A BOOK OF interview Australian pop singer BEL

Melbourne-based experiential artist Bel has been consistently releasing new music that invites you to her world to experience her raw and refreshing take on music. The multi-talented singer’s unapologetic music is sensual, experiential, and allows you to dig deep into yourself, and into her pool of poetry and art.

Bel’s influences range from FKA Twigs, Sevdaliza, Banks, Arca, Solange and more. She recently released a beautiful and dark, music video for her song Spectre. Bel loves layers of meanings. Metaphors are her friends, and she have an innate affinity to art and fashion. This makes her and her music more special.

In this exclusive interview, the talented artist shared to us her processes, how fashion and art itself influences her, the importance of collaboration, and what’s in store for her in 2020.

You released a new track called “Better Than Me” and I read that it is meant to be a sensual experience right? What’s the story behind the track?

I wrote it when I was in Sweden. Essentially, it’s running through the narrative of a young woman who’s journeying from being passive to more active and more assertive in what she’s worth and really demanding for respect. I think that for me, as a young woman, I think I’m at a point in my life where I’m learning to demand more respect for myself, which I think is something more women should aspire to learn. And it is essentially saying to anyone or anything that made you feel you are less – “well, you will never find anyone better than me”, which is the lyrics.

MAKEUP: JOSEPH ADIVARI, HAIR: MATILDE CAMPOS @ SIXK LA

How do your eyes see art? Art from the eyes of Bel.

I view art with so much admiration. That is the first thing that comes to my mind whether it’s paintings or sculptures, or music, or dance; I have so much admiration and respect for all artists. I tend to view art in general, with a very analytical eye. I think that’s partly because of my family’s medical and academic backgrounds. So when I look at art, I tend to break down what it means, what it makes me feel; the metaphors. I’m really really into metaphors. So I tend to break it down and understand it on a couple of different mediums and it helps me interpret it in my own ways and I make own art from there.

There is a sense of rawness and freedom in you and your music that is really quite refreshing. What are the highs and the lows of having that openness, freedom and rawness?

This is actually such a good question and I like how it’s not just one of the normal tell me about yourself questions. So my fundamental belief is that as an artist, you have a duty to be honest. When you put yourself in the public eye, in my mind, there is a lot of responsibility. In the day and age where everyone is online comparing themselves to everyone else’s picture perfect show reels, I feel like as an artis,t it is my duty to be honest, and that is showcasing the beauty and the ugly of life. Rawness and openness for me is crucial. It’s so much easier that way. When people fake it and when people try and present themselves as perfect, that their lives are perfect and that they’re happy all the time, I just roll my eyes to it. I’m just like, this isn’t real. This isn’t relatable. And at the end of the day, what I want more than anything else is to be relatable. So if that means, showcasing the shit in my life, I’ll do it. I don’t care.

How would you describe your evolution as an artist?

My evolution is continuous. If I ever, ever say anywhere that I have evolved to my peak point or whatever, just shoot me down because I just don’t believe in that. I think there’s always more to learn, there’s always more to grow. Especially as a female, I feel like I have to be even more on my game. So whether it’s learning new production techniques, writing for others or mixing and mastering, learning analog sounds, it doesn’t matter, I feel like the evolution shouldn’t stop until the day I fall down to the grave. That’s my belief. Perfectionistic attitude. I would say.

What’s the metaphor that you would use to describe your music?

A metaphor that I would use to describe my music is –the one that kind of comes to mind is a leopard that can’t change its spots. It’s something that my great grandfather used to say all the time. At the end of the day, the image may change, my visuals may change, I may evolve as an artist, but I will always be the person that I am and I hope that always comes through in my music. I don’t believe that the fundamental core values within me will ever change. Hence, the leopard who can’t really change their spots.

That’s really beautiful.

Thank you!

You’ve collaborated with several artists in the past whether in shoots, videos and music. How important is the collaboration process for you? Which artists do you wish to collaborate with next?

I love this question. So when I was a teenager, I used to be a little brat. I used to be the person that thought I could do it all on my own. I wanted to do it on my own to prove to others that I am entirely self-made. Whereas I look back on my former self and I was like, Bel you are such an idiot. You learn so much more from other people that you do from yourself.

Collaboration for me is like so important now. So whether it’s like collaborating with musical artists, or visual artists, designers, they all hold a really important purpose with me because you learn so much with every person that you work with. And it’s important to be open to learning from everyone else but yourself. My dream artist to work with, artist designers, if I had to choose a musical artist, I would choose ARCA whose a musical producer, or Thom Yorke, FKA Twigs, Sevdaliza for musical artists. Designers, too many to name.

Speaking of designers, Music and Fashion seems like a seamless experience for you. How important is fashion in your art?

The importance of fashion in my art is pretty much as important as music itself. My evolution and growth in music was hand-in-hand with my fashion experience. I have a background in styling, in creative direction, and visual arts. So I would be doing a disservice to myself and my desires if I didn’t prioritize fashion. But I think for me as well, my goals in fashion is different. I would love to collaborate with brands and co-design and even design a set for a runway and that kind of thing. I also think that there’s a lot of things in fashion that needs to change. Diversity of minority groups, body image, just getting rid of the artificial beauty standards. So I have other goals within fashion. But they’re hand in hand for me. And if you look at the criteria for what comprises art, whether it’s music, fashion, or painting, it all kind of fits the same criterion. For me it’s just like an extension of music.

You mentioned in one interview that you have an alter-ego, that there’s Isabella and Bel. Which one is which and how well do they work with each other?

I do feel like I’m two people. Or I have two parts of me. I’ve got the Isabel, which is the girl that I was born, the girl that I am in my personal life and that girl is super dorky, very nerdy, always 5 minutes early, klutzy, really cuddly, a little bit awkward, very introverted.

But then I’ve got my Bel persona which doesn’t give a fuck. She’s super feisty, she’s mysterious and aloof and extremely confident, but not in like an arrogant way. Just more of an internal way. And they both serve purposes especially going into this industry that can be very cutthroat. I feel like I need my Bel persona but I also need by Isabel persona to remain grounded. So they both served me really important purposes and self-protection mechanisms.

What should we expect from Bel in 2020?

Lots of music. Music that I’ve been waiting for a long time to release. A plethora of music videos. Lots of visual art. And a couple of collaborations in fashion which is very exciting. And hopefully a tour. I’m open to anything!

If you were a book, what book would you be and why?

I’m tempted to choose something really dark. But I won’t. I will pick book of longing by leonard Cohen. It’s my favorite book of all time. It’s a poetry book. I’ve read t at least 10 times. It’s the most beautiful, authentic, humble poetry book. It’s melancholic, it’s really sad but it’s also really beautiful. So it’s kinda like me. Hopefully.