Betty Who collects ties. The Australian-born pop star reveals this particular sartorial preference shortly after she enters the photo studio at People's downtown Manhattan headquarters for her shoot and interview. "I love yours," she whispers, referencing this reporter's brown-and blue-striped tie. She's not wearing her favorite accessory herself just yet (she'll confab with her stylist and glam team imminently), but as she introduces herself to the crew on-set, she remains deep in conversation with People about how her affinity for ties runs so deep that her friends have begun purchasing them on her behalf.
Betty's here to discuss how she became a music industry disruptor, a label she relishes, by the way ("I love to disrupt things—you wouldn't believe it," she says). But a true and charming professional, she's managed to create an inclusive vibe for everyone on-set—including her fellow cover stars Charlotte Rose Benjamin, Black Gatsby, Mariangela and Olivia Reyes.
Together, the five musicians are taking on the music industry on their own terms, with their bright eyes and fresh faces. Literally, as everything from their eyeshadow down to their blush is from cosmetics brand e.l.f., which is putting its own spin on the "Get Ready With Me" trend with Get Ready With Music, The Album, out Oct. 15. It features tracks from these five artists and seven more, all chosen for their diverse musical styles and talents to create a playlist designed to amp up your night out.
"The music is so good," says Betty, who, despite her taste for ties, is never one to be creatively tied down. "I think that it's a perfect combination between these incredibly talented and wonderful people who are expressing themselves and e.l.f., which is a company that I think really prioritizes being yourself."
Betty Who Essentiel Antwerp jacket. Wrangler pants. Vaincourt belt. Hanes socks. Stylist's own shoes. Goshwara earrings. Talent's own rings.Betty Who has a bucket list, and in 2022 the singer, born Jessica Anne Newham, was able to cross one of her lifelong dreams off of it when she was featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Betty, 33, was born in Australia, where she spent the first part of her life, and where, she notes, they do not, in fact, celebrate Thanksgiving. From the moment she arrived in the U.S. in 2007, however, the parade had her completely captivated.
"I remember moving here and being like, 'Wow, this is such a big deal.' You're watching an episode of Friends, and they're talking about watching the parade on the TV. It's just a part of the culture. It's something that millions of Americans sit home and watch every year," she says. "To ride a float and be in the performance down the street [lined with] hundreds of thousands of people? They're all waving at you and looking up at you. It's special."
Betty had a literal place on a pedestal that day in November two years ago, and she also maintains a spot on a figurative pedestal, as the other artists featured on e.l.f.''s GRWM album look up to her (and not just because she's 6'2"). Betty—who identifies as queer and uses she/they pronouns—boasts more than a decade of experience in the music industry with plenty of infectious hits to her name, perhaps none more famous than "Somebody Loves You" and "I Love You Always Forever."
"I'm actually about to go play a show that's the 10-year anniversary show of my first album. So I'm in a very full-circle part of my life right now. It's really interesting to be having all these feels come up again," she says.
Betty credits her "whole career" to the LGBTQIA+ community, and her song "Wings" on the GRWM album seeks to amplify those voices much like her own. "My musicianship, my creativity, I think lives really hand in hand with my queerness, with my want to support and be a face for the LGBTQIA+ community. And I do feel a responsibility to, I guess, represent, but I think mostly hold space for others," she says. "I think that the best way to make other people feel safe is by being yourself. Because I've tried a bunch of other stuff, and it never really seems to work the same."
Betty's talents extend beyond just the world of music: In September 2023 she made her Broadway debut as Persephone in Hadestown. "When I went into my first day of rehearsal, I told the dance captain and director that the last time I was in a show, I was 11 years old at my all-girls school in Oliver! And I played the Undertaker, and I still remember the entire number," she says, breaking into song. "So it felt kind of insane to go from 11 years old in Oliver! to being on Broadway. I felt like I skipped a couple of steps!"
Still, the natural-born performer says the theater experience taught her more about herself than she could have imagined. For instance, it helped her realize that her love of people lends itself to this different expression of artistry. "Sometimes I actually prefer being a part of a cast as opposed to just me in the middle, on my own out there. I am a big team-sport person!" says Betty, adding that she's eager to write a musical of her own one day.
When she's not onstage or making music, the artist enjoys walking her German shepherd Hicks and hitting the gym. To unwind, she enjoys a nice, relaxing bath and a TV show. She's also working hard on "trying to be 'hashtag brave'," she says. "I think I've arrived at a place where I'm like, okay, enough being hard on myself or thinking that somebody else is more deserving. We're all just figuring it out."
In the end, she muses, one of the best pieces of life advice she's been given wasn't actually about life at all, but a lesson she learned during that pivotal Thanksgiving Day parade: "When you're on the float, make sure you look up."
Charlotte Rose Benjamin LARUICCI skirt & jacket. Larroudé boots. Von Dutch hat. Goshwara earrings. LARUICCI ring. Alice Pierre ring. Ray Griffiths ring.The year may be 2024, but the '90s are calling to Charlotte Rose Benjamin. The indie rocker—think Sheryl Crow meets Avril Lavigne —is here to write proudly about what she knows: "I guess the theme of my songs is being a girl," the 28 year-old quips. The "Hairpin" singer, whose sophomore album, Moth Mouth, dropped in September, grew up in a creative household with a father who was a singer and guitar player and a mother who was a modern dancer. "I just was always watching my dad play out at bar gigs, and I was always singing," she says.
Still, confidence doesn't come easy, and "feeling empowered and feeling strong and brave isn't so natural for me," Benjamin confesses. "I don't know how to channel bravery or empowerment. It's really hard. I don't think a lot of people feel that way all the time. I definitely don't."
Instead, Benjamin acknowledges her self-doubt, singing about how she finds solace and strength in knowing she's far from perfect. "Feeling confident and feeling empowered for me comes from knowing that I'm going to make a mistake," the singer says. "I think being really honest is a way to be disruptive."
Mariangela Adrienne Landau faux fur coat. Giuseppe Zanotti boots. Goshwara rings. Stylist's own top, pants & earrings.She may have more than 200,000 followers on Instagram, but 23-year-old Mariangela has one thing in common with practically every other girl in the world: She loves to spill the tea.
"There goes my oversharing!" the Latin pop singer says with a laugh at the start of her interview. Born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, Mariangela Guerra (who goes by her first name professionally) was 9 when her family moved to Texas—an experience that heavily influenced who she is as an artist and as a person.
"My dad is from Veracruz, which is a completely different side of Mexico than Monterrey, and then being in Texas and getting to know the culture there too, it's been enlightening," she says. "I think that's fueled my creativity as well. I'm filled with so much love and colors and history."
Her music, which she says is as "nostalgic as it is spiritual," is inspired by her diverse tastes, and her single "Frágil" featuring Cola Boyy off the GRWM album is no exception.
"When we were young, my brother and I used to share only one iPod. [It was] my mom, my dad, and my brother and I," she says. "Everybody's music was on there, so you just had to shuffle through the songs. It was Vicente Fernández, who is a very famous and talented Mexican legend. Then it was Selena Gomez. Then after that, it was hard rock from my dad, and then '80s rock, and then from that, Shakira! I feel like, subconsciously, all those sounds really stuck in my brain. So everything that I do naturally is influenced by all that music—where I come from, my Mexican side, and where I've been living the other half of my life. I'm pretty blessed."
Black Gatsby Brooks Brothers jacket, vest & pants. The Tie Bar pin. Aldo shoes. Goshwara earrings. Talent's own hat.Like his literary namesake, Black Gatsby created his own identity and world. Born D'Angelo Lacy in Oklahoma and raised in Dallas, the pop singer-songwriter is pursuing a career in music while balancing a 9-to-5 career in operations. His stage name Black Gatsby allows him to breathe life into another persona, and the moniker is born out of a love he's always had for F. Scott Fitzgerald's equally engaging and mysterious character inThe Great Gatsby.
"I read the book, and then I reread the book, and I was like, 'What if Gatsby was Black? What would he talk about? What would be his perspective?' Because from the book you mainly get other people's versions of who he was, but you never hear him talk in his own voice and see through his eyes," the 37-year-old performer says. "Let me be the eyes."
Makeup and over-the-top costuming (think blush "to the heavens" and wigs and high heels) are crucial to his public-facing persona. Without that "armor," he says, "I don't feel fully dressed for Black Gatsby for a performance if my face is not on."
And in much the same way Black Gatsby—who released his debut album, House of Gatsby, in 2022—has challenged character archetypes, he's applied a kind of iconoclasm to his career. "I've not really followed rules. I've never signed a record deal. I've always been independent, taken the longer route. It, for me, has to be from my voice, my ideas, my choice," he says, "and that's something I've always stood by as an artist."
Olivia Reyes Christian Cowan jacket, skirt & bra. Stylist's own shoes. Alexis Bittar earrings. Nickho Rey Rings.Talent's own necklace & bracelets.Olivia Reyes grew up during the era of Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel, and now she's living her own version of the best of both worlds. By day the 23-year-old works as a people development coordinator for e.l.f., but she's also pursuing a singing career. When Reyes was just 19, she auditioned for The Voice, landing a spot on John Legend's team.
"The way that he spoke, the way that he interacted with people, it was very personable, it was very intentional, and I definitely think that changed my perspective," she says. "He knew what he was saying. He didn't speak just to speak, especially when it came to giving any advice."
Reyes had another on-the-spot moment when, in the span of a split second, she had to summon the courage to sing onstage in front of her e.l.f. colleagues during a corporate retreat. That was how the brand discovered her not-so-hidden talent.
"I just blacked out and started singing. And apparently it was good!" Reyes says. "I was just very overwhelmed, but that's when everybody found out."
Her career may be just beginning, but she already knows where she'd like to end up: "Being able to combine my passion for entertainment and singing and music with my passion for beauty and fashion? That would be my dream job, in whatever capacity that looks like," she says. It's no surprise then, that her contribution to the GRWM album is a song aptly titled "Dream" —and Reyes is ready to realize her own. "I strongly believe if you have confidence in yourself," she says, "then everyone else will too."
Betty Who: KYLE'LYK top. Garage Clothing pants. Dr Martens shoes. LARUICCI Ear Cuff. APOA Earrings. Talent's own rings. Black Gatsby: IRO Paris jumpsuit. Aldo shoes. Stylist's own earrings. Charlotte Rose Benjamin: Veronica Beard top. AVKNVAS pants. Aldo shoes. Alice Pierre rings. Stylist's own earrings. Mariangela: AKNVAS Dress. LARUICCI Boots. Nickho Rey Earrings & Rings. Olivia Reyes: Alice + Olivia dress. Stylist's own shoes. Alexis Bittar earrings. Alice Pierre rings. Talent's own necklace & bracelets.
No comments:
Post a Comment