Venus Kiani

Gothenburg-based pop soul artist Venus Kiani combines her love for divas from the sixties and seventies with a modern Swedish pop sound. There’s a certain nurturing power in her voice, with influences stretching from folk music to icons like Miriam Bryant.

"I've never really felt like I belong anywhere,” Kiani explains. “But music feels pretty much like a calling." She has always liked to sing, but shyness kept her from performing in public. This all changed when a vocal teacher who was attending the Academy of Music and Drama at the University of Gothenburg encouraged her to become serious about music.

Fast forward five years, and now Kiani is studying at that very Academy. "It feels like I've come full circle in many ways," she tells us.

While at the Academy, she founded the duo Gudmor with her friend Florence Razaghi. Their sound is rather folk-influenced, but Kiani has a pop soul side she’s interested in exploring as a solo artist.

In 2020, she got signed to Rexius Records and started recording her debut single "Astray" under the production of Alexander Asp. While he's known for acoustic singles like "Cold Winter Love", the song has a modern pop sound that supports Kiani's retro-influenced vocals quite well.