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For some aspiring musicians, it takes them a fair few releases to determine their fate. For British singer and songwriter Bellah Mae, however, all it took was one catchy song and a short form video on TikTok.
Dropping her very first single, “Boyfriend Of The Year,” in October of last year, Bellah immediately had the taste of virality and racked up millions of views and streams. Capturing the attention of a loyal fan base that has been following her every step of the way, she signed a major label deal with EMI Records following the song’s success and has been taking her career to new heights ever since.
Bellah Mae discovered her musical identity growing up through the singer-songwriters of her generation (Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus) while surrounded by creative relatives – Her granddad was in a rock and roll band, and her father was also musical. At age 11, she taught herself how to play the guitar. Now in her early 20s, Bellah finds herself joining the likes of Mimi Webb, Baby Queen, and Caity Baser as one of the UK’s leading Gen Z singer-songwriters with her witty and honest lyrics in songs like “Drama King” and “Date Your Dad.”
Serving as a year full of firsts, 2023 has been nothing short of incredible for Bellah Mae. She made her festival season debut, released an EP, With All Due Respect, and then headlined her own UK tour shortly after. That being said, she still isn’t done just yet! On November 8th, Bellah dropped an original Christmas song titled “Wrap Me Up,” which is bound to add an extra bit of sparkle to our Christmas playlists every year. Coming in at 2 minutes and 36 seconds long, the short but sweet tune is a playful and jolly number that will help us get in the festive spirit during the forthcoming weeks.
While at a writing session in the countryside, Bellah sat down with House of Solo’s Fabio Magnocavallo to discuss the past 12 months. We find out what it was like going on tour for the first time, why she believes “Boyfriend Of The Year” took off so rapidly, what her favourite Christmas songs are, what she has in store for 2024, and a whole lot more.
You released your debut EP, With All Due Respect, in September. Now that the project has been out for some time, how have you felt about the reception of it all?
I mean, it’s my debut EP, so I think it’s a momentous occasion no matter what. No matter what the reception is, you really just wanna put out a body of work that you’re proud of or your first one that feels like it represents you. And I feel like it did represent me, at least at this moment in time. I’m very proud of it, and I think that it’s brought some amazing people to me in terms of the people who listen to my music, and I’m very grateful that they have found me.
“Boyfriend Of The Year” served as your debut single, and you recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. That song played a big part in you getting signed. I know that you’ve always spoken highly of the song and you were confident about releasing it, however, did you ever imagine that you would land yourself a deal out of it?
It always looks very simple when you get signed off of a song going viral. There were probably about a hundred songs or a hundred-plus songs that got me to “Boyfriend Of The Year.” But when I wrote it, I just loved it, it was very, very obvious in that moment to me. And the person that I wrote it with, we just loved it and we listened to it back to back like 50 times before we could leave the studio. I sent my dad a text that evening as soon as I’d written it before we put the vocal in. My dad is my biggest support and my best friend, so I would update him on everything. I didn’t have any team, so anything going on I would update him on, and I sent it to him and I literally had the receipt on WhatsApp of me saying, “I just wrote a career-starting song.” And then I put it on TikTok that week and it did well.
What do you think it was about the song that immediately resonated with listeners?
I think it was just so honest. There are so many parts of “Boyfriend Of The Year” that you perhaps wouldn’t expect to hear in such a fun pop song, like referencing carbonara: “The first time that you had her over / Did you cook her up a carbonara?” And I didn’t know whether it was me being naive to pop, but I was like, “I really wanna put it in, that’s exactly what happened.” And it turned out that like so many people they had been cooked carbonara by a guy trying to impress them or bolognese. That was the first song I think that I was where I was not trying to write a pop song. I was really in the moment as it was a real situation.
Following festival season, you headlined your own UK tour. How was that whole experience?
It’s so rewarding. You get so much back from doing your show. It’s been such an amazing year as a whole. The festival season was incredible and I feel like I learned a lot about how to perform because honestly, before this year, I hadn’t done that much performing. It’s all been this year. So from my first show in March to now, it’s been such a crazy jump. I only had my first headline show ever in April so to do a tour, it’s such a beautiful thing that they’re there for you and singing your lyrics with you. It’s like the most grounding experience anyone could have.
You also made your Reading and Leeds debut shortly before. That must have been a moment in itself given how iconic it is.
It was incredible. I was on the BBC introducing stage and I remember being at Reading when I was 16 and I only lasted 12 hours myself. I had to go, I just couldn’t bear the grit. I remember saying to my dad on the way home in the car, “I’m not going to another festival until I’m playing at it.” So that was one of my first full-circle moments of this year. That was really special.
Talking of performances, I would have never realised that Blue Peter was still going if it wasn’t for your performance of “Drama King” earlier this year.
[laughs] It’s such a legacy show. It’s very prestigious almost. It was a lot of fun and was my first TV performance. I mean, what a cute way to do your first TV performance, you know? It was just so sweet and wholesome.
You’ve just released an original Christmas song, “Wrap Me Up.” When did you record this? Many artists write and record festive tunes in the summer, way in advance.
Not that long ago, I think only in late September. We were cutting it fine for a Christmas song because, for me, I didn’t wanna release a Christmas song for the sake of it or for commercial reasons. I would never release a song for those reasons, regardless. I feel like songwriters do have this little desire to write a Christmas song. All of us do, somewhere. I wanted it to be fun and cheeky and still sound like me and still be a representation of this being my first year of releasing as a whole. I feel like we’ve done that and it’s just fun. It’s not too serious, it’s not sad, it’s not too classic. It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote it, so it’s quite a quick turnaround, which is always fun in music because things are not always that fast of a turnaround when it comes to releases.
I think it’s smart that the song isn’t too jingly. Sometimes people get sick of hearing those kinds of tunes back to back.
It’s easy listening, isn’t it? If you were to take away the bells, it kind of sounds like a pop song.
Are you someone who listens to Christmas songs in November then? I know that people sometimes think that’s too early.
See, I wouldn’t probably put them on, but my family has always put up the Christmas tree in mid-November.
That’s quite early, some people would say.
It’s quite early. Some people are very strict about that. It divides the nation, I would say because some people don’t even put it up until the 12th of December. Some don’t wanna see a pine in sight. We love Christmas. I love the look of a Christmas tree with the little lights. I think it’s so calming. I’m just like, get it up.
What are some of your favourite Christmas songs then?
My favourite is “Santa Baby.” I love so many different versions of it. I love the Taylor Swift version. Did Michael [Buble] do it? I feel like Michael’s done everything. He is just the king of Christmas.
People are likely to say that Michael is the King and that Mariah [Carey] is the Queen. However, Kelly Clarkson is creeping up.
I love “Run Run Rudolph” because it’s very rock and roll and I was brought up in rock and roll music. That’s probably my second favourite, the version by Kelly Clarkson.
You mentioned at the beginning of the interview that you are writing new music. Does that mean you are already thinking about another project or are you just focusing on singles at the moment?
I love songwriting. I get very itchy when I’m not writing. So for me, when I write something that makes me tingle, like the way “Boyfriend Of The Year” did, we’ll start releasing. That could be tomorrow or that could be in a few months.
Is there anything you find challenging about your job?
I think there are challenges in every job. I don’t think there is a world in which you can have a job that hasn’t got its challenges, but at the end of each day, I remind myself of the people that I get to connect with and the things that I get to do. But most importantly, the fact that it’s a very rewarding process to be able to express exactly how you feel in a song. I feel lucky to be able to do that, just to understand my own emotions, but then to kind of put that out and to help other people understand theirs and to know that I think just grounds you whenever there are hard days. You think actually, this is such an amazing life to be able to do this.
I’ve noticed so far you haven’t done any collaborations. Is that something you are maybe hoping to do in the near future?
I think collaborating is a really great thing. I think it’s a really lovely thing to do as an artist. I would love to but who knows what that’s gonna be. It definitely wouldn’t be a dance record or something like that, but potentially somebody that’s another artist that I feel really connected to. I would never say never for anything, but I think that’s what we could expect if we were gonna do something.
Who would you collaborate with that you feel would be unexpected?
Probably like Aitch. He’s kind of my guilty pleasure because I’m such a pop girl. I’m pop to my core. If you were to cut me open, it would say POP [laughs]. But if you catch me on a walk on the tube, there’s not a minute of my day that I’m not listening to music, and a lot of the time I’m actually listening to Aitch or Jack Harlow or something. Jack Harlow, that’s another one! That would be wild.
Sometimes the unexpected collabs are the best ones as well.
I mean, we could probably find some common ground because I sing about bad boys and they kind of seem like bad boys themselves.
And lastly, what does 2024 have in store for you?
I would love to release again as soon as I’m ready to as well as touring. I would love to do another tour as soon as we can and to do more cities. I would also love to do some international stuff, I think that would be cool. I have like a very split audience and I’ve only done UK shows so far. I’ve never done an international show, so I would love to do that next year. Also Glastonbury.
