Charting Rebellion: Betty Interviewed

Betty is making brash, indie pop outbursts that thrills her fans… sort of by accident. “It’s funny,” she tells CLASH, mere hours after her latest studio session, “because I don’t actually listen to that type of music at all. I’m not actually sure where it comes from.”

When Betty speaks, energy seems to pour out of every pore. Petite and engaging, her hands fly around her head as her life story tumbles forth. In life, as in her music, she’s an open book. Raised in East London – her great-gran and great-grandad had a butcher’s shop on the Roman Road, y’know – Betty sought out her mum’s CDs from a young age, devouring Beyoncé and Alicia Keys when barely out of nappies. Right from the start, music meant everything to her.

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“I’m dyslexic and ADHD, so when I was a kid I struggled to articulate myself,” she reflects. “Even now, I have to sit and write my feelings down. When I was a kid, I’d come downstairs when my mum had friends round and make up songs for them all!” An attempt at making music during her teens faltered, but when lockdown came she decided to use the newfound space in her life wisely. Re-downloading the studio programme Logic, she began looping guitar samples together to make her own songs. “It was the perfect time to do it. I’d never have done it otherwise!”

Since then, she’s flipped to a different side of London – the village-like appeal of Notting Hill – before spending considerable time on her debut EP. In the end, it was all worth it. Out now, ‘Mind Over Matter’ is a collection of brattish, wonderfully endearing paeans to the art of over-sharing. “Without music, I’d be batshit,” she says, before erupting into laughter. “I view it as a diary. I find it hard to understand my emotions. When I make music, I stop and reflect. I find it easier to process my emotions.”

The EP started off as six letters to her younger self – “this is what happens… and this is how to deal with it.” She adds: “On my last project, I say things that I’ve never even said to my closest friends or family members.” With a wild, raucous live show and a fanbase that is growing exponentially, Betty is finally in a position to make her truth heard. With “a huge collection of songs” leftover from lockdown, you can expect to hear a lot from this devout pop rebel. “I’m never satisfied,” she finishes. “Never. And that’s something that makes me who I am.”

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Betty’s debut EP ‘Mind Over Matter’ is out now.

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