It has been more than 12 months since New Zealand singer-songwriter BENEE blessed us with new music.
However, with her 'Lychee' EP released today, an international tour about to begin, and hundreds of thousands of hungry fans to feed, BENEE is back, and she is better than ever.Known for her trio of mega hits: 'Glitter', 'Supalonely' and 'Soaked', BENEE first rose to fame in 2018 with 'Soaked' placing in the Hottest 100.
The following year, she won Best Solo Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Breakthrough Artist and Single Of The Year at the 2019 New Zealand Music Awards, and supported Lily Allen on the NZ leg of her world tour.
Since then, BENEE has released two EPs – 'Fire On The Marzz' and 'Stella & Steve' (both in 2019) – as well as her debut album 'Hey U X' in 2020.
The 'Lychee' EP features the singles 'Beach Boy' and 'Doesn't Matter' as well as five previously unreleased songs. "['Lychee' is] a timestamp of the last year and a half for me," BENEE says.
"There was no planned theme or anything, but thinking more about it as a whole, there's definitely an independent woman kind of vibe which was not intentional, but it's there and I'm all for it."
A dreamy, guitar-filled collection of songs, 'Lychee' is a bit different to BENEE's previous projects, and that is something she's aware of.
"There's always a little bit of pressure, like, 'are people gonna like it or not?'," muses BENEE, "but after releasing 'Hey U X' and being called a one-hit wonder for the whole of last year, I've developed a thick skin."
Intertwined throughout the new EP are themes BENEE holds near and dear to her heart. "It's quite easy to write about sad stuff, and more personal things," she begins, "because you're in a little bubble in a studio; and I don't think about it ever being released.
"I don't think about the amount of people who are going to listen to it. And I hate talking about my feelings to my mates, so it's weirdly easier to write a really sad song than actually, like, open up to one of my oldest friends.
"It's always kind of cringe [to release personal songs] because you have no idea what people are going to think about it.
"But, I don't know, the only feedback that I see when I do release really sad songs is 'oh my god, I can relate', and that just makes me want to do more of it."
BENEE teases that in addition to the music videos already released 'Beach Boy' and 'Doesn't Matter', fans can expect another music video for another EP track 'Never Ending'. "The rest," BENEE says, "are going to be lyric videos.
"I've been working with animator Riley Cough, who has done quite a few of my lyric videos in the past and who worked on my tour art, and he's just insane. . . he whips up all this animated stuff that looks really cool."
As for what's next for BENEE, her international tour begins in Hobart later this month and wraps up in Los Angeles at the end of June, where she'll stay with her band for three months.
"It'll just be a whole heap of writing, preparing for another release, and filming heaps of content."
BENEE 2022 Tour Dates
Fri 18 Mar - Hobart Uni BarSun 20 Mar - HOTA (Gold Coast)
Tue 22 Mar - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)
Fri 25 Mar - Reunion Park (Melbourne)
Tue 29 Mar - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)
Sun 2 Apr - Yours & Owls (Wollongong)
Thu 7 Apr - The Big Top (Sydney)
