"I joke with my friends that pronoun is so sad and vulnerable," says Alyse Vellturo, the woman behind synth-pop sensation pronoun. "Like tiny teeny, woe is her. Everything is all small."
The aesthetic aspects of pronoun are small, with a wounded, sensitive feel — all of the letters used are lowercase, and the Spotify playlist with all of her current songs is called "pronoun's teeny, tiny catalogue." But her impact since starting three years ago has been anything but diminutive. The electronic, staccato rhythms of her songs underscore pronoun's lovesick lyrics and big, relatable feelings. The band currently has 76, 387 monthly listeners on Spotify and is going on tour in November to promote the debut album coming in 2019.
"I started [pronoun] three years ago, after a bad breakup," says Vellturo. "Making music is the only thing that made me feel better. It’s the only thing that kept me from going insane. Even though I still went a little insane."
Vellturo had been immersed in the world of music before starting pronoun, but never as an artist. She went to Berklee College of Music and studied music production, engineering and business. When she graduated, she worked in music management and distribution before realizing she wanted to start creating her own sound.
"I’ve always been on the outside. I wanted to see what would happen if I’m in control of everything and I am the artist. I know no one is going to care about stuff I’m doing until I do it for myself and then they'll want to get involved."
With her previous experience in the industry guiding her, Vellturo knew where to put her time and efforts in — and knew what was a waste of time. The first pronoun EP released was called "there's no one new around you," named for the message that pops up on Tinder when everyone in an area has been seen and swiped.
Though Vellturo has done all her own branding and artwork for pronoun, even down to the accidental, kaleodiscopic photo of a sunset on the background of the EP, she gives the credit for the band name to Emmy Black, owner of Rhyme & Reason. Vellturo was originally going to call her artist project "monachopsis," which means the subtle and constant feeling of being out of place.
"Emmy was like, 'You can't name yourself monachopsis. No one knows what that means.' And I told her she had 30 minutes to come up with something better. So she called me back and said, 'What about pronoun?' It’s funny because it seems so political, and I am gay. It can be the subject or the object. Only pronouns can stand alone, which is what it felt like I was doing."
Vellturo doesn't have to stand alone as much as she used to — but the music coming out was written during a time of withdrawn forlornness. She wrote the upcoming album at the same time as the EP, when she was in a dark place that she's not in anymore.
"The album is very angry and frustrated. Even if it’s not directed at my ex-girlfriend, now I can take those feelings and relate them to how I’m feeling about politics or something else. It still makes sense outside of that context, and for a while it didn’t for me — and that made it hard to finish."
The disconnect between where Vellturo was when she wrote the album and where she is now proves to be generative. There's a message of hope in the album — with the newer songs, there are vibes of optimism and rock that empower listeners that they too can get to a better place after heartbreak.
"If anyone ever treated you badly, I hope it picks you back up and helps you realize you deserve better," says Vellturo. "I like the idea of empowering yourself to know you're worth something and get what you deserve."
