BSHP RELEASES DEBUT SINGLE ‘NEVER MIND’
Rising star bshp releases her debut single ‘NEVER MIND’ via Island Records
The R&B/pop singer who you may know under her previous stage name - Gabriella Vixen, has been making waves in 2020. From dropping her captivating soulful cover of ‘Kissing You’, originally sung by Des’ree, that caught the attention of Love Island producers and even Des’ree herself. Bshp’s cover was broadcast on the show to set the scene of Nas and Demi’s first kiss, gaining over 16k Shazams overnight and over 2 million streams organically, as well as joining Sigala on his UK nationwide tour earlier this yea
The exceptionally talented bshp has undeniable vocal skills, with her powerful and gripping voice that is enough to stop people in their tracks. She continues making waves with her first Island single ‘Never Mind’ - a sultry jam begging a crush to make his move - speaking about her new song bshp says:
“I wrote it with two of my really good friends who have seen two very different walks of life. We just wanted to write something that was just upbeat and different. it was kind of an imaginary situation, really, but it's just about finding a new person and being excited about them.”
‘Never Mind’ is out now on Island Records Listen now– https://bshp.lnk.to/NeverMind
The R&B/pop singer who you may know under her previous stage name - Gabriella Vixen, has been making waves in 2020. From dropping her captivating soulful cover of ‘Kissing You’, originally sung by Des’ree, that caught the attention of Love Island producers and even Des’ree herself. Bshp’s cover was broadcast on the show to set the scene of Nas and Demi’s first kiss, gaining over 16k Shazams overnight and over 2 million streams organically, as well as joining Sigala on his UK nationwide tour earlier this yea
The exceptionally talented bshp has undeniable vocal skills, with her powerful and gripping voice that is enough to stop people in their tracks. She continues making waves with her first Island single ‘Never Mind’ - a sultry jam begging a crush to make his move - speaking about her new song bshp says:
“I wrote it with two of my really good friends who have seen two very different walks of life. We just wanted to write something that was just upbeat and different. it was kind of an imaginary situation, really, but it's just about finding a new person and being excited about them.”
‘Never Mind’ is out now on Island Records Listen now– https://bshp.lnk.to/NeverMind
ABOUT bshp bshp grew up in a large family in Kent where school didn’t hold much excitement for her, but her weekly dance lessons opened her up to a world of music and movement that ignited something inside.
She started writing her own songs in her late teens whilst working as a University Timetabler and decided to perform at an open mic night in London after her friends insisted she needed to get herself out there. It’s an old school approach in a world of social media and YouTube fame, but with no contacts in the music industry just one performance was all it took for execs to start approaching her about taking her career to the next level.
“They asked me to join some writing camps,” she says, almost disbelieving it herself. “And then obviously you get into it more and more - it’s like a domino effect. It was a very weird experience, it all happened so quickly.”
bshp had begun uploading songs and writing under the stage name Gabriella Vixen, a nickname a friend had christened her with. But when she signed to Island, she wanted to mark the occasion with a whole new slate. Shorter, snappier and with fewer vowels, her surname lent itself perfectly to the blend of American pop and classic R&B sounds that she was working on. “It was a bit of a mouthful to be honest,” she laughs. “The music was quite different to what I was doing as Gabriella Vixen so it just felt like the right thing to do.”
She mixed her own work with a number of covers, one day going into the studio with her favourite collaborator Kiris Houston and laying down eight or nine songs that she loved. One was Kissing You, the love theme from Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet, a song she’d loved since she discovered the film as a teen. First sung by Des’ree, bshp’s version is imbued with an almost nostalgic romance thanks to her soulful voice. It caught the attention of the Love Island producers and ended up soundtracking the first kiss between Nas and Demi.
“I was actually in the studio when it went out. I was just getting all these DMs and tweets, and I just said, ‘Oh my gosh, what is happening?!’ It was bizarre!” Needless to say, it was a little hard to concentrate on work at that point.”
Comparisons to Ariana Grande are obvious and flattering - they share a strong, flexible vocal and a come hither vibe. “I just don't feel like there's a lot of female artists in the UK that are doing a similar R&B sound to me,” bshp says. “There are some amazing R&B influenced UK artists but I just feel like, with the sort of path that I'm trying to take, I don't feel like anyone's really trying to do that.”
Surprisingly, though, bshp’s first musical love is Coldplay. “There's just something about their lyrics I think are very special, something so sort of simplistic but it just resonates like crazy with people.”
Although 2020 has obviously put a pin in most live performance plans, bshp did take to the road in the first part of the year opening for dance music maestro Sigala. “That tour gave me such a lovely insight of what it would be like to get out there myself,” she says. “To perform my own music with my own fan base is going to be great. But it's hard to say when that will be right now.”
Her shows are set to be spectacles as she puts her dance training into action alongside her stunning vocals. Planning may be tricky right now but that’s not stopping bshp from working hard. Now that she’s started song writing, it’s impossible to stop - when she’s not in the studio you’ll find her scribbling lyric ideas and song titles on scraps of paper and in her phone.
“I prefer being in the studio and working with the people I love working with, but if there's something that comes into my head, and I'm like, I need to write about this today, I can’t help it, I'm always thinking about new ideas. I'm always getting inspired by things.”
With her world growing every day, get ready: bshp is about to take over.
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