Biography of the singer Benee (Stella Rose Bennett)
Benee is a popular pop / indie pop singer and songwriter from New Zealand… It took Stella Bennett (real name of the singer) only a year to win the recognition and love of the general public! In 2019, she won 4 New Zealand Music Awards at once! The main hits of Benee are the compositions "Glitter", "Soaked" and, of course, "Supalonely"! Let's talk about the development of this charming girl from the suburbs of Auckland ...
Early years: childhood, first exposure to music…
Stella Rose Bennett was born in January 2000 in a suburb of Auckland. The love of music was passed on to the baby from her parents: surprisingly, the whole Bennett family was truly musical! So ... by the age of ten, the girl knew how to play the guitar and saxophone! At one point, the passion for music faded away, and Stella turned her attention to such a sport as water polo! According to the singer, she hoped that she would be able to represent New Zealand at the competition ... However, at the age of 17, Stella realized that sport was not for her, and returned to music ...
The motives and lyrics were light, maybe even silly, but simple and understandable. Stella became interested in the indie pop genre. At first, she was afraid that others would only laugh at her ... Therefore, the future star hid her creations for a long time. And as it turned out - in vain! After publishing a couple of tracks on the SoundCloud online platform, Beni's life turned upside down for the better!
By the way: already in her second year at Auckland Polytechnic University, Beni dropped out of school. According to the singer herself, studying has always been for her something like a life crisis ... And therefore, the girl decided to devote herself to professional musical training. And she did the right thing!
Career: where did it all start?
In one of her interviews, the girl said:
“I have been dyslexic since childhood. All the time that I was in school, I actively struggled with writing ... I adored creative writing: I really liked writing something! But I always made mistakes... And now, writing songs has become a kind of outlet for me! Now I don't have to be grammatically correct! I remember at some point I thought: “I like this!” For me, the songs have become a wonderful emotional outlet ... I just splash out everything that I feel on a piece of paper ... And then it turns into music!
Benee began her career by posting covers of popular hits on SoundCloud. Having dropped out of school, the girl seriously took up music: she began to compose not only lyrics, but also motives ... Soon her work attracted the attention of Josh Fontana, a producer and member of the Leisure group. With his help, Beni released the singles "Tough Guy" and "Soaked".
Success with "Supalonely"!
In June 2019, the album Fire on Marzz is released. During the same period, Benee signed a contract with Republic Records. Speaking of the album, described by critics as a "funky, sun-drenched sound release", it hit the Top 20 in the singer's home country and the Top 80 in Australia! It was this EP that brought 4 New Zealand Music Awards to Bennett's piggy bank! For a performer just beginning her career, this was a stunning breakthrough ...
In the autumn of the same year, a second EP was released, called Stella & Steve! The main hit from the album was the song "Supalonely", recorded together with musician Gus Dupperton. Very quickly, the single gained massive popularity! In many ways - thanks to the TikTok platform, where the composition became viral ...
It is worth noting that Benee also conquered the expanses of this platform with her track "Glitter", which remained viral for a long time!
In addition, the singer won the love of the public with such hit tracks as "Find an Island" and "Evil Spider":
What has 2020 brought? Tours, new achievements…
In early 2020, Benee was planning to go on a big North American tour! But due to the outbreak of coronovirus infection, the tour was canceled ... However, this did not upset the singer very much. Already at the beginning of summer, her track “Supalonely” gained more than 250 million streams! Soon Bennett made her debut on television with her hit ... In the same period, the new single "Night Garden" was released, recorded with the support of the American producer Kenny Beats!
Soon, Beni was named the most popular Apple Music Up Next artist of the past month! A little later, the girl appeared on the track "Afteroughtt" by musician Joji ...
The fall of 2020 turned out to be quite eventful and fruitful for Bennett ... The singer was nominated for the best new artist according to the People's Choice Awards! Later, she appeared on an American talk show, in which she performed the song "Supalonely".
During the same period, Bennett went on a headlining tour of New Zealand and founded his own label, Olive. Her debut full-length album, Hey UX! As the singer herself noted, the music from it is largely different from everything that was released earlier ... In anticipation of the release of the album, the single "Plain" was released, recorded with the participation of singers Lily Allen and Flu Milli:
The track “Kool” became a popular single from the album, for which a cool video was shot:
Interesting Facts…
- Bennett originally performed under the stage name "Bene". She later added another "e" to avoid copyright and pronunciation issues.
- Thanks to her musical family, Benee was introduced to music very early. As the singer herself said, she grew up on the work of such performers as Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Bjork, and Radiohead.
- For some time, Stella attended St. Mary's College, a Catholic school for girls, where a 4-year music course was required.
- Beni is a very popular media personality! The singer has accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter… She also has her own YouTube, which already has about a million subscribers!
- Sir Elton John himself called Beni "the next world victory" and "an amazing young and talented artist."
