INTERVIEW: BEKS ON HER NEW SINGLE AND PROJECT
Alt-pop queen, Beks (FKA RACKETT) chats to the BackBeat about her latest single and video ‘Stars In My Eyes’.
Alt-pop queen, Beks (FKA RACKETT) chats to the BackBeat about her latest single and video ‘Stars In My Eyes’.
Can you give us an outline of your transition from ‘RACKETT’ to ‘Beks’? What were your intentions behind the new name and project?
Beks is an extension of myself personally. I changed my name to strip back the layers and to better represent my solo work moving forward. I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery through music, writing with producers and artists from all around the world. I’ve been writing so much music that has informed me more about who I am as an independent songwriter and what I can create with confidence in myself. I’ve chosen to adopt my new artist name Beks to signify a new era for me as a songwriter. A new beginning, one that will carry my new work cohesively into the future. Since September 2020, I’ve been working daily with songwriters and producers in studios within Sydney and also in the UK via zoom. I’ve set out to create a mixtape which features co-writes and production by Taka Perry, Jim Eliot (Ladyhawke, EAST), Xira, Cam Nacson, Tasker, Lucy Neville, Nina Jirachi, Kim Moyes (The Presets), Airports and more. This mixtape has developed my sound, leaning further into pop than ever before
You’ve recently released your single ‘Stars In My Eyes’ alongside a music video which features you portraying three different characters. I’m assuming these characters are representations of yourself, could you tell me a little bit about each of them?
Yes, these are the different parts of my personality. The light, ethereal type angel is the naive dreamer, the glamorous mermaid is the sensual part of my personality expressing my sexuality and the fearless daredevil represents the risk-taker and the showwoman inside me. The angel is set in a rundown fairgrounds ride yard amongst dandelions, the mermaid sits on a led lit coral sprout and the daredevil rises on a forklift, balancing on the beams 3 meters in the air without a harness in heels.
As a songwriter, you seem to pull a lot of inspiration from your personal experiences as well as your development as an artist and a person. What else inspires your writing?
Yes, that's true, most of what I write is directly based on my experiences and the emotions I need to express. But since I've been co-writing so much, I haven't had a lot of time for socialising and dating so I've drawn from my co-writers' experience. I recently wrote two new songs with Clara Fable for my mixtape and these stories were based on her personal experience, I'd kinda run all the option out of my own heartbreak by then. I also wrote a song with Korkey Buchek for my mixtape called 'Fermented Mandarin' which is about my fancy friends' obsession with skin contact wine and another one with Taka Perry and Luke McChesney called 'Reject Party' about getting kicked out of my house recently. It's refreshing to find new topics that aren't always about a singular romantic fail.
What has been your COVID-19 experience? Did you find it a time for rest and reflection or an opportunity to crack down on songwriting and creating?
Covid was a really busy time for me actually. In April 2020, I conceptualised, produced and directed 'Loud n Queer TV' with Heaps Gay and Create or Die. It was an idea I had for a live stream show from my room which I pitched to Heaps Gay and Create or Die who jumped onboard. We co-created three seasons which aired on Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gray, focused on delivering an hour-long variety show with performances by artists from the LGBTQIA+ community. We've been nominated for an FBI SMAC Award which is pretty cool. After we completed three seasons, I jumped back into my music full time, writing with producers and artists in Australia and in the UK via zoom to create my debut mixtape. I got a publishing deal with Wise Music as well, during COVID so writing K-POP and really embracing what my life would look like as a full-time songwriter.
With restrictions in all states easing, gigs and tours are finally back! Do you have any gigs lined up? And anything you’re looking forward to?
I'm working on my mixtape which is now 15 tracks long and unlike my old music, I didn't use any guitars or live drums, all beats and synth so I'm excited to reinterpret that, live. I don't have any shows at this stage, I'm entering a whole new market of pop so I'm spending some time learning about that scene.
Speaking of gigs, what would be your dream festival line up for you to play alongside?
Oh yes, I love this question. My favourite artist is Charli XCX so I'd be stoked to play anywhere with her, added bonus A$AP Rocky and Solange.
Top 3 artists you’ve been listening to recently and why?
I just got my Spotify summary back for 2020 and my top 3 artists I listen to the most are me (lamo), Dante Knows and Charli XCX. Atm I'm listening to Muki, Clara Fable, Caroline Polachek, Ash Nikko, Dorian Electra and Nikki Fresh! If you don't know Nikki Fresh, it's Nicol Richie's environmental rap project produced by Joel Madden and my favourite discovery of 2020. It's all on my POP AF playlist.
Finally, what’s next for Beks?
So I've just dropped the first song off my mixtape 'Stars in My Eyes' and the second single 'The Thing About Us' is out on Friday, Dec 11th. It's an absolute dance floor banger I wrote with Cam Nacson(Sad Boi) and Tamika Nacson (Xira) and just found out it's been added to Nova Coles radio so listen out when you're doing your Christmas shopping (haha). In 2021 I'll be dropping new music I made with Taka Perry, Kim Moyes (The Presets), Jim Eliot (Ella Goulding), Korkey Buchek, Lucy Neville, Clara Fable, Airports and more. BTS I'll be continuing to co-write and try to have somewhat of a personal lifeto draw from.
‘Stars In My Eyes’ is out now! Stream HERE
INTERVIEW: SYDNEY RAPPER TUKA PERSONIFIES HIS SOUNDSCAPE WITH HIS NEW ALBUM ‘NOTHING IN COMMON BUT US’
In the last five years, Tuka had a semi-hiatus from his solo career, making two albums with Thundamentals and subsequently touring those albums. Sel chats to Tuka about all things…well, Tuka!
Pictured: Sydney rapper Tuka breaks genre boundaries with his new album, Nothing In Common But Us
Image: Supplied
For those who are accustomed to the Australian hip-hop scene, the name Tuka would almost be synonymous with Blue Mountains hip-hop trio, Thundamentals. Iconic moments for the hip-hop group like their 2012 cover of Brother by Matt Corby for Triple J’s Like a Version segment (amassing over 4.9 million views) may also spring to mind, as well as their popular light-hearted tune Sally. Tuka is one third of that trio, and is hoping to define himself as a solo artist with his new album, Nothing In Common But Us.
In the last five years, Tuka had a semi-hiatus from his solo career, making two albums with Thundamentals and subsequently touring those albums. A major defining moment in that five year period for Tuka was a relationship which influenced a large part of his work.
“Nothing In Common But Us is from my perspective, it’s about personifying a relationship into the one character,” he said.
“I definitely got the idea for the album from spending a lot of time with someone and them uprooting a lot of things that I didn’t know about myself.”
Listeners are greeted by tracks such as the first single from the album, Wish I Knew, which was co-written with The Presets’ Julian Hamilton, and premiered on Triple J’s Good Nights. Tuka is renowned for his warmth when it comes to hip-hop songwriting, however this track finds him experimenting with deep house influences and breaking down the barriers of conventional genres.
“I guess the sonic soundscape was a victim to whatever I found exciting, that didn’t put me in the box of being a hip hop artist - I wanted to be an artist in general for this one,” he said.
“Dropping a genre or trying to create my own genre was the objective, there really weren't any rules.”
Nothing In Common But Us expands upon hip-hop more broadly and invites the listener to sit with a wide spectrum of emotions, with Tuka including spoken word poet Anne Casey to explore these feelings and as an ode to his relationship with poetry. “When I saw Anne perform it just hit me right in the head because it’s what I was writing about, and she actually coined the phrase ‘Nothing In Common But Us’, within that poem,” he said.
“...and so afterwards I talked to her on the side of the stage and we had big chats, and I asked her if I could use that line and she was so cool about everything I asked her.” Oftentimes, you can catch Tuka heading to Glebe in Sydney to share wine with friends and listen in adoration to poets who grace the stage.
“You just watch all of these people come out of the woodwork, they’ve had this whole life of experience, and they’ve put a lot of effort into writing a piece of poetry about their perspective and a lot of the time it’s just so beautiful,” he said.
Tuka also collaborated with rising Brisbane indie-pop star Sycco (the brainchild of Sasha McLeod), who features on his track Click Bang.
“Oh my god, she’s a genius! When I sent it to her I didn’t send her any harmonies or anything, but I just sent her a lead,” he said.
“She got it first try, I didn’t even give her any notes. She just came back with her own take on it and I loved everything about it.”
It’s hard to tell what’s in store for the rest of the year for Tuka, as the live music scene is on halt due to COVID-19, but Tuka assured us that it’ll be full of the thing he loves most: writing music.
“All I have to do is write music, and if I told myself that when I was a 17-year-old kid when I started this, I would have been elated! And I am, I am very happy - I’m in a super privileged position where I can wake up and I write a song and that’s my responsibility for the day – and that’s absurd.”
“I’m using COVID to just do a proper reset and hopefully write some of the best music of my life that will be relevant when I go to play it live, whenever that is.”
