Bio

BENEE is the dreamy voice of a disaffected generation, breaking through in 2020 with Supalonely, her irresistible, four billion streaming alt-pop banger that practically defined the pandemic experience. Twenty-three-year-old Stella Bennett mixes her deeply heartfelt reflections on life in suburban Auckland, New Zealand, with offbeat and often whimsical lyrical encounters with zombies and snails, all produced with a technicolour ear for cooked beats and unpredictable hooks.

A fervent online following and been drawn to BENEE’s two intriguing EP releases, Fire On Marzz and Stella and Steve before her guest-packed, yet highly personal album, Hey u x was released at the tail end of 2020.

The album was a vibrant musical world with guests ranging from Grimes and Lily Allen to Gus Dapperton and Muroki (another New Zealander BENEE has since signed to her own label, Olive Records). It was listed as one of Billboard’s 25 Best Pop Albums of 2020, noting that BENEE “contemplates the woes of Gen Z with a keen ear for choruses and arrangements that oscillate between indie rock and hyper pop”. Stereogum praised its “quirky but impeccably produced pop music” and Vogue called it “13 tracks of heavenly indie-alt-pop”.

?Platinum Awards piled up around the globe and she performed Supalonely — live from New Zealand on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Ellen Degeneres Show and Late Night With Seth Meyers and recorded a heartfelt live version of album opener Happen To Me for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

A year on, BENEE returned with new music in the form of Doesn’t Matter, another deeply revealing track that reflects the singer’s journey through the emotional clatter of 2021.

Heading out of lockdown in her New Zealand home to work on sessions in LA, which formed the basis of her third EP, Lychee, released in 2022. The seven-track EP is filled with dreamy alt-pop mixes and deeply heartfelt reflections on life. The Lychee EP features tracks penned with Greg Kurstin, Kenny Beats, and Rostam in Los Angeles. Back in New Zealand, she finished up three tracks with her regular collaborator Josh Fountain, including the already-released Doesn’t Matter, which has gathered over 5.5 million Spotify streams and 400K YouTube views on the music video which BENEE also co-directed.

BENEE’s lockdown escape route also took on a whirlwind fifty-date world tour as its path, which included slots at Austin City Limits Music Festival, Gov Ball NYC and Bonaroo Festival. Culminating in the release of a turbocharged electro-banger called Green Honda. The single, released in early 2023, came about quickly in a session booked between touring Australia and Europe in 2022. Stopping in LA for a day’s recording with Swedish writers Elvira Anderfjard and Luka Kloser. The song was written that day and produced collaboratively as BENEE returned to the road with her band.

Embarking on such an impressive tour gave BENEE the chance to unleash herself on stage and she took to it with all her technicolored fashion-forward energy. Her shows reflect the energy of those recordings — genre-hopping tunes that pack her instinctive, hyper-connective hits alongside her contemplative lyrical side.

BENEE made the move to Los Angeles in 2023, celebrating her relocation with two stand-out performances at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, a self-acclaimed career highlight for the young pop star.

Band Members:
Stella Bennett

Links

• Artist Website
• Facebook Page
• Twitter Page
• Youtube Page
• Instagram Page
• Spotify Page