Aunty Social, aka Toronto’s 24-year old Daniela Gitto, has dived deep in her latest single Trying; a cathartic memoir of her time within religion and the moment she decided to leave it all behind.
“Before all of this, religion was my identity. It’s what I relied on, it’s what I followed. I was raised in a Catholic family, I went to a Catholic school. Once that was gone, I really didn’t know who I was. I felt like all this progress that I had made from six to sixteen was completely void, and then I had to muster up all the things that make me who I am.”
– Aunty Social
Trying takes listeners on a journey as the song dives into introspective moments of realisation as she questions all she’s been taught. The backing music mirrors these moments, using drum kicks and synth to symbolise her resistance and inevitable reclaiming of self.
While her vocals show no sign of it now, carrying itself with natural control, Aunty Social’s musical career has not been an easy ride. The singer was born with a deformed jaw that caused a gap to grow in her smile and eventually impact the way she sang.
Rather than quitting her dreams of being a singer, she would often instead sing with her back to the crowd, too self-conscious to face them. It was not until she won an open mic competition that she realised her talents, joined a band and nurtured her confidence as a performer.
She later underwent reconstructive jaw surgery to eliminate any insecurities that were affecting her abilities as a musician.
Check out Aunty Social’s mesmerizing, electro indie-pop number Trying below!
