BENEE

One Liner: More indie pop that sounds like lesser Billie Eilish

Wikipedia Genre: alternative pop, R&B
Home: Auckland, New Zealand

Poster Position: 11
Both Weekends.  Friday.

Thoughts: So, I guess this is a thing now.  I should have just made categories for all of the music on the poster this year.  Everything is either a Billie Eilish ripoff, a Machine Gun Kelly ripoff, a Daft Punk ripoff, an 80's ripoff, or its own thing.  This is another Eilish thing.  Whispery vocals, low-key music that could have been made in the bedroom by her brother.  There you go.

Real name is Stella Rose Bennett, and she's crushed it down in New Zealand.  In both 2019 and 2020 she won Single of the Year, Best Solo Artist, and Best Pop Artist at the New Zealand Music Awards.  Not too shabby, even if I can't currently think of another Kiwi musical artist.  Oh, duh, Lorde is from there.  The others in a top ten list I just reviewed are all mysteries to me, although I'd like for Fat Freddie's Drop to become a thing for sure.  I want my kids to talk about Fat Freddie's Drop.   When she was a kid, she momentarily dropped music to pursue a career in water polo.  That isn't something you hear every day.  She's 22.

She's got one ginormous song - "Supalonely" - from 2020's Hey u x, and featuring someone named Gus Dapperton.  TikTok hit, of course.  639.4 million streams.

At first, it starts off like a party song with disco leanings, but then when she's not singing the chorus it goes into sooooo muuuuuch AutoTune.  Catchy though, I don't hate it.  That bass line is funky.  "Glitter" is her second most streamed, with 160.9 million.

My youngest is now able to emulate that dumb oversinging, whiny sound that the pop singer girls do.  She called it singing in italics.  I thought that was funny.  When she does it, she pretty much sounds like she is singing "oy yoooy oy eyeee oy oy."  "Glitter" is from Benee's first EP, in 2019, called FIRE ON MARZZ.  She has another EP from the same year, called STELLA & STEVE, which is where "Supalonely" originally appeared.  Most of the rest of her songs and singles don't crack 10 million streams.  Finally, she has a 7 song album from 2022 called Lychee.  The top track from that one is called "Doesn't Matter," with 8 million streams.

The little warbles in her voice, and allowing the ends of lines to kind of tail off, that is some of the heavy Eilish copy thing.  That whole new album is heavy on that sound.  "Beach Boy" really sounds like she is saying "bitch boy."  Not in love with it by any means.  I'm kind of over the whole Eilish alt pop thing (if I was ever in it in the first place).  Still though, I like a good New Zealander.  GDAY KIWI!!!