songwriting Studios in Nashville, this epic yet poignant yank on the heartstrings is a timely post-Valentine’s Day release for all the lonely hearts still pining for their true love. The intimate, guitar-centric beginnings of this track eventually give way to a bombastic, orchestral dreamscape so that somehow this open love letter from a grand romantic sad boy almost feels uplifting.
Since graduating in 2022 from Berklee School of Music’s inaugural Master’s program at BerkleeNYC, Scott has been relentlessly working to build the foundation of this new phase in his musical career as an artist and songwriter. In the past 18 months, Scott has done regional tours across the United States in partnership with Sofar Sounds and has coordinated his own songwriting sessions with established writers from Los Angeles, New York, and Nashville, with the help of A&Rs at Sony and Prescription Songs.
Vân Scott is looking to take his show global for the first time in 2024 with a European tour in late spring that will span from Germany to the UK, the former being a new hub for “Vân Fans” since the release of his popular single “Ticket to Waco” last April. Scott also plans to traverse the U.S. this year in support of the album’s May release with a West Coast tour this summer followed by a Northeastern leg this fall. After touring and teasing his new tunes live throughout 2023, Scott is finally getting to share the recorded studio versions with his audience, each song like a secret diary entry in a gripping sad boy saga.
Scott began releasing singles and videos at the end of 2019 while finishing songs for his debut album, Almost Gone, released in 2021. His single “What’s Coming Next?'' from that record eventually won him the Overall Grand Prize in the 2021 USA Songwriting Competition. During the recording process, he was fortunate enough to be mentored by not one, but two Grammy-winning superproducers Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and Mike Elizondo. “There was one afternoon that I spent with Rodney where we talked for hours about production philosophy,” says Scott. “I played him several demos that day and he gave me some tips on how I should approach the productions.” “As for Mike,” says Scott, “I used to meet with him pretty regularly at his studio in California to play him my latest demos. He gave me invaluable feedback and helped me uncover more of my own unique voice while introducing me to obscure artists I’d never heard of for musical inspiration. Eventually, I reached a point where I walked in with my first three singles off the album, and we both knew it was time to record and share them.”
In describing his own music, Scott says, “Life is a mixture of the bitter and the sweet and I like to embrace that in my songs. I can get quite personal writing about my own experiences, but always through the lens of hope and never with the thought of tearing others down. I’m generally a very happy and positive person, which I would honestly like to see come through more in my songs, but ultimately I aspire to help my listeners feel seen, encouraged, and understood through my own vulnerability.”
