FEATURE:
In the Moment
Returning to the Brilliant Bellah
_________
I have covered this artist before….
in the form of an interview and a Spotlight feature. Today, I want to come back to the amazing Bellah (Isobel Akpobire), as she is getting serious attention right now. Being hailed as a superb British artist that is helping to bring R&B to the mainstream, I want to spend a bit more time with her. Make sure that you go and follow her. The London-born, Essex-based artist is one of our greatest treasures. Before coming to a couple of different interviews, including a recent feature in NME, here Bellah gives us some introduction and background:
“Introduce for yourself for those who don’t know you, who is Bellah?
Bellah is an Rnb Artist from the Uk! Born in North London living in Essex. Just a black girl making music I think is cool.
How would you describe your sound in 3 words?
Conversational, sweet, heartfelt
When did you realise that music was something that you could take seriously?
When I was 17. I met my management and they helped me actualise my dreams. They really helped me make sense of everything.
What were you listening to when you were growing up?
Michael Jackson, Destiny’s Child, ABBA, Luther Vandross, Lauren Hill, Stevie wonder - All the best people really x
And what are you listening to now?
I’m listening to a lot of SZA, Victoria Monet, Asa, Savannah Rè
Your fave artists in the UK and worldwide?
Tiana Major 9 and SZA
What can we expect from you in the next few years and beyond?
More music and more looks hopefully! I want my supporters to grow with me as I’m figuring all this life stuff out”.
Prior to getting to that recent interview, there is a 2022 interview from The Line of Best Fit that I want to focus on. It was great getting to interview Bellah a while back. Since then, she has released so many terrific songs that see her go from strength to strength. Her Adultsville long-E.P./album was released last year and received acclaim. I wonder whether she is planning an album soon. In any case, this is someone that everyone needs to know more about. A wonderful artist with a very bright future, she spoke to The Line of Best Fit about how challenging it is to get an R&B noticed when it is not the most trending or popular genre. There is an extra pressure when you are British – as R&B is seen very much as an American genre:
“Listening to people such as Frank Ocean, SZA, Brandy, and Daniel Caesar unlocked a world of alt-R&B that soon became integrated into her new sound, along with a new philosophy: “It’s just about putting out good music, and the people will decide and the people will let you know,” she says. “In a time where we can't dictate what a hit is. Now that I'm comfortable in that realisation, I'm just making whatever makes me feel good.”
Though R&B is close to Akpobire’s heart, it’s a uniquely difficult genre to make music in these days. UK R&B artists have made a concerted effort to uplift and support each other, but she cites two main challenges in making R&B. “It just goes back to the fact that we are very small island and R&B is not the number one genre here and it's not ours,” she explains.
“We are small, we have a crabs-in-a-barrel mentality. We’re all in such close proximity, that when someone is ascending, it’s hard to support because automatically, there’s comparison. We think that only one person can make it, or one person can make it at a time, when there's so much space.”
Another issue, she believes, is that as R&B originated from America, artists there are naturally better at it. “They just do it better because they own it – it like, we do grime better because it’s ours, they can’t do it,” she says. “In order for R&B artists to really go there, I think they need to study. We have a song problem here. It's not that you don't sound great, the song’s not great and can't connect. I think a lot of us need to work more with writers and get out of our own way because it's not about you doing everything yourself. Collaboration is the best.”
Funnily enough, Akpobire claims that American artists are now turning to the UK for their source of R&B. “There's a comment under my colours that says London right now is like New York in the nineties where there was just so much fresh talent coming. That's crazy for an American to say about our scene!”
Akpobire has also found support outside of the UK scene. She recently met Temz and SZA, the latter of which she saw at Wireless, where Akpobire herself was performing, too. “Every time I meet my idols, it humbles me and energises me at the same time because I'm like, there was probably a point where you were literally where I am.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Garry Jones
SZA in particular has been a core influence for Akpobire; meeting her was incredibly nerve-wracking. “I was shaking before I went into the room and then I saw her face. She's so lovely and she's so incredible. She’s so normal! Just knowing that incredible music comes from her very incredible mind, but she's just a normal girl. It’s an inspiration; there's nothing that separates you from this woman, apart from the fact that she's just making incredible music and you too are making incredible music and one day, the world will know it.”
Akpobire hopes the world will know it with Adultsville, which she has tried to make more conceptual and coherent than previous releases. “I had the name of the EP before I had any songs on the project, so the music has been curated, the sound, what we wanted to do, how we wanted it to come across, how we wanted it to feel,” she says. “What's amazing is I'm simultaneously living the experiences that I've been singing about, it’s no longer in hindsight. This is where I am at.”
Right now, Akpobire is in a transitory stage most of us in our twenties find ourselves in: wanting to change yourself for the better, and having absolutely no idea how to. But for Akpobire, change was almost a product of circumstance: “In my head, I was like, I want to mature my sound, mature my music, I was focussing on the music so much. I just feel like God said, ‘oh, you need to go through it for you to actually write about it, babe!’ So here you go – bam! Here’s the song! I was like, okaaaay! Cool!”.
I am going to finish off with that interview with NME. It is one that brought Bellah back into my mind. As we discover in her chat with NME, Bellah is R&B through and though. She has this new and palpable confidence that will see her make British R&B worldwide and talked about. She is also a magnificence screen presence. Someone who could have a long career in acting too:
“Bellah is leading a double life. The London songwriter has recently been filming for Channel 4’s adaptation of Candice Carty-Williams’ bestselling novel Queenie, where she plays Kyazike, the titular character’s friend. It’s her first on-screen role – and she hadn’t read the book prior to filming, “but as I’m reading the script, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is fantastic’,” she tells NME over lunch in north London. Filming has involved a lot of long days, made tougher by the fact that Bellah is working on new music alongside acting, with plans to release before the end of the year. “When this is all done, I’m going to throw my hat like it’s graduation,” she says.
The 26-year-old has a lot to celebrate, especially when it comes to music. Her initial breakthrough moment came in 2021, when she released a performance of her smoky R&B hit ‘Evil Eye’ on the COLORS platform, quickly racking up over a million views. That same year, she was nominated for a MOBO award for Best R&B/Soul Act. Since then, she’s supported Nigerian superstar Tems, and has received nods from her “personal heroes” SZA and Ella Mai. But 2023 is shaping up to be her biggest year yet. So far, she’s landed on the NME 100 and played SXSW, The Great Escape and Glastonbury, and collaborated with FLO on their recent track ‘Suite Life (Familiar)’ – all without any backing from a major label.
PHOTO CREDIT: Fiona Garden
or Bellah, there is a distinct process to the way she makes music. When asked about how she writes songs, Bellah points at the plate of mango and lime chicken in front of her and says, “Food… and conversation.” She continues: “I never go into a session and say ‘Let’s write a song’.” Instead, she starts by asking questions like, “‘How’s your day been? What are you going through? Who’s hurt you?’
“I want to say what you’ve never said out loud on the songs so that you feel seen. The worst thing in life is loneliness; not necessarily being alone but feeling lonely,” she adds. She points to SZA’s seminal ‘Ctrl’ as a key reference point; the 2017 album also inspired many of Bellah’s peers, from Baby Rose to Dreamer Isioma. “I was like, ‘This is the most vulnerable shit I’ve ever heard in my life,’” she says of hearing the record for the first time.
“We’re individuals but none of our experiences are unique. If you’ve been through it, a hundred people have been through it,” Bellah says of her own songwriting. This approach carries over to her live shows, during which she aims to “build a community” with her burgeoning fanbase, having recently sold out a headline show at London’s Lafayette. “Who here is too broke to afford therapy? ” Bellah asked her audience at The Great Escape in May. “That’s why you write songs guys!”
She’s also inspired by the close-knit nature of this current cohort of modern British R&B acts, including her friends Shaé Universe, Mnelia and Jvck James; they are all supportive of one another, Bellah explains, and regularly attend each other’s performances. “What excites me is that we can coexist and have our own individual take on what we think the genre is,” she says.
Looking towards the future, Bellah says she’d like to see this culture-blending approach used in a way to expand what R&B means in the current landscape. “We’re diaspora kids,” she explains. “We’re kids that have moved around a lot, and have seen a lot of things. We’re kids that have different cultures infused in us, so Afro-R&B is a thing, R&B and drill [crossover] exists. I think it’s time to widen the lens on the stories that can be told underneath the umbrella of R&B”.
I have loved Bellah’s music for a long time now. It is amazing seeing her come through and be hailed as a modern-day R&B queen. I am excited to see where she goes next and where her music takes her. I can see Bellah playing in the U.S., in addition to balancing that with some big acting roles. A sensational talent, the mighty Bellah should be on everyone’s radar. She might be a name new to you at the moment but, soon enough, Bellah will conquer. She is truly…
A legend-in-waiting.