With it being a new year, we’re all about new talent and top of our list is alt-pop artist Beck Pete with her new single “Softie”. Gently ushering us into feel-good soundscape filled with twangy guitar melodies and subtle drums, the artist croons over the smooth production while introducing retro synths and contemporary pop. Taking her vocals to new heights over the chorus, the singer bursts through the single and instantly incapsulates those late summer moments driving across the country.

Speaking on the release, the artist said, “This song is about internalizing your own worth, and in this instance, taking a step back and letting others realize it too. I whisper sang this song over and over to myself in my room with wet cheeks and tired eyes until I finally was able to truly know mine, and if someone else is able to do the same, I’ve done my job.”

Marking a start of a new chapter with this single, the artist teases that she is ready to branch away from the depths of heartbreak and embrace a new start filled with self-discovery and vulnerability. Catching up with us virtually, the artist gets real on new music, the pandemic and staying positive.

Check out the release below now and interview

Hey Beck! How are you? How would you sum up your 2021?
Other than COVID barging in and canceling my most-looked-forward-to show and breaking my heart a little, I’m great! 2021 was a year of constant recalibration and self-discovery… so, as much as it was difficult to get through, it left me with a bunch of new song babies, a more informed perspective on the world and my place in it, and a more sustainable pace. I feel rich with lessons from these past 12 months and I’m mostly grateful for them on the days that I get enough sleep the night before. 2022 feels bright and shiny though, am I right?

How did you first get into music, what sparked the interest?
I’m sure this has been oversaid, but I sort of feel like music chose me. I don’t have many memories of early, early childhood – blame the trauma and excessive teenage drinking for that, so I guess maybe there’s a special defining moment that I could be missing, but from what I remember it was always just a part of me. My body always wiggled to the beat of some sort of drum, and my soul latched onto melodies and memorized them to sing to myself… and often to others from the nearest tabletop. I was much more outgoing then. The one thing I do feel like I chose was storytelling. I just loved how a story could transport you, and how deeply it could make you feel. I wanted to do that for people. So, logically, I started writing little books about cats at 4 years old during recess, moving onto poetry by nine. An old soul with a lot to say before I even had anything to really talk about, I suppose. I’m thankful that music and storytelling belong together – the soulmate that I found and leaned into, and the one that I didn’t get to choose.

Where are you from? Do you think your area/hometown inspired you?
I’m from Vacaville, CA, right in the middle between Sacramento and San Francisco. The fact that I was so close to areas with such heartbeats, and more cultural influence, always kept me longing for growth – which was formative. Vacaville was small, and I always felt meant for a place that felt as big and sparkly as my dreams, so I rebelled against it. Regardless, I was still inspired to create by the people there, by friendship, by love… but I guess that could have been anywhere. Los Angeles now feels like home to me.

Talk us through your new single “Softie”, what was your mindset going into it?
“Softie” was written out of necessity. I needed to repeat over and over to myself that I wasn’t going to keep chasing people not ready to love me in order to believe it. I wrote this song for myself, and played it badly all alone in my room with wet cheeks over 100 times before I even thought about releasing it. I don’t know how many times it took for me to mean it. Probably 100. It wasn’t until after this song helped to heal me, that I even thought of releasing it. Now, I realize “Softie” could be the song for anyone who needs to scream that they are worth the love that they’ve always wanted 100 times in order to drill it into their thick, traumatized skull. There’s truly no need to chase it. I believe that if we want to be courted, and we leave space for it, we will be, baby!! It’s time we all see that.

Is all about becoming the best version of ourselves, why did you focus on this?
To find love like the kind we seek from the moment we watch our first sappy love movie, we first need to honour ourselves. I truly believe that it is only once we stop looking for it, and radiate the most radical self-love, that we attract our most ideal matches. One of my life goals is still to find a partner, but I want to find a partner who wants the most intricate, full, shiny-from-the-inside-out version of me. I want a healthy, lively relationship. There’s self-work that’s necessary there to attract the right person, and for it to last, in my opinion.

What do you want people to take away from your music?
I want people to feel like it’s cool to feel shit. That’s what music is about, isn’t it? Accessing a feeling. Matching or changing a mood. I want my music to help people do any and all of those things when they need it to, and I want my stories to make people feel seen.

Who would you say inspires you?
The man walking his elderly dog at the park with the pink shoelaces and grumpy ass face inspires me just as much as my lover when they take their first bite of something fucking delicious, or the way that the sky looks different from everywhere in the world at the same time, or – of course – the music of my favourite artists/bands, Imogen Heap, Phantogram, Remi Wolf, Laura Mvula, Bon Iver, Alt-J. That’s actually what’s allowed me to keep going, I think. I’m so sensitive to, inspired and emotionally influenced by, my surroundings and the specificity in the world. Everything inspires me when I let it… but even if I don’t want to – when inspiration is all around you, it’s difficult to ignore for long.

What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Releasing these singles from my debut album Scared Of Everything and finding true love – the IG filter said I would, so…