Beth McKenzie explores her debut EP, ‘Does This Make Me A Bitter Woman?’
Released on November 15th via Handwritten Records, Beth McKenzie’s latest project is a five-track indie-pop exploration of her deepest and most intimate thoughts.
A 22-year-old breath of fresh air to the emerging pop scene from Manchester, Beth McKenzie has a natural way of songwriting that far exceeds her years. Having grown up on a diet of iconic female artists such as Lily Allen, Paloma Faith and Gabriella Aplin, Beth now combines that Britpop nostalgia with empowering Gen Z transparency.
As a female and queer artist, Beth's passion to be a part of the changing industry landscape is a driving force within all aspects of her project. Whether it's through lyrically grappling with her identity or bringing her music to life with an all-female band, she strives to become the representation that she sought growing up.
VoiceNoted had the chance to talk with Beth about her debut EP, discussing everything from the diaristic songwriting process to her early influences in music and goals for the rest of this year.
When did you decide that music was something you wanted to pursue professionally?
“I can’t tell you an exact point, but I started writing as this therapeutic thing during lockdown and doing it for fun. I was posting a few videos to TikTok and Instagram, then at some point in 2023 I decided that this was properly what I wanted to do!”
The EP was like listening to a coming of age movie: Angsty, identity-exploring, honest and exciting. We’d love to know how you’d describe the project - pitch it to us as if we’ve never heard it before!
“My EP is something that is a reflection of past events and my current take on things with hindsight. So, yeah this EP is very focused on events that have happened for me over the past five to ten years - some more recent, some a lot longer ago. All of it is a reflection as myself now with hindsight looking back and processing everything.”
Would you say that you wrote the EP more so with your younger or future self in mind?
“I think with my current and future self in mind. Whilst it's reflecting on things that happened when I was younger, it’s very much taking the stance of a third-party adult kind of looking down on the past and commenting on it. The last track, It Won’t Always Feel So Heavy looks more into the future and I put it last deliberately because it was kind of an invitation for my next project to be more about the future.”
A heart-wrenching that signs off the EP with perfect poise, Beth explained: "The name for it came around in a really sweet and random way. I was having coffee with my producer at the Feel Good Club in Manchester, explaining what I wanted to write about. Sometimes I feel l’m not making as much progress as I’d like to, with my health and mental health challenges and people tell me I’ll get there and it will get easier. I try to believe them, but sometimes I struggle to see a time where it will be easier. When our coffee came over, they had written on the cup ‘It won’t always feel so heavy’, and it was creepy because that is exactly what I wanted to say in the song, worded perfectly.”
How does it feel knowing that such a personal song is now out in the world?
“Oh, absolutely terrifying! It’s really scary because any song I think is so personal but this one’s terrifying because its very raw and kind of unedited. The other tracks took a few sessions to write - I went back, changed things, put some new things in - but with this one, after that coffee cup I was like, oh my god that’s the perfect phrase so I’m going to write a song about it.
I went home and wrote it within 40 minutes on my piano, and sat there crying but I didn’t edit anything from the first time I wrote it and nothing is different from the original version. There are imperfections in the writing there and lyrics that I listen back to and think, ‘ooh, I could’ve done a lot better than that’ but I didn’t want to take away from the authentic feel.
I went into the studio the next day and we just recorded it from start to finish. I said to Andy, my producer, that I didn’t want him to comment on the mistakes or issues with it, but just to record the song so I could put it out in it’s rawest, most original form. That’s why it’s scary because it’s so vulnerable and feels like everyone’s seeing into my mind with that track. So, it’s definitely terrifying but I’m glad with my decision not to change any of it because that would have changed the whole feel of the song and made it feel a bit less honest and representative of how I was feeling at the time.”
We’d love to know about the process of writing the EP because your songwriting is very diaristic, so do you write within a diary or notes app - or even use voice notes?
”The answer is yes, I use all of those things but in a specific kind of order! If I’m writing at home, what I’ll do is literally just put my phone on voice record as I’m sat at the piano to capture anything. I won’t write anything down at the time because I can listen back later.
If I’m in the studio with other people or even by myself, I’ll have my laptop with a Google Doc open as well as a huge notebook with a pen to write down any kind of thoughts that come to mind. Once I’ve kind of organised those thoughts a bit more, I’ll put those on the Google Doc. During all that, I’ll still have a voice note recording on my phone just in case because I always get terrified that I’m going to think of a really cool melody and never find it again - my poor phone storage is just hundreds of hours of recorded voice notes. So, I use all of those things just in conjunction with one another.”
Speaking of, are there any voice notes in the depths of your phone that won’t ever see the light of day?
“Probably about 99% of them will never see the light of day! To be fair, they’re probably quite boring because I’ll set my phone recording for however many hours I’m in the session for so there’s a lot of silences. I actually hate having to go back through it when I do need to hear something because I’m going back through five hours worth of recordings with absolutely no idea what or where I’m looking for something. My worst fear is that if someone will steal my phone, they’ll post all my voice notes and then I’d be in trouble!”
We’re big on lyrics at VoiceNoted, so do you have any favourites from the EP & what do they mean to you?
“That’s my most important thing as well, I love lyrics! Just words - I think if I wasn’t a musician I’d definitely be a writer or something. There’s so many that I love, but I think She’s Finally Lost It is probably my best track lyrically. I had so much fun writing those lyrics because its a tongue in cheek kind of song, so I could get away with whatever lyrics I wanted. “Pocket-sized Hitler,” I do love and was really proud of that one. We had a long discussion on whether it had to be changed but ultimately kept it because it really represented a horrible person. With the whole of She’s Finally Lost It, I can totally imagine a scenario in my head with everything that’s described and really picture how the song would look because of the lyrics. I was able to be super creative and throw out lyrics that were a bit silly but fit that style of song.”
