New York, NY (Top40 Charts) New Zealand's platinum sensation BENEE uncovers a new song entitled "Happen To Me"! It's the last track to be revealed from her anxiously awaited full-length debut, Hey u x, out next Friday November 13th.
BENEE recently cited the tune as her "favorite on the album" in an interview with Vogue Australia. On the track, warm guitar wraps around a driving beat as she confesses, "I understand why people leave/But leaving seems scary to me," in an ethereal timbre. It culminates on the catchy refrain, "I think about these things too much/My mind likes to wind itself up/And I don't get a lot of sleep/'Cause what if they happen to me?" The track displays the songstress at her most vulnerable and vital.
As she told Vogue Australia, "This song is super important to me. It's the opening track [on the album]. It's the first song where I've written about anxiety. The lyrics are pretty dark. Life is pretty crazy right now, and I think it's important to talk about this kind of stuff."
Just last week, she dropped her single, "Plain" feat.
Lily Allen & Flo Milli. Not only did it generate over 1 million Spotify streams in under a week, but it also attracted widespread acclaim from the likes of E! Online, PAPER Magazine, Stereogum, Teen Vogue, The FADER, UPROXX, Variety and more.
Blending, bending and breaking genres like only BENEE can, the much-anticipated Hey u x boasts an all-star cast of collaborators, including Grimes, Gus Dapperton, Mallrat, Kenny Beats,
Bakar and Muroki. Hey u x includes her Platinum-Certified smash hit "Supalonley" feat. Gus Dapperton, which has amassed over 2.1 billion global streams to date, as well as her recently released pop bops, "Night Garden" feat. Kenny Beats and
Bakar and "Snail." See the full album tracklist below. The album artwork was designed by Californian artist Terry Hoff.
Hey u x TRACKLIST
"Happen To Me"
"Same Effect"
"
Sheesh" feat. Grimes
"
Supalonely" feat. Gus Dapperton
"Snail"
"Plain" feat.
Lily Allen & Flo Milli
"Kool"
"
Winter" feat. Mallrat
"A
Little While"
"Night Garden" feat. Kenny Beats & Bakar
"
All The Time" feat. Muroki
"If I Get To Meet You"
"C U"
Stella Rose Bennett, who records as BENEE, grew up in Auckland, New Zealand on a steady diet of downer Soundcloud rap,
James Blake breakup hymns, and artists who valued experimentation like Bjork, Groove Armada, and Radiohead, which her parents exposed her to at an early age. One day, on a whim,
Bennett put some
Gnarls Barkley and
Amy Winehouse covers she'd sung directly into GarageBand up on Soundcloud, and soon, she was in the studio with producer Josh Fountain, working on original songs. Last year,
Bennett released two EPs—FIRE ON MARZZ and STELLA & STEVE, which went platinum and gold in New Zealand, respectively. Additionally, she was named Apple Up Next Artist July 2020, nominated for MTV VMA "Push Best New Artist" 2020, MTV EMA "Best Push" Artist 2020, E! People's Choice Awards New Artist of 2020 and nominated for New Zealand's 2020 Aotearoa
Music Awards in the Single of the Year, Best Solo Artist, and Best Pop Artist categories. In 2019, she took home four trophies at the New Zealand
Music Awards: Single of the Year ("
Soaked"), Best Solo Artist, Best Pop Artist, and Breakthrough Artist of the Year. All of which set the stage for what would become her debut studio album, Hey u x, which is out November 13th. Hey u x is a fascinating album that exists in two opposing eras of modern society: the (relatively) carefree pre-COVID-19 era, and the post COVID world, where lockdowns and intense isolation are now a regular part of life. Each of the songs on the album offer up a discrete universe of heartbreak, loneliness, and personal growth, shot back to the listener as quiet communiques. "I'm writing music for one human listening to the music,"
Bennett says. "I want them to feel as connected as they can to my mind. Like a message that you send to a friend." On Hey u x, musical genres are to be explored and adopted, songs are constructed from otherworldly concepts, and a sense of playfulness hangs over even the most melancholy moments. Like much of what
Bennett has achieved thus far, it all seems so casual that it could be accidental, but there's a deep purpose behind her music and her worldview.
