We have been saying this for a while but Wales truly is the Land of Song. London and Manchester may be continuously competing for the title of the Most-Important-City-In-The-History-Of-Music, but actually they are losing to Cardiff in every category. The best male singer ever? Answer – Tom Jones. The best British female singer of all time? Here you go – Shirley Bassey. Wales gave us Bonnie Tyler, Feeder, Budgie, Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia, Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals, Goldie Looking Chain, Funeral For A Friend, People In Planes, Duffy and others. On the independent circuit we have the amazing CELAVI whom we covered throughout last year. And now, there is a new player in town. Ladies and gents, we give you Honey B McKenna!
Official bios:
Honey B McKenna is a musician, DJ and producer from South Wales and loves writing about herself in the third person. During the COVID-19 lockdown she started to properly focus on producing and writing music and looks forward to inflicting her questionable-but-strong taste in sonic choices upon the world. Her influences include disco, electronica, bubblegum pop, musical theatre (her day job, along with video production) new wave & video game soundtracks. Honey currently resides in Hereford & DJs regularly in the city and at events in South Wales. Her previous releases have had support from BBC Wales & BBC Introducing, GodIsInTheTV, Buzz Magazine, Radio Cardiff and Apple Music. And yes, that’s her real name.
Honey autoportrait no.1
JXE is a rapper and musician from East London. They are a member of the Odd Project, an alternative rock rap group founded in Bristol. They describe their writing as “moody and existential, detailing ongoing battles with mental health, struggles with self identity and finding [a] place in the world.” They are heavily influenced by Linkin Park, Eyedea & Abilities and Radiohead.
JXE by Honey
The 8th of March is International Women’s Day. Today, as every year, we at Vanadian Avenue celebrate the women in music. Their craft, contribution, skills, voices and ideas. Music business is very male dominated but women are creating some of the best music around. They also work incredibly hard – they produce their own songs, write their own material, play instruments, compose, tour and perform. And we want to shine a light on those women who are incredibly talented and who are at the beginning of their creative journeys. That’s why we recently reviewed songs by Delilah Bon, ALT BLK ERa or The Feral Five. Those ladies come from all walks of life and from different backgrounds, but they have many things in common: ambition, determination and their own way of doing things.
Honey B McKenna may be very young but she already has an impressive resume: DJ, producer, photographer and a singer. She is responsible for everything she does: she takes her own promotional pictures, creates single covers, composes music, writes lyrics, produces her tracks and sings them. Her music received very warm reviews from BBC Wales and strong support from her local BBC Introducing Hereford and Worcester (Nina Das Guptas, Andrew Marstone). Her influences include rock, pop, bubblegum pop and alternative disco.
Honey auto portrait no.2
“Lofi Hip Hop Beats” is a very interesting composition, one of the most unusual and probably the most original songs we have received this year. How to properly describe it? It sounds like Jewel circa 2003 (“Intuition” era) in a more dancey version. Or POE circa 2001 performing “Hey Pretty” mixed by DJ Khaled. Or Fiona Apple performing “Criminal” with one of the guys from The Black Streets. You will probably get a vertigo from the crazy mix of genres squeezed into this track: alt pop, electro, alternative electronica, pop-beat, alt rock, rap, alternative EDM, rap, hip hop and grime. We are not joking – I have no idea how Honey did this but you will find elements of each genre nicely entwined into her serene vocals and trance like background beats. The song is also very energetic yet kind of melancholic, fast yet mid tempo, lofi yet not really lofi, more of a bedroom pop for a large dance hall. It could equally fit a massive O2 arena and your local, dirty and scruffy underground dive bar.
Single cover
The other vocals are provided by London based JXE, a rapper as eclectic as Honey herself. They are members of an alternative rock rap squad a la Wu Tang Clan, yet their delivery on this song is very soulful, rhythmic, almost Maxi Jazz-esque. A thing of absolute beauty. Lyrics add another layer to already complex composition. They are bittersweet, telling a story of a heartbreak, escaping from reality and hiding oneself away from the troubles in a cocoon of self pity and resignation. “The song is about loneliness and wallowing and how unhealthy it is to romanticise misery” says Honey in the attached PR note. “Real life is harder and more rewarding than any fantasy you could have about falling in love or living your best life”. Her advice to the listener seems to be do not allow your failure or hurt stop you from living to your fullest potential. Don’t let small everyday events take away the joy and sparkle from the world that surrounds yourself. Hiding from the world may work for a little while but it’s getting harder and harder to return to reality. But the real world is where life happens and throwing it away means wasting the time that has been given us. It doesn’t matter how hard life gets, we have to live through it, learn from it and come out on the other side as better, wiser people.
I have completely and utterly fallen in love with this track. Honey is currently working on her second EP that will be released sometime this spring. She calls it a retrospective musical diary about love, life, mental health and maturity. We honestly can’t wait!
You can follow Honey online:
https://www.facebook.com/honeybmckenna
https://www.instagram.com/honeybmckenna/
https://twitter.com/HoneyBMcKenna
https://honeybmckenna.bandcamp.com/
https://www.mixcloud.com/honeybmckenna/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui9IcULifcw
She is also a talented photographer:
https://www.saatchiart.com/honeymckenna
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 
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