6 minute read
Averi Chandler Strikes a Chord
By Megan Mills, NAS Sigonella Public Affairs, Photos by twincurl
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Averi Chandler’s eyes are bold as she croons and strums her guitar, switching easily from Italian to English as the music goes on. As in most of her TikToks, her warm face is the focus of the frame, her guitar her only accompaniment as she records snippets of songs in her bedroom. With her smooth voice, acoustic skills, and confident demeanor, it’s not hard to see why this video has over one million views.
In fact, one viewer in particular, Italian musician Edo Fiacchi, was so impressed that he invited her to collaborate on an original song and music video.
KICKING AND SCREAMING
At first, Averi’s musical passion took a backseat to her athletic side. “My family was a sports family,” she says. Her older sister won Department of Defense Educational Activity (DoDEA) Europe Female Athlete of the Year in 2017, and her mother serves as athletic director at Sigonella Community Schools. Averi upheld the family tradition while also exploring her creativity.
As a young child, she attended a sports and music academy, and she went on to learn to play drums, piano and guitar, while also participating in several sports. By sixth grade, she was becoming more serious about music, but only from the privacy of her own home—she suffered from intense stage fright.
The following year, her father, seeing her talent and dedication, took matters into his own hands, resulting in her first ever public performance. “I was singing and playing guitar, I was doing it every day, and he decided he was going to force me to do [Sig’s Got Talent],” she says, chuckling once again. “There was a lot of kicking and screaming and dragging.”
Despite her resistance, she figured out a way to fight through the fright. “I put in my headphones to listen to the song,” she recalls. “I couldn’t hear anybody. I couldn’t see anybody. I just played the song.” Laughing, she adds, “I don’t really know how that performance went!”
After getting positive feedback from the audience, Averi began to bring her guitar with her to school, playing first for her English classes, and then others too. Soon, her informal school concerts became a daily occurrence, and she even played in the orchestra pit for musicals at the school. All the while, she also pursued athletic excellence.
A CHANGE IN PLANS
As a freshman in high school, Averi followed in her sister’s athletic footsteps, winning the DoDEA Europe Female Athlete of the Year as well as the MVP title for volleyball, basketball, and softball. She hoped to continue playing sports through high school and into college, but after an injury in the first week of her junior year, those plans came to a screeching halt.
“I had just come back from a really competitive camp that summer before where I was playing for nine hours a day, so I was really at my peak performance,” she says.
But all it took was an intense basketball practice, an unfortunate collision and a torn ACL for everything to change.
“It was a little frustrating because junior year probably would have been my top year,” she says. “For the past four years, it’s been my whole life. I go to school, then I’m at practice for two hours a day.” She pauses, then adds, “But I’d go to school, go to practice, then come home and do music all night.”
Just months after Averi had surgery for her torn ACL, the coronavirus pandemic led to Italy’s strict spring lockdown. During that strange time, without athletic or social outlets, Averi decided to begin posting videos of her musical performances on TikTok.
“At first I was just singing popular TikTok songs, and then I started to sing in half Italian and half English,” she says. “The first one I posted in May was “Hey There Delilah”, and now it has over one million views.”
Just two months later, her videos caught the attention of Edo Fiacchi.
“I was drawing a big following on TikTok, so he asked me to sing one of his songs on my page, so I did,” she says. “About a month later he said, ‘We should write a song together,’ and I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Later that summer, Averi and her mother, father, sister, and girlfriend flew up to Siena so she could record the song and video.
“It was surreal,” she says, shaking her head a little. “One day I’m just going on a little family trip, and then I’m getting picked up and recording songs and doing photo shoots, and the next day we’re meeting all these famous people and shooting videos with them. It was crazy.”
After the excitement of creating and recording “Ricci,” Averi is eager to move forward on her musical journey. “I write a lot, I play a lot of instruments, and I listen to a lot of different music, so anything could happen. Right now I’m working towards a rock single, and I’ve recorded two other R&B singles and a trap song. I’m looking forward to just expanding and doing it all.”
THE SPARK
Averi has found that both playing sports and writing music share a powerful element—adrenaline.
“The adrenaline that you have when you write a great song lyric is really similar to shooting a deep three pointer in basketball,” she says. “All you want to do is shoot a bunch of threes and write a bunch of songs!”
She notes that not all shots make it in and not all lyrics are slam dunks, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep at it. “You can miss a bunch of shots in basketball and then make one, and you can write a bunch really bad songs and then one great one comes out of it.”
Although Averi is self-motivated and admits to being “a bit stubborn,” she gives credit to her family, friends and teachers for helping her gain confidence and express her creativity.
“You know we never want to listen to our parents, but they take me where I need to go, and they try to give me as much creative space as they possibly can to do my own thing, and I’m really appreciative of that,” she says. “Had I never done Sig’s Got Talent, I would have never really started singing in front of people. Had I not listened back then, I would not be nearly when I am now.”
She also admires the teachers who gave her room to grow and make mistakes, and she is grateful for her friends who support her and write songs with her.
LOOKING FORWARD AND BACK
After this year, Averi hopes to attend the University of South Florida to study English and social studies education while continuing to pursue her musical passion. “I want to keep it going with all the upward momentum that I’ve had since the beginning of this year while also having a plan.”
Sitting at a table outside the base food court, Averi reflects on how being a part of the Sigonella community for ten years has influenced her journey. “Since we were in a smaller place, everybody already knew me. I could sing in front of people I already knew, and it gave me more confidence,” she says, referring to the talent show that started it all.
She gestures to the parking lot behind her, adding, “I can come back when I’m in college or whatever, and I can just look at this base and see the story of my life play out. My music started just right over there.”
