Vincint: LusTySeXyCOol

Vincint is a burning, raging fire that is swiftly rising to the top of the entertainment mountain, and he is standing in his truth, his voice, and his sexiness. The LGBTQ-icon-in-the-making is preparing to drop his debut LP, There Will Be Tears, and I dare you not to be enamored with his natural penchant for pop; embraced by his warm and sultry vocals; and dazzled by his detailed, high-fashion delivery. 

Having been born in Philadelphia, the singer-songwriter got his first taste of music as a child by listening to his dad practice intricate harmonies in his living room with the five-piece singing troupe Christ United Gospel Singers. Once his mother introduced pop artists like Celine Dion to his developing palette, that changed his world forever. 

Now, the musician and dancer draws on influences from both Motown R&B and Top 40, 80s pop, and puts his own flourish on the stories we love to sing our hearts out over. Love, lust, passion, desire, and restoration, There Will Be Tears is an anthology of triumph, courage, and self-love.

How was the making of your new album, There Will Be Tears?
Oh, it was probably one of the craziest, wildest years of my life. I sat with my therapist, and she said to me, ‘Write down the things that you want to confront.’ I bought a bunch of index cards and covered my room, and wrote down everything. Whether it was personal, based in a relationship, based in a friendship, things that I needed to talk about, to figure out how to be better for me because I was losing myself over the last few years, and I wanted to feel whole and joyful and good again. And so, I’ve had phone calls and really uncomfortable Zoom calls and really uncomfortable moments where he was like, ‘We’re going to figure this out,’ because I want to be better, and I want to feel better about who I am. In doing that, I wrote the album. All of the stories that you hear on the album are from that time in my life where I sat down and made a conscious decision to fix the things in my life that I had control over.  

There are some awesome collaborations on There Will Be Tears. Can you talk about a moment that stood out to you while writing and recording these tracks?
The collaboration with Tegan and Sara; I was in a car with my best friends, and I was like, ‘I would love Tegan and Sara on this song; dream.’ Not thinking that it would happen. I tweeted them, and Tegan responded to the tweet and said, ‘Great, send me the song.’ I sent the song over as a demo in the DMs, like fully shot my shot on Twitter, and then I captioned it, ‘Hey, if you hate it, don’t say anything; you don’t have to comment; I’ll be fine.’ She was like, ‘No, we love it. We’ll lay down our vocals tomorrow.’ They laid down their entire vocals and sent it back; it was something out of, like, a dream.

You saw massive success with your debut EP, The Feeling; can you talk about how it feels to have people resonate with your music to this degree and what kind of opportunities that then allowed you?
I feel like no one ever talks about The Feeling, so this is really nice. The fact that people even know my songs let alone that there are people doing covers of them is so mind-blowing to me. That was my first little baby I put out into the world, and it’s this overwhelming feeling of gratefulness. You want your voice to be heard, and most artists, I would think, do music for personal therapy and for their mental ‘state,’ and we want people to feel what we felt and hopefully understand that there’s another side to that feeling. It’s nice to know that there are people who care about it as much as I do.

How does it feel to put things out there that are so personal?
I mean, it’s terrifying. Whenever any song comes out, I turn my phone off, and then the adrenaline going on, but I fully disappear. It is so nice to be able to–it’s cathartic for me to be able to put it all down somewhere and listen to it as a whole body of work, but then I don’t dive into it because I know once a therapy is done for me, I’ve done it. I’ve had my time with it. I’ve spent a year with it.

Being an out, LGBTQ artist, was there ever a time where you felt that you weren’t going to be so specific when it came to using pronouns or calling out what your sexuality is within the music?
For me, no. I was lucky enough to have a mother and a father who didn’t prioritize my sexuality as a ‘thing’ we needed to talk about. They knew who I was; we talked about boys, but it was normal. So, when I decided to put on my first song, and I was asked, ‘Who is it about?’ I would say, ‘Oh, it’s about a boy.’ I don’t want it to be a topic where it’s taboo; that should be the normal conversation always, and I hope that’s the narrative that’s being put out through the songs that I put out.

Love  seems to be a major theme in your music. Why do you think you’re so drawn to the topic?
I think it gets a bad rap, and people think of love as being this one, conditional thing where it’s like, ‘I love you, and you love me, and we have to make it or break it.’ No. Love is really messy, and sometimes it’s really sad; sometimes you’re really angry; sometimes you’re really turned on, and sometimes you’re really not turned on. That’s why I named The Feeling, The Feeling, because you can feel a multitude of emotions at the same time, and to think that you’re designated to feel one certain thing all the time would be a disservice to your emotions.

This is the Wet-Hot Summer issue; what makes you feel sexy and empowered?
I don’t think about myself in that way, but I find joy in myself, and I think I’m really great, and it took me a long time to get there. I like men who are in touch with their emotions, who aren’t afraid to cry or unafraid to scream out when they need help. I think sexiness is very dependent on how you carry yourself, what you think of yourself, how you speak to yourself. I’ve been on dates with boys who talk down on themselves, and that’s not sexy. 

In being able to step into your sexiness, was that something that you have always been able to bring to the table?
No, because I didn’t always know that I could be sexy. I’m not big and built, and I’m not what sexy looks like in mainstream media. I had to really start to admire what I look and owning all of me. Everything that I thought no one would want, and the most important part was realizing that if no one wanted them, I did. And, damn, did I feel good after that. I was like, ‘Oh, you don’t want that? What a waste, and what a loss for you’. I take confidence and solace in the fact that I feel desired because I desire me

How would you say that love, lust, sex, and passion come out in your art and creativity?
I think they’re kind of all over it. If you listen to the song ‘Take Me There,’ the last song on the album, I wrote that song about the love of my life who I haven’t met yet. One of my favorite lines is, ‘I love it when you take me there/ the way that you hold me/ the electricity in your tongue when you kiss me.’ It talks about someone enjoying you, all of you in, the middle of your sexual moment. What an overpowering feeling to be with someone and be like, ‘Oh, you find me hot, and that’s nice, but, like, you love me, and that’s what makes me desirable to you.’ That is probably the sexiest thing.

You can talk about sex without it being this aggressive thing, like, no, sex is beautiful; it’s meant to be celebrated; it’s meant to be cherished; it’s meant to be messy. 

How do you channel your inner sex god who is fierce and fearless?
I put on a good outfit, if I’m being honest, especially when I go on stage. I zone out before I go on stage, and I say to myself, ‘You’re a bad bitch, and this is literally your moment; step into who you are.’ When I step on the stage, I can do anything. Literally the ground lights on fire when I hit the stage; that’s what I envision, and for me, that gives me the feeling that I’m untouchable, and the sexiest thing in the world. 

The more I grow into myself as an artist, the more I’m growing myself as a human being. The onstage persona is coming out a lot more in my daily life, but I like that because he brings a lot of courage to my life on a daily basis. I stand taller and a little bit firmer planted in who I am,  what I want, what I have to say.

It does take courage to be able to stand on your own and to embrace your own power.
I think it’s only courageous because you’re told not to do that. You’re told just to stick with what you’re told to be and who you’re told to be and how you’re supposed to act, and it’s like, ‘Why?’

I’m not going to waste my life trying to figure out what makes others comfortable. 

Have you encountered resistance around who you are and who people tell you that you should be?
Oh for sure; I went to Catholic school from kindergarten until 12th grade. It was a daily thing, but I realized they were uncomfortable because they didn’t know how to be themselves; that is not my issue. I can’t help those who don’t know how to be themselves or are too afraid to try. What I can do is be my full, authentic self, and as much as that makes them uncomfortable. 

Feature image by Maxwell Poth