If you run a music blog, you get a lot of questions about the artists we write about. I know we have tackled it before but just in case you need a reminder.
I have been asked recently why some artists are regularly featured on Indieterria. Aren’t our readers tired of the same coverage? Why don’t we write about Sabrina Carpenter and her apparently fascinating new single. Why do I want to write about BEX for the nth time? Isn’t she becoming such a regular that our readers will think of her as “part of the furniture”.
Inditerria is an independent blog, we mostly cover independent artists. And Bex is hugely popular with our small yet dedicated reader base. People come here to find out what we think about new music that Bex released. For argument’s sake, I could cover big pop stars and give them enthusiastic reviews and enjoy millions of hits. But what does it really give me? Am I in some sort of competition for popularity and with whom? Will having 100 000 readers a year make my life any different?
Single cover – BEX channelling her best impression of Amanda in Highlander
Let me come back to Sabrina Carpenter`s new single for a second. Besides the fact that I don’t like coffee except for Inka (a Polish cereal drink that is better alternative to caffeine and way more ecological, you should try it!), I have a bit of apprehension to following trends, especially if a lot of dollars have been pumped into the trend to ensure its popularity. It has been covered extensively in the industry press and online that Sabrina Carpenter`s “Espresso” was being imposed on listeners through large online promotion and Spotify algorithms. Song of the summer just because some people decided it will be that way. Now, I like Sabrina. She was sensational in “Girl Meets World” and even better in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. She had a lot of fun as Princess Vivian in Sofia the First. Like any other Disney child star, she is now pursuing a music career. The thing is, it is rather hard to be a good singer and a good actress at the same time, so please excuse my opinion that Miss Carpenter is way better on screen than she is on the stage.
I am not pitting one woman against another here either. It is an absurd argument often aimed at those who simply point out that overhyped acts sometimes have very little to offer to their fans and music writers alike. I would rather be reviewing BEX’s new single, for the simple reason that I find her music much more appealing, artistically pleasing and having high standards. If there is one thing that I strongly believe in, it is that we can have hugely successful and ambitious pop music. Look at Madonna, Bjork, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick! If anyone from Island came down and offered BEX one third of the money that was invested in “Espresso” as a promotional budget, you`d see BEX on top of Billboard chart, having a fashion column in Vogue (she designs her own clothes) and touring the globe with her own show. Then maybe I`d entertain an article comparing “Espresso” and “Fight” for a title of a summer hit of 2024.
It wouldn’t even be that bad of an idea, because both Sabrina and BEX have similar voice range, they excel in bringing to life refrains delivered in an angelic voice, only to follow up with a roar. Each of them now has their own unique look and ideas about what they want to do. But Sabrina has too much money being pumped into her music, at the disservice to her acting career, while BEX experiences the same problem as any other independent artist worldwide – chronic underfunding. Levelling the playfield would create a much more interesting, equal and competitive music business. Not to mention more entertaining and with a meaning.
Nick Cave proved it a long time ago that an artist doesn’t need to be either `a nerd` or `a bore` to have something interesting to say. And there is only so much of `stupid blonde` and `a valley girl` stereotypes going around in a Cadillac or owning a speedboat that a music critic can take. Why is every pop star being presented as a `bimbo` nowadays? That aesthetic was worn and outdated in the time when Frank Zappa was alive, less alone now. Plus, there are incredible women in music: Lana del Ray, Traci Lords, Tairrie B. or Scene Queen, who successfully applied that look into their image. The question that we all should be asking is not `why independent blogs don’t cover big label artists` but `why big label artists are squeezed into old, tired cliches right out of Walter Moseley`s books`?
Give me Bex, drenched in blood, dragging an axe through the forest like she is a hidden character in “Thrill Kill” or “Mortal Kombat” any day. Or posing around a crumbled castle with a rapier in hand, a very clever reference to Elizabeth Gracen`s character Amanda in the Highlander series.
BEX and Connor Griffiths (drums) during her packed slot at Download Festival – photo by Nick Davarias
I don’t think BEX chose to channel Amanda on a whim. Elizabeth Gracen can be regarded as one of those women in pop culture that had overcome some incredible odds. Gracen became Miss America in 1982 and used her scholarship to enter university to study acting and filmmaking. Despite her work including acting on the TV, on screen and stage, directing and scriptwriting she was always regarded as just as a `pretty face from Arkansas`.
A year into university Gracen met a man at the bar that led to a one-night stand. That man unbeknown to Gracen was Bill Clinton and she was one of the very first women who were seduced or otherwise tricked into intimate relationships with a future president. When the Monika Levinsky scandal finally broke out in 1998, Elizabeth Gracen was made to publicly apologize to …Hilary Clinton, subpoenaed in the ongoing investigation and left without any roles. She declared bankruptcy and spent almost a decade out of the spotlight trying to come to terms with the fall out. It is hard not to draw parallels to the story and treatment of Anita Hill.
Both Hill and Gracen fought very open and public battles with men in positions of power, paid personal and professional price for something that has been done to them while perpetrators of those acts remained protected and hugely popular. Their trust and innocence were severely abused and weaponized against them. And yet they prevailed.
BEX is ready to fight – photo by Josh Paine
If Bex wanted to reference Elizabeth Gracen`s most famous character in her video, it is a powerful statement. Amanda is an immortal master of weapons who navigated millennia against those who wanted to take her head. She slayed more adversaries single handedly than the entire McLeod Clan. She is a formidable opponent who overcame evil, loss and betrayal of her trust.
And these are also the motives behind “Fight” as a song itself: treachery, disloyalty, losing emotional connections and stability in an intimate relationship.
Bex is feeling very strongly about her newest offering. “Fight is not a love song, it’s the opposite. It’s an acceptance of embarrassment” – she insists – “Loving someone and then having it thrown in your face is embarrassing”. But despite some serious heartbreak, Bex wants her single to become something positive and offers advice to others.
“When you try your hardest, never fight and you’re getting along so well, it can be so confusing to find out they were never loyal” – she says and it is evident that there is a lot of wisdom in what she is trying to convey “Fight is about how blind sighted I was for so long and the way the whole situation made me feel in the end. Truth is, you never know another person, and trust should never come easy. That’s what I have learnt – you have to let people EARN your trust. Don’t just give it away.”
BEX and Josh Paine at the end of Download set – photo by Nick Davarias
As a single “Fight” is a collaboration and you could say a star- studded one. It includes Bex and her bass player Josh Paine alongside Will Vaugnhan (Mae Muller, Pussy Riot, Kelsy Karter), Samuel Cramer (Little Mix, Lewis Capaldi) and Steven Batelle of LostAlone. This fab five already have worked their magic on Bex`s previous single “sunDae” to critical acclaim and euphoric reception from her fans.
To me “Fight” is not a continuation of previous singles, but a new quality to Bex`s impressive collection of genre defying catalogue. It`s more inspired by electronic and techno/industrial music, akin to that made by Juno Reactor and Atari Teenage Riot. I already mentioned Traci Lords in this article, so please go listen to “Control” or “Fallen Angel ” and compare it against “Fight”. I could also point out inspiration with music of Nic Endo or Hanin Elias in Bex`s delivery and even embracing works of Tiffany Tamaribuchi (see how Bex is using an old barrel as a taiko drum).
It is so refreshing to see young women on the independent circuit like Bex incorporating art of absolute legends and building upon it. This is a women to women led sonic revolution.
“Fight” was released on 7th June and so far, has been championed by Alyx Holcombe at BBC Radio 1 and BBC Introducing and included on every curated playlist that matters these days. Bex also played her debut show at Download Festival. To a full house. She is doing well for herself without adjusting algorithms and without a budget that could solve world hunger.
Next time you want to ask independent blogs why they support independent women instead of hyped pop starlets please remember this. It took 1600+ words and two days to finish this review about Bex. I could pen 400 words about Sabrina Carpenter`s “Espresso` within fifteen minutes. Beauty of niche blogs is that we care about music, we want to be able to have something meaningful to say about material we review. If you want coverage from smaller, specialized sections of the music industry then please make pop starlets interesting.
Or maybe invest in artists from all walks of life, not just former members of Mickey Mouse Club.
Follow BEX on socials:
https://www.bexofficial.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/bex.b.e.x/
https://www.tiktok.com/@bex.b.e.x
https://www.facebook.com/bexbexmusic
https://soundcloud.com/bexbexmusic
https://www.patreon.com/BEXBEX
https://www.youtube.com/@BEXBEXMUSIC
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3uqAKGSytLJJuLy4BPlY38
Our coverage so far:
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2024/04/07/bex-sundae-single-review
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2024/03/08/international-womens-day-introducing-bex
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2023/11/07/bex-scum-ep-review/
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2023/04/29/bex-slave-2-the-grind-single-review/
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2022/12/08/indieterria-meets-bex/
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2022/05/16/bex-tiptoe-single-review/
Malicia Dabrowicz
Indieterria 