Meet BEXY, the Christchurch based indie-pop gem who has begun to uncover her most mature sound yet as she gears up to release her debut EP ‘Wear My Wounds Like Armour’.
Confiding in songwriting, BEXY shares stories of a hopeless romantic battling relationship anxiety, her music is ultimately cinematic and full of confronting honesty allowing her to heal along the way.
As we approach the release her debut EP ‘Wear My Wounds Like Armour’, we had a chat with BEXY to go through some things on her musical bucket list.
First on the bucket list would be to write a song – when did you write your first song?
My first ever song? Nobody has ever asked me that... It was a Jesus song, I was brought up in a Christian home and my dad taught me how to play two chords, E and G. So, I wrote this song about Jesus, it went something like “He made my eyes, so I can see” and I went through all of the different things I can do as a human, and then ended with “and he made me, and for that I am grateful”. Oh! It was called ‘Only One’. I think I was five maybe when I wrote that?
Then the singles, where were you at when you released ‘Wish We Had History’?
Well to be honest, I dropped out of a design communication degree and formed a girl band in Dunedin called Lacuna. It was so much fun, but I did start to take it a bit seriously, probably too seriously... which made me think that I should probably do it on my own. I messaged so many producers asking them to work with me, and nobody replied. I remember crying on my bedroom floor. I was so upset, I just wanted to do music. I finally admitted to myself that I wanted to do music, because I was doing so many other things at the time. One person finally replied, it was Josh Edmonds who is a part of Ambian & Sleo who ended up producing ‘Wish We Had History’. I got really sick and wasn’t going to fly up to Auckland, but my friend convinced me to. So, I booked my flight, got on and heard the voice over the intercom say “We are heading to Wellington” ... and I was so confused, I thought it was a transit, but it turns out I had booked a flight to Wellington instead of Auckland... Honestly, this is the kind of shit I do all the time! I finally got up to Auckland, and showed the guys the song that I had written in my voice memos one night at a party. They loved it, so we whipped up the song in a few hours. That was the first song we ever worked on, and they were the first people to ever actually believe in me enough! That was the catalyst for me to take music more seriously.
Was there a spark when that all came together?
Yeah, it was pretty wild what happened to that song, it got on every new music Friday playlist on Spotify in New Zealand, and some American ones too. All of a sudden all of these labels were emailing me; the moment was very “Oh... this is something I can actually do!”. It definitely gave me that push to believe in myself, that song is so important to me.
You’ve released a few singles since then, how has it been finding your sound?
The biggest thing my mum has taught me is that it's not about being perfect, and you should always just show up and try your best to just be who you are in that very moment, so I think that’s why the reason I have so many different kinds of songs out was because I didn’t know who I was or what my sound was, and I didn’t just want to hold onto them. There are still heaps of songs I hold on to and never released, but I didn’t want to just never release anything and stop the momentum and stop pushing myself. Now, I’m starting to finally figure out what sound I like. I change my mind a lot, but as long as I stay true to who I am.
And a little fast forward - How are you feeling now that ‘Not The One’ is out?
I am so stoked! I love that song; it's been sitting in the archives for a year. It is cool to finally have that out. I love releasing songs and putting them out and seeing what everyone thinks, helping people feel like they have someone who understands what they are going through. Recently the most important part of making music has been enjoying the process and making sure I'm working with people that I love; I think it's really important. I’m so excited to have it out, but I'm prouder of myself for enjoying the process.
Where do you think you write your best songs?
I’ll let you know when I figure that out... Originally when I started writing music it was always on my bedroom floor. For me when it comes to making good songs, I don’t think there is any formula - as long as I’m writing from a really pure place emotionally then it comes naturally. ‘Wish We Had History’ was just written in my voice memos, half at a party and half while I was driving. ‘You Don’t Lie’ was written on my bedroom floor... so as long as it comes from a pure place then it’ll be a good song.
Next on the bucket list would be to release an EP?
Yes! The EP that is coming out in December! I’m so excited. This EP is going to be so cool, I'm super nervous as well as being excited. It’s the first time I've had a whole team behind me, it feels like there's more pressure. I’m trying to enjoy myself though! The process of this EP has been so fun, music should come from me trying to heal parts of myself, or express parts of who I am – and every single song on the EP was 100% like that.
What evolution do you think your EP shows in your journey as an artist?
In terms of my sound, I think I'm being more experimental. I’ve allowed more collaboration in this, so there’s just a lot more going on. I’ve been missing doing live shows so much, so these songs are arena ready... whereas the other songs were for my bedroom. I have a new confidence in my music.
What’s next on your bucket list?
There are so many things on my bucket list it's ridiculous, I always dream huge. I think something I would be so stoked with would be getting my song synced to a really beautiful film. One of those films that are filled with meaning and love, really aesthetically pleasing. That would be my biggest goal, I’m always thinking of cinematics when I make music, and I always focus on storytelling.
Get a taste of BEXY's upcoming EP 'Wear My Wounds Like Armour’ on Spotify below:
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