How I Became - a Musician w/ BENEE.

Welcome to the ‘How I Became’ series where Billie talks to girls across New Zealand who are killing it in their chosen career and see how they got there!

Trying to decide what you ‘want to be when you grow up’ is hard enough as it is and your careers counsellor probably won’t have all the answers you need.

HIB aims to give you a bit of insight into different career paths and what it takes to get there.

Name: Stella Bennett aka BENEE

Age: 23

Job title: Artist

Firstly, what drew you to music?

Music has always been an important part of my life. I’ve always loved and taken comfort in listening to music. As a child I used to make up little songs all the time apparently. I learned guitar and saxophone when I was younger.

What subjects did you take in high school that you think helped?

Playing an instrument was compulsory in the first two years at my high school, so music was just part of our general education. I played saxophone and the experience of regularly performing in small ensembles and larger orchestral groups was definitely super helpful to my musical understanding. I also loved creative writing in English & I think that I’ve known since school that I loved writing. 

What did your pathway towards starting your career look like?

I initially put some covers up on Soundcloud for my friends; in no way did I consider this a "pathway" to a career. As a result of this quite a few people contacted me about working with them and through that I met my producer Josh Fountain. I was still at school so we worked on weekends and school holidays making songs. "Tough Guy", "Soaked" and "Glitter" all came out of these sessions and the success of these songs ultimately led to my being signed by Republic in NYC.

What did you study/where/how long did it take?

I didn't study music formally, it was trial and error in the studio finding my own style. ‘Tough Guy’ came out at the end of 2017 when I'd just left school.  At that time I didn't have the confidence to just pursue a music career so I started a Communications degree. After a few weeks I just felt my heart wasn't in it and my parents encouraged me to drop out and give music a try. 

What’s the best thing about your job?

Performing live and meeting everyone who listens to my music. It's so humbling when people tell you that your music has made a difference in their lives. 

What’s the hardest part?

Honestly social media can be quite difficult to handle. People online are always going to say horrible things about someone doing well. 

What surprised you most about your job once you started working?

The huge variety of things that go into it - interviews, videos , single and album artwork, stage design, the technical demands of putting on live performances ...the list goes on. 

What does an average day look like for you?

There's no such thing as an average day really. Anything from going into the studio to work on new material, shooting music videos or stills for promo, interviews, doing zoom calls about upcoming shows or projects, going to meetings , rehearsing for upcoming shows, sometimes several of these things on the same day!

Woven into this are all the normal things - walking my dog, hanging with friends, cooking, housework…

What advice would you give to those looking to follow a similar career path?

Follow your passion and stay true to yourself. Put in the hard work & take risks!

What are the biggest challenges in your opinion to getting into music?

There is just so much music out there it's hard for people to stand out and be heard sometimes. It's not so much a case of "getting into music" because you can do that no matter what just by doing it! Making it a career is much more difficult; it's very hard to survive financially. COVID has meant that so many live performers haven't been able to earn a living.

What kind of skills does your job require?

Obviously some musical talent helps, in my case the ability to sing, write melodies and construct songs. I guess for live performance the ability to engage with an audience and put on a decent show. One thing I think is really important is good judgement; knowing when something is right for you and knowing when it is not, no matter how persuasive others can be. You definitely also need passion for it. It’s hard work full time and it can take a real strain on your mental health. I do this because I love music and singing and writing and performing I pinch myself all the time thinking this is wild that I get to do my favourite thing for work.

What part of your job gives you the most satisfaction?

Putting on a great live show and seeing people enjoying it.

What has been an absolute highlight of your career?

Probably playing my first big festivals in the States..Gov Ball and ACL were pretty huge for me. I’m also moving over to LA this year where I will also be playing Coachella & that for me will probably have to be my biggest highlight! 

What’s an unexpected element to your job that people don’t realise you have to do?

Liners..I have to record lots of little snippets of audio and video to introduce my songs on radio and TV around the world. Just the amount of promo that goes into this I think was a surprise to me haha.

Describe your job in three words

Creative , Challenging, CRAZY 

Check out BENEE’s new song Green Honda on Spotify.