Personality
Calling
Music
Category
Personalities
"Every decision I've ever made in my life was for music."
The story of a boy and his drums begins in Stuttgart, in a neighborhood filled with football, friendship, and the constant hum of music. That sound shaped every decision Val made, from the people he spent time with to the cities he dreamed of living in.
At five years old, he fell in love with the drums after watching a live Santana concert that felt almost electric in its energy. His father, a music lover who once dreamed of being a drummer himself, encouraged him to pursue that path. That support gave Val something his father’s generation didn’t always have: permission to create.
Years followed filled with experimentation in the basement, lessons with a teacher who opened new horizons, and endless hours learning piano, guitar, and recording. Curiosity became his instrument. Every new note was a way to understand the world a little better. That same curiosity eventually carried him far beyond Stuttgart, across the Atlantic, to the place where his music would grow new roots.
“Sometimes you have to be lost to find yourself.”
When his mother got a job in the United States, Val couldn’t have known how profoundly it would shape him. The transition wasn’t easy. A new language, a new culture, a new version of himself waiting to emerge. Sitting in high school classrooms unable to follow conversations forced him to pay closer attention, not only to words but to tone, rhythm, and energy. That attentiveness would later define his work as both producer and performer.
Eventually, his love for music led him to Berklee College of Music, one of the world’s most renowned music schools, home to legends like Quincy Jones and John Mayer. There was no Plan B, no backup option — only music. What made Berklee special for Val wasn’t just the professors or the classes but the shared intensity of everyone’s passion.
It was there that Val met Trevor, the voice that would soon become the other half of the electronic-pop duo Fiji Blue. The project began without expectations. Just two friends exchanging ideas, sounds, feelings. Then came the songs — It Takes Two, Butterflies, Water — and suddenly, the world was listening. But with success came pressure. The industry’s pace started to clash with Val’s natural rhythm. Music started to sound less like pleasure and more like strategy. Val felt he was losing something more valuable than fame, he was losing his authenticity.
The decision to part ways was difficult but necessary. Leaving Fiji Blue wasn’t about rejection, but renewal, a return to something purer: creation without noise, music without compromise. That search for self-rediscovery led him to London, a city that became both a challenge and a homecoming of sorts.
“Music is universal, but authenticity is what connects us.”
London didn’t greet him with fanfare, but with fog and space. This was exactly what Val needed. Here, he became a student again, finding silence so he could rediscover sound. It reminded him of being that teenager again, starting fresh, eager to learn.
In this new chapter, Val began merging his love for electronic music with his passion for live instrumentation. His latest EP, Predator & Prey, captures that balance, drawing inspiration from African percussion, Spanish melodies, and European club culture. “I want to fuse both worlds.” he says. “Electronic music can feel sterile sometimes. Adding real instruments brings the human touch back.”
Beyond his own work, Val now collaborates with artists from across the world. From India to Los Angeles, he finds beauty in not always understanding the lyrics. The feeling, he explains, can be more powerful than the meaning.
And somewhere along this journey, he arrives at a quiet truth: anyone can learn to play an instrument, but few truly learn to listen — to the world, to others, to themselves. It’s in that space, between the beats, where Val finds himself again. Without borders. Without expectations. Just music and the dream to connect people through rhythm and authenticity.