Having grown up on the music of artists like Lily Allen, Paloma Faith and Gabriella Aplin, how do you carry those core influences into your own music as an adult?
“I’ll split them up, so over here we have Paloma Faith and Lily Allen - and over here, we have Gabrielle Aplin. Gabrielle is someone who really influences me lyrically. I’ve always loved her style of writing and the way she manipulates words to create something so beautiful so that’s definitely informed my lyricism over the years.
With Paloma Faith and Lily Allen, stylistically, they really brought something new to the early 2000s and 2010s through the way they experimented with different subgenres and sonics and I think what that’s taught me as a writer is that I can experiment and bring in things that are a bit unconventional but still make them sound cool. Those are how my influences are split up in my head!”
From where you started to where you are now, what was the journey like of taking all these influences and figuring out what you want to do for yourself?
“Last year was a huge development in my style of writing and I was really lucky in the sense that I had the opportunity from January to August time to literally just experiment with a hundred different things and merge different styles to work out what would work for me lyrically and stylistically. That was the most valuable thing last year for me - having the time, space and opportunity to experiment with different things.
If I had to have written my EP by April/May of last year, it would have sounded completely different to what it does now. Does This Make Me A Bitter Woman? is informed my six months straight of experimentation, and I think it was a really valuable journey that’s going to stand me in good stead for the next steps of my career.”
We then asked Beth what her favourite songs are right now, and made them into a playlist for fans to enjoy:
Next, it was time for some fun questions…
If you could live inside the cover of any album, which would you pick?
“Folklore by Taylor Swift!”
Describe yourself in three words, but you can’t use the letter A!
“Loud, messy and honest - I have no filter whatsoever.”
If you could only watch one subgenre of movies/TV shows for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
“I think for TV shows it’d have to be sitcoms. The 20-minute long ones like Friends, Brooklyn 99 and Modern Family. But if we’re talking films, definitely Dystopian ones like The Hunger Games and Divergent.”
How do you feel like your debut EP sets itself apart from your previous music?
“It’s much more me. I’ve always tried to keep my songwriting as authentic as possible - and everything I’ve released before has been authentic - but back then, I didn’t know what ‘authentic’ was for me, not until recently. This EP is the most honest and vulnerable I’ve been with music. You can tell that when you listen to my past work, but Does This Make Me A Bitter Woman? is very confident in itself and knows what it is. It stands alone without any kind of need for explanation.”
Looking forward, have you got any big goals or milestones that you’d like to hit this year?
“I’m hoping to sink my teeth more into live shows and gain some more experience with those! There are so many different things I want to do, but a big one is that I’ve always wanted to record something in the BBC Live Lounge. That might be a really ‘out there’ goal but at some point I’d love to do that! I’d also love to do more writing for film and tv shows, like commissioned music because I love writing for narratives and have been lucky enough to start getting some opportunities for that - it’s really fun so I’d love to do more of it!”
Do you go into a different headspace when writing for TV shows as opposed to your own music?
“Yeah, and in a way it’s actually a lot easier to write when you walk into a room and have a brief about ‘this show, this feeling and with this reference playlist.’ It doesn’t need to be super personal and needs to apply to multiple things to fit different shows so it’s just like a little challenge. On a piece of paper, you’ll have four hours to write something and then it’ll go over to ‘XYZ’ and I love that.
With my own music, whilst I love getting super personal with it, it’s quite draining so it’s nice to have a break where you’re told exactly what to write and have fun with it. You watch bits of the show to get the feel for it, listen to the reference songs then go in and write something about it from scratch.”
What’s the biggest thing that you hope listeners take from Does This Make Me A Bitter Woman?
“The word that initially comes to mind is empowered. In different aspects, but being empowered enough to speak out against things you’re experiencing that aren’t right and feeling strong enough to walk away from things that aren’t good for you, but also empowered in the sense that you’re able to sit and be comfortable with your feelings and thoughts, and feel confident enough to explore your own mind and try to understand yourself a bit better.
I’ve always found that that’s the most valuable thing whenever you’re trying to improve yourself or work through things; allowing yourself to listen to how you’re feeling and not feeling to ashamed to explore your own feelings privately. I’d say empowered in multiple different senses is how I want people to feel.”
And finally, what’s the best piece of advice that you’ve been given as an upcoming artist that you’d like to share with those who are just starting out?
“I’ve had so much good advice, but I think the biggest thing is to just put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to ask for things that you want. At the end of the day, people really aren’t going to go out of their way to give you things unless you’re just knocking on their door constantly saying, ‘I want this.’ I’m not going to lie, that’s how I’ve gotten a lot of things - just by emailing and messaging, saying ‘this is who I am, this is my goal, this is what I want and this is how I’m going to get there.’ There’s a line so be respectful, but don’t be ashamed of wanting to go after something because, at the end of the day, most people will respect you for that. There’s nothing wrong with confidence, so don’t be ashamed to ask people for what you want. [So, be a girl-boss essentially?] Yeah, exactly!”
Following in suit with the girl-boss energy, Beth will embark later this year on The Wishful Thinking Tour alongside her friends and fellow Northern popstars, Holly Nicholson and Chloe Charlotte.
With four show dates across September in Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham and London, you can sign up for presale tickets here - but remember that sign-ups close on April 10th at 10am!
Whilst we wait to see what’s next for Beth McKenzie, make sure to follow her on Instagram and enjoy the rest of her discography on Spotify:
