BENEE

With her notably smoky, stylized vocals and introspective lyrics, BENEE marries sophisticated soul and playful alt-pop. She initially hit the charts with her 2018 single “Soaked,” before cracking the Top 20 in her native New Zealand with her debut EP, the soul-slanted Fire on Marzz, in 2019. Her quirkier, collaboration-heavy debut album, Hey U X, went all the way to number two.
Born in 2000 in the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn, Stella Bennett first began posting songs online during her final year of high school. It was during this period that she adopted the abbreviated alias Bene. Her tracks caught the ear of producers and Leisure bandmates Josh Fountain and Jason Suskov, who began mentoring her and helping her develop her sound. In 2017, she released the single “Tough Guy,” followed a year later by “Soaked,” the latter of which reached number 14 on the singles chart in her home country. After tweaking her name to BENEE (a move to avoid pronunciation confusion), she signed to Republic Records and released her debut EP, 2019′s Fire on Marzz. The EP, which included “Soaked,” was also a hit, peaking at 13 on New Zealand’s album chart. Also that year, she issued her second EP, Stella & Steve, which cracked the Top 20 in New Zealand and landed on the Billboard 200.
In November 2020, BENEE released her debut full-length album, Hey U X, which featured songwriting collaborations and production by Josh Fountain. Included were guest appearances from Lily Allen, Grimes, Flo Milli, and others. It went to number two in New Zealand, matching the chart placement of the single “Supalonely,” a collaboration with Gus Dapperton that also charted in Australia and across Europe while reaching number 39 on the U.S. Hot 100. She followed up the album in early 2022 with the EP LYCHEE, which included songs penned by Kenny Beats and Rostam. ~ Marcy Donelson