Becky Hill joins Rebecca Judd on Apple Music 1 to discuss her new album ‘Believe Me Now?’, MNEK’s impact on her career and more…
Two-time BRIT Award winner Becky Hill joins Rebecca Judd on Apple Music 1 to discuss her new album ‘Believe Me Now?’, released today (31st May). In the interview, she discusses what the new album means to her, how Self Esteem helped her talk about sexual assault, how things have changed since her debut record, and making the track ‘Darkest Hour’. She also talks about working with Franky Wah, how MNEK has had a huge impact on her career and how things have changed for women in Dance.
Becky Hill describes her new album ‘Believe Me Now?’ and how it differs from her previous music…
This time around I wanted to do something that was way more deep-rooted in Dance and I wanted to be focused more in music that I go and listen to in the clubs myself. Also I had to hold my hands up and go, "I can't write nothing but pop music". So it was the marriage of more traditional songwriting and more deep-rooted production and put those two together. I wanted to create something that felt a bit more weighty. I felt like Dance in particular had gotten quite bubblegum, let's say. What I was finding was that it was becoming a little bit of a phase, instead of a movement, and I wanted to bring it back into the commercial space of being a movement. I think working with Chase & Status really brought drum and bass back into the mainstream. Performing it on the BRITs this year was a huge, huge moment for drum and bass and I wanted to have more of that song-based dance music. So it could bridge the gap between the underground and the commercial.
Becky Hill discusses what this album means to her…
I think it was very affirming for me once I'd put all the songs together, how I'd actually been feeling. I get so caught up in making my job work and doing the best I can. Also, going home and trying to be "normal" and have a functioning relationship and also keep up with my friends and look after my family, I think it'd got to a point where I'd been in that rigmarole for so long that I hadn't really thought about how I felt.
Becky Hill talks women in dance music and how the scene has changed…
We've got people like Charlotte Haining, Charlotte Plank, Emily Makis, who I've just signed to my own publishing imprint. Nobody really looks in the drum and bass realm for incredible singer-songwriters. As soon as I heard Emily's songwriting and her voice, I knew that it was somebody that I wanted to be a part of her career. I think that for me is so beautiful to be able to help the next generation of singers because the doors are slightly wider than they were when I joined, when I was 18. It's nice to see so many women now on the stage and off the stage, backstage and front of stage. I think it's so lovely because it only ever creates a much nicer and healthier environment. It's just safer. I think it's been a long time coming, and it's beautiful to see these women gaining success and being successful in the public eye.
Becky Hill talks ‘True Colours’ and it being born out of her experience of being sexually assaulted...
It was Lauren Aquilina that I wrote this with and MNEK, as well as Mark Ralph and Jack Patterson from Clean Bandit. It was a proper room. I was well excited about the session and this whole song's about sexual assault. We started writing this song and I said, "Guys, I don't want it to be sad. I don't want it to be a ballad. I want it to be uplifting and I want it to feel powerful." They got the brief instantly. I love this song so much because if I'd written this song any earlier, I think it would've been too difficult to write and I think it wouldn't have been written in the right way. They just captured it perfectly for me. Then it was the label's decision, actually, to put Self Esteem on it. I loved the idea straight away.
Becky Hill talks meeting ‘Self Esteem’ and being able to talk openly about sexual assault…
Soon as I saw her, I threw my Brit Award on the floor, broke the Brit Award. What an amazing person. She's actually been helping me quite a lot through talking about sexual assault. I've never done it before and I've wanted to do it because I guess I'm at the most healed I've ever been. This is my last chapter. I think when you're able to talk about something on this public level, any shame or guilt, it's just completely taken away. You can show people the freedom in this. It's been really powerful having somebody like her on the record, somebody who talks about sexual harassment, sexual assault a lot in her music to be able to guide me through it. I think she's incredible. I adore Self Esteem, and I'm so, so proud of the fact that she's on this record.
Becky Hill discusses her track ‘Darkest Hour’ and working with Franky Wah…
‘Darkest Hour’, this was with Franky Wah, MNEK, Mark Ralph. Franky I'd been such a massive fan of for ages. There's always a sense of careful steps when you approach underground DJs and producers because you are always worried how they feel about working with somebody like me. Franky was just the biggest gentleman and was like, "I absolutely want to work on your album and write a song with you." We got in the studio together and I'd been working with Pete Tong at the time doing his Ibiza Classics. I really wanted to merge the orchestral side of things with dance music like Pete had been doing with all of these classic dance records. I'm really proud of ‘Darkest Hour’. I think it represented what I was trying to do at the time. When we came to the end of that session, I was like, "This is where I want to go.
Becky Hill talks about the impact MNEK has had on her career…
I don't think I would have had one [a career without working with MNEK]. I often think that. We wrote our first record together, ‘Losing’, which got me signed to my first record label. We wrote ‘Overdrive’ together, which was my first ever Number 1. He's written multiple songs on both of my albums and throughout my career. He's also been an incredible friend, and I will know him for the rest of my life. I love him to bits.
Becky Hill talks how things have changed since releasing her debut album…
I think turning 30 for me was a really big flag plant in the ground for me that my 20s weren't sh*tty, but they weren't what I had in my mind. When I turned 30, it was like I left all of that behind and I was able to start a new decade, a lot more settled, a lot more comfortable in my own skin, and a lot more knowledgeable of who I am and where I want to go, and having a lot more compassion for myself. The second thing I think was winning those two BRIT Awards for Best Dance Act. I think that for me, for my career, it was like the biggest confidence boost I've ever had. It isn't necessarily about the accolades, but after working so hard for so long and feeling like nobody knew who I was and people only ever knew the records I was on because of the producers that made them, I think there was a lot of heartache through working in the industry that nobody really gave a shit about me. To be recognised on that scale was pretty amazing.
