Tipping point N
She worked at Applebee’s to launch her music career. Now, pop singer Vérité is serving up hits
OWADAYS, the alt-pop singer known as Vérité can be found performing at cool-kid venues all over the country. But just a few years ago, you could have asked her for a refill on your Pepsi at the Times Square Applebee’s. She was a waitress at the 42nd Street location from 2011 to 2015, working upward of 70 hours a week.
“I have so many horror stories,” she tells The Post with a laugh. “It was just honestly insane.”
Vérité, whose real name is Kelsey Byrne, will show off her true talents when she plays Irving Plaza, supporting Irish singer Eden, on Wednesday and Thursday. Having amassed 150 million streams without signing to a record label, she’s a bona fide indie smash.
Born and raised in Warwick, NY, about an hour north of Manhattan, Vérité got her start doing small gigs as a kid with her dad, who played the guitar to accompany her piano covers of songs such as Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.” The 27-year-old now calls Williamsburg home, even though she’s been so busy touring and working that she’s only been there for about two weeks so far this year.
Her success began to build while working post-college at Applebee’s, a sometimes surprisingly inspiring environment.
“I got to meet and work with so many amazing people from so many places in the world who were all kind of funneled into this one place for the sole purpose of just hustling and doing better and getting to where they wanted to be,” she says, noting that she’s still in touch with one manager who’d let her leave early for gigs.
Vérité had invested about $20,000 from tips into her music career with, at the time, only a few grand in returns when she decided to take the plunge, leave the restaurant, and focus on music. It paid off almost immediately, she says, and within two weeks, she was “sustaining financially.”
Three EPs and one album later, her success as an independent artist is striking. It’s thanks in part to her leveraging Spotify as a tool for exposure, despite the streaming service paying a fraction of a penny per listen. Her electro-pop cover of the 1975’s “Somebody Else” performed so well on its own, Spotify added it to its influential “Today’s Top Hits” playlist. Throw in other successful songs such as “Underdressed” and “Phase Me Out,” and streaming is now Vérité’s largest source of revenue.
But, for old time’s sake, does she ever swing by Applebee’s for lunch?
“You couldn’t pay me,” she says. “I can’t even go to a Chili’s or a Friday’s. I can’t do any of those fast-dining restaurants — I’m traumatized.”