“She was playing all these shows to literally thousands of people, and watching those videos and getting goosebumps and thinking that’s what I wanted to do, that’s when I kind of realised,” she says.
That determination has got her where she is today, as she recalls how she wrote her first song during a camping trip with her family.
“There was no Wi-Fi. I locked myself in a tent. It was so hot, the middle of summer, and I was like, ‘I’m not coming out ‘til I’ve written a song’, and that was how I wrote my first song.”
She entered it in Play It Strange, a songwriting competition for high school students, and won funding to record the song. She went on to make the move from her hometown of Mount Maunganui to Auckland to turn her dream into reality.
“I got homesick, like, the first couple of weeks, and I missed home a lot,” Venter admits. “But I think I’ve settled in, and I really like the busyness of the city.”
Since then, she’s signed to a label, played at iconic Auckland venues The Tuning Fork and Big Fan, opened for country star Kaylee Bell, and is set to open for Drax Project in July, on top of releasing several singles.
Looking out into the crowd and seeing people sing along to the words she wrote is something the teenage artist still can’t quite get her head around.
“I don’t know, it’s really emotional for me. Even if it’s like two people in the crowd lip-syncing the words to the song. I never thought that would happen.
“So when the tour happened and people were screaming the words so loud that sometimes I couldn’t even hear my own voice, that was just so cool. I loved it. After every show, I just cried - it was mind-blowing,” she says.
“Everyone’s so lovely and they’re so enthusiastic and supportive, and they’re singing to all the songs.”
Rising star Venter is one member of a growing community of young female artists in Aotearoa - think Bell, Paige, Cassie Henderson.
“I’m such a massive fan of Cassie Henderson, I haven’t met her yet but she came to my show, and that was so cool because I look up to her. I opened for Kaylee Bell a couple of months ago - it was so incredible and amazing.”
Venter is quite possibly pop superstar Benee’s - Stella Bennet - biggest fan. “I’ve been obsessed since day one with Benee. I saw her Spark Arena show and I was so inspired.”
When Bennett followed Venter on Instagram, she “cried for like two hours.”
“It’s mind-blowing, having people that I look up to so much [who] even know of my existence is crazy to me.”
Venter is already taking over the airwaves herself - chances are you’ve heard her song Leyla on the radio, a catchy pop-rock track released in January this year and performed here for Locals Only.
“We almost didn’t put it out, which is really interesting to me,” she says of the song.
“But yeah, it’s cool because most days I have people texting me, like, ‘Oh, you’ve been on the radio’, and there’s been a few times where I’ve been driving and it just comes up on the radio - and it just is crazy.”
The song was inspired by some of Venter’s real-life experiences, which she jokes she’s channelled into her music “to get her anger out”.
“I really liked this guy and he wouldn’t stop talking about this girl Leyla,” she says.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, it’s fine. Guys can have girl friends, that’s fine’. And then, yeah, it turned out that they had been together behind my back. I was like, ‘I’m writing a song about that’.”
Those themes echo in another song, You Won’t Forget Me.
As Venter describes it, “It feels like maybe someone’s broken up with you and they’ve forgotten about you, but if you were to write a song about it and have the song be everywhere, they would never be able to forget you or forget about your relationship - just to kind of annoy them.”
At the time of writing, she’s excited to release her newest song Work It Out on June 9. “I’m really excited for it to be out.”
“It’ll be interesting to see like what the response is to that, but it’s been really positive so far, so I’m really excited.”
Her proud grandparents now count themselves among her fans after coming along to one of her shows and seeing her perform live.
“I went up to them and they were crying, and they were like, ‘We’re so proud of you’,” she recalls. “They just want me to be happy.”
Venter adds she’s got university entry as a back-up plan - but if her current trajectory is anything to go by, she’s not going to need a Plan B.
