Racist comments left singer feeling 'deeply unsafe'

Singer VV Brown said she felt "deeply unsafe" after receiving a "barrage of racist comments online", and faced racism within the music and fashion industries.

The artist from Northampton is urging others to report their experiences in an anonymous survey by the charity Black Lives in Music.

Alternative rock duo Nova Twins are also backing the survey, saying: "Far too often, black musicians and industry professionals encounter bullying and harassment."

"I fully support Black Lives in Music's valiant work, and urge those comfortable to share their stories," Brown said.

Born in Northampton to a Jamaican mother and a Puerto Rican father, Brown rose to fame in 2009 with her hit Shark in the Water.

After a break from music, she released the album Am I British Yet? in 2023.

"As a black woman, I often felt silenced and excluded, labelled as aggressive or aloof," she said.

"Bullying ranged from isolation to daily emails with derogatory language.

"Even in high-profile fashion settings, I felt marginalised, as if I didn't belong."

She said racism was even more pronounced on the internet.

"I faced a barrage of racist comments online, enduring over a million comments, leaving me feeling deeply unsafe," she said.

She was afraid that "expressing my pain would lead to being labelled as overly sensitive or even being blamed as the aggressor".

Brown feels the survey is needed, especially for black artists and artists of colour, to have a space to report incidents they have experienced.

Alternative rock duo Nova Twins are also among the artists who believe "the barriers faced by POC (people of colour) talent within the music industry" need to be addressed.

The Mercury-nominated band said they have faced their music and performance styles labelled as "too intense or aggressive", but felt the "same energy from white male counterparts would be praised as 'rock and roll'".

"Far too often, black musicians and industry professionals encounter bullying and harassment, stifling their voices and existence," they added.

"Hearing from other artists like us with very similar experiences, both independent and on majors, has been eye-opening."

The data from the survey has also been requested by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to inform its work, BLiM said.

BLiM chief executive Charisse Beaumont said the organisation had been "flooded with stories of bullying and harassment" in the music industry.

She said that high profile cases were the "the tip of an iceberg" and examples were often "rooted in misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia and more".

"We need to understand what is really going on behind closed doors so we can tailor interventions," she said.

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