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A photo of Benee by Bruce from Sydney, New Zea Land –

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Benee

Benee was born Stella Rose Bennett on 30 January 2000. Formerly Benee was better known as Bene. Benee is a New Zealand singer and songwriter from Auckland. In both 2019 and 2020, she consecutively won Single of the Year, Best Solo Artist, and Best Pop Artist at the New Zealand Music Awards.

Benee initially gained local prominence with her singles “Glitter” and “Soaked”, before her 2019 single “Supalonely” saw international popularity following its success. The video of Supalonely was shared through platforms TikTok and YouTube. In the article are the top ten amazing facts about Benee.

1. Benee released her debut album in 2020

A photo of Benee by Kristina Valdez –

Hey U X is the debut studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Benee. The album was released on 13 November 2020 by Republic Records. Benee told Billboard that she would be releasing an album in 2020, before formally announcing the release of Hey U X on 15 October 2020.

Hey U X was primarily written by Benee and frequent collaborator Josh Fountain, who also executive produced the record. It features Grimes, Lily Allen, Flo Milli, Gus Dapperton, Mallrat, and Bakar guest appearances.

The album received generally positive reviews from critics, with Radio New Zealand listing it among their best albums of 2020.

2. She made her solo debut under her former name Bene

A photo of Benee by Bruce from Sydney, Australia –

Benee made her solo debut under her epithet Bene with the 2017 single “Tough Guy”. This was before later gaining prominence with her 2018 single “Soaked”. Soaked is a certified double-platinum in New Zealand.

Benee released her debut EP, Fire on Marzz, with help from producer Josh Fountain in June 2019. Her second EP, Stella & Steve, was released in November 2019 and charted in the US, Canada, and France as a result of the international success of the EP’s final single, “Supalonely”.

3. Benee has earned five entries on the Triple J Hottest 100

A photo of Benee by Jesse Gohier-Fleet (director of photography) –

The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favorite Australian and alternative music of the year in an online poll conducted two weeks before the new year.

From 1989 to 2018, the 100 most popular songs were counted down from noon on Australia Day. Since 2018, Benee has earned five entries on the Triple J Hottest 100, three of which were in the 2019 list.

She also released her third EP, Lychee, in March 2022 which charted at number 13 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart.

4. Benee grew up in a musical family

A photo of Benee by Prosperosity –

Benee was born and raised in the suburb of Grey Lynn in Auckland. She grew up in a musical family. Her parents would expose her to the catalogs of Radiohead, Bj枚rk, and Groove Armada.

From the age of eight, Benee began taking guitar lessons in primary school before starting saxophone lessons in high school. Eventually, Benee dropped all music to prioritize water polo. Benee later became interested in writing and recording music at the age of 17 and dropped water polo.

5. Benee attended an all-girls Catholic school, St Mary’s College

St Mary’s College is a year 7 – 13 integrated Catholic girls’ high school situated at 11 New Street, Ponsonby, Auckland in New Zealand. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1850. St Mary’s College is the oldest existing school in central Auckland.

The school musical tradition goes back to the 1860s. During the 20th Century, under the direction of the late Dame Sister Mary Leo, the school produced many singers of international fame, notably Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Mina Foley.

The school is known for its music with a compulsory music program running from years 7-9. They have several bands that play at festivals all around the world. In 2005 Sinfonia was invited to play at the Beijing Arts Festival in China.

In 2006 the school’s band went to Palm Springs, CA for a music festival. Benee’s career must be greatly influenced by the school.

6. Benee began her music career by posting covers to SoundCloud

A photo of Benee by Bruce from Sydney, Australia –

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music-sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio, as well as a digital signal processor enabling listeners to stream audio.

Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud has grown to be one of the largest music streaming services in the world and is available in 190 countries and territories. Benee began making her music in her final year of high school.

7. Benee dropped out of school to focus on music

A photo of a section of Aukland University of Technology by Pakiore –

Benee dropped out of a communications degree at the Auckland University of Technology after two weeks. She called the period at the institution “a quarter-life crisis”. Therefore, she decided to enter the music business professionally.

Her music caught the attention of Josh Fountain, a producer and member of the band Leisure, with whom she worked on both her 2017 debut single “Tough Guy” and her 2018 single “Soaked”. As Bene, she earned her first career entry on Triple J’s Hottest 100 of 2018 with “Soaked” at #58.

8. The COVID-19 Pandemic did not prevent her from continuing with her career

A photo of Benee by Jesse Gohier-Fleet –

Benee’s first headlining North American tour with support from American singer Remi Wolf was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic did not prevent her from performing in her country.

On 31 January 2020, Benee guested on Australian youth broadcