BEX – “fairies” single review

BEX is by far one of our favourite artists. Indieterria has been following her career since 2022, and we are absolutely proud of what she managed to achieve. She started as a literal baby, 19 years old with an electric image, loud songs, rock and roll melodies and voice that could define a generation. And it’s great to see her grow up – becoming a better artist, fashion designer, a wiser observer, more comfortable on stage. This is a privilege that every artist should have. What we never wanted to see is her to be hurt, abused or victimized. And despite what happened last year, BEX is refusing to be defined by her past. It really makes me furious that women are CONSTANTLY subjected to violence at the hands of men. Not all men, but every single damn time, there is a man behind the injustice. Not some immigrant, not some random stranger, but a partner or ex partner. This is a tale as old as our civilization itself and bloody hell – it’s time that men finally take the responsibility for their own actions.

Last time we wrote about BEX was over a year ago. We had a pleasure to review her zine/mixtape “politics” and nothing pointed to what was coming next. BEX had so many ideas, plans, we interviewed her about fashion, designing, writing new material and we expected 2026 to be a super busy year for her, but instead, there came a long silence. Of course, her social media was updated, she attended summer festivals, but there were no new projects, no new music, no gigs. Now we know why. BEX is just emerging from her traumatic experience. And she is not doing it alone. She is turning her suffering into some sort of a shield – not only for herself, but for every other woman that ever was assaulted, manipulated, hurt or abused.

It wasn’t easy – it never is. BEX is being quite open about how harrowing this experience was. It took a lot from her: her creativity, her peace of mind, her ability to love what she used to do. She openly speaks about having to take a longer break: to re-learn how to write, how to sing, how to love being a musician again. To become herself again, to the best of her ability. The thing with trauma is this: it never truly leaves you. You may recover from it, but it also changes you. And sadly many women bear the scars for years.

“’fairies’ was born out of pain. It is the most heartbreaking song I have ever written. It exposes my story to every degree, to the point I do not need to explain it. ‘fairies’ speaks for itself. There’s no consent when someone is asleep” – shares BEX in recent interviews. “I wrote ‘fairies’ at the start of my time off. She has been sitting on my SoundCloud for over a year. The truth is, I had to heal. I had to deal with the pain. I had to grieve before I had the strength to unleash my baby into the world. I am ok now. I have battled through the worst of it, so now I want to share, I want to help others, I want to fully escape”.

“fairies” is the first single from the upcoming 6 track EP that will deal with “six stages of this story: manipulation and assault, reclaiming power, reaching a low point, the conflicted feelings around wanting an abuser gone, acceptance and the fight to get free” explains BEX. The project will be titled “Away with the Fairies” and its purpose is to map her entire journey based on her lived experiences. From trauma and manipulation, through grief, denial, acceptance and finally healing.

BEX wrote and recorded the project with Steven Battelle (lead singer and guitarist of Derby’s LostAlone), producer Sam Cramer (Lewis Capaldi, RØRY, Future Humans) and her long time collaborator, Josh Paine. It was produced by Sam Cramer and finally mixed and mastered by engineer Pieter Rietkerk (Uriah Heep, Catfish And The Bottlemen, Wargasm). BEX and Rietkerk worked together previously on “Some Kinda Syko”.

“fairies” will be followed by another single, “90’s superstar” on November 20^th. The EP itself is scheduled to go out into the wild in February 2027.

Standing at 3 minutes and 23 seconds, “fairies” is a mid tempo, grunge inspired pop punk/alt rock composition with harmonious choruses, soft vocals and that certain psychedelic bitter-sweetness that characterized Tonya Donnelly’s/The Throwing Muses collaborations. The saddest and the slowest of BEX releases so far, it is also quietly powerful. So powerful, it will be hard to get it out of your head.