Talking To: Anna Bea
Anna Bea, is a 20 year old singer-songwriter, and is a perfect example of what we strive to champion here at The Everyday Magazine; elevating into the spotlight those who are ploughing their spare time and passion into the creative pursuits that make them tick, whilst holding down a busy daytime persona.
Anna is about to start her third year of her history degree at Bristol University, but at the same time is taking the mantel from other females in her musical family, and forging a career independently as a folk-pop singer songwriter, with no label and manager doing all the hard work for her.
We caught up with her recently to talk female empowerment, influences, inspiration, juggling her degree and making music, her upcoming EP and why it is such a good thing to try out going it alone.
So Anna, you are back home in London at the moment, but you have been busy releasing singles this summer?
Yeah, my first single Bleeding Heart came out on June 23rd, and my second was released on August 4th. I have four single releases planned; there are 6 weeks between each song and the full EP should be out in October. This is my first time releasing music and I am just so excited, because the response so far has been so good.
You are studying history at the moment; how is it juggling studying and a burgeoning career as a singer songwriter?
I think being based in Bristol has really helped, because Bristol has such a buzzing music scene, and being able to go to lots of open mic nights there has been really great. I think it is going to be more difficult next year (Anna is starting her third year of her History degree this Autumn), because last year I was less serious about my work than I am now. I want to get a degree before I properly go for it full time singing. I actually think it has been a good thing studying history. Because I think doing all of this by myself, I have had to contact different journalists, read through a lot of stuff, there are lots of overlapping skills.
That’s interesting to hear, because you would never think that studying history and a music career would overlap and support each other at all.
Yeah exactly.
You mentioned the live music scene being good in Bristol - were you performing in Bristol before lock down?
Yes, I was doing lots of open mics. I think my favourite places to perform in Bristol were Mr Wolfs, and Leftbank, both were a lot of fun. I also like Bar 135 on Whiteladies Road and also Basement 45; I did a gig there which was really cool. I also have a band in Bristol and we performed at the Marriot in December, which was also really cool. Because it’s just me and my guitar usually, having a band, and being able to move around more and be more of a performer, is great.
What are you looking forward to most about coming back to Bristol in September?
I am looking forward to seeing all of my friends, who I have missed out on seeing because of covid. I am looking forward to writing with people in Bristol, performing, doing some more gigs, and hopefully releasing some more music after the EP this year.
How are you coping in this age of coronavirus?
It’s given me time to really focus on my music, which I wouldn’t have had otherwise. These four songs have been produced and ready to go for months, but I haven’t had time to really sit down and plan a proper campaign, so it has given me time to do that and I just wanted to use this time really well, put it to good use. I hope that the next step is that places open up more and allow live music.
Do you write, produce and mix your own music as well?
So I write them all, in terms in production, I recorded the guitars, but the piano and drums are actually recorded by a producer, and singer and producer called Jessica Sharman, who has actually been my singing teacher since I was 11. That has been great because I have worked with her for so long. And another guy called Brad Mair, who has mixed everything.
So who influences you? And what were you listening to when you were younger?
I think my family has been a big influence on me, because I come from quite a musical family. My Mum is a backing singer in a band, and they have done some really cool gigs, with artists like Steve Winwood and Beverley Knight. Growing up watching her perform has been really great. My sister is also a singer-songwriter, she has been writing for longer than I have been writing. I think I was envious that she was writing and I was just doing covers, so that really inspired me to start to write.
Outside influences; I love a musician called Ash; she is pretty new on the scene but she has just released this song called Moral of the Story. I love her melodies, the production; she has quite a conversational way of talking in her lyrics. Also FINNEAS who is Billy Eilishes brother, he has released a really cool EP called Blood Harmony.
Apart from that I am a big fan of the old stuff really. I need to listen to more new music! I am a huge fan of Billy Joel, Elton John and Sara Bareilles. She is less well known but she is a really cool American singer songwriter, and wrote the songs for a musical called Waitress. She is a big influence on me.
Are you particularly inspired by female singer songwriters?
Definitely. And the track Bleeding Heart that just came out, a portion of the proceeds of that will go to Women's Aid, the domestic abuse charity, which I think is a really important cause to be aware of especially now, with the surge of domestic violence cases because of the coronavirus.
That was one of my questions actually, what inspired you to write a song with domestic abuse as the subject?
I think it was kind of inspired by the idea of toxic relationships; girls who feel trapped and don’t feel they are strong enough to break out of a bad relationship. Then I just thought, well, it has always been a cause I have been passionate about, but at the moment it just seems particularly relevant, so I decided release the single and donate some of the proceeds.
What other subjects feed into your music?
My second single ‘People Keep Telling Me’ was inspired by the fact that I was really tired of going to all these parties and the first question people would ask would be ‘Oh, where’s your boyfriend?’ ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ Why is that the first thing you have to ask me? Why not ask me how my music career is going? How my degree is going? It’s a song about confidence, about female empowerment. I want that song to embody strong females.
I draw from personal experiences a lot in my writing. Another song I am releasing is called Cold and that was inspired by a student house I lived in in Bristol with seven other students, a few of the guys refused to turn the heating on, and the house was so cold. You wouldn’t know from the song it was necessarily about heating, but there were so many arguments, as there often are in student houses!
What is coming up next? Your immediate plans are to get back to Bristol, carry on performing, and finish your degree. What do you envision happening after that in your music career?
So I would love to support myself financially through music; play at festivals, and have people genuinely engaged with my music. I can see on Spotify a breakdown of all the countries people are listening from, for some reason I have lots of listeners in South America, so if I was able to do a couple of gigs there that would be beyond amazing.
Are you looking for a record deal eventually, or do you like the idea of staying DIY?
I have been thinking about this a lot recently; at the moment I am loving that I am doing this independently, that I am representing myself, making my own decisions, because I think that I can then be held accountable. To have management later down the line would be amazing, because I am finding it quite overwhelming at the moment, but I am learning so much, it is an amazing process to go through. And a record deal? Yeah, that would be amazing, but I think there are so many artists being successful without a record deal nowadays; it seems at the moment that there is a bit of shift away from record labels. I am going to see, I am not sure yet.
And do you have any words of advice for anyone reading this who may be thinking about trying to start out with a professional music career?
I would say absolutely go for it. You lose nothing through trying. There is so much to learn, but there are so many resources available now for independent musicians. I found tutorials on Youtube that were really helpful, getting a distributor to put out your music on other platforms; that is really easy and inexpensive. But mainly, just go for it, because you never know what is going to happen.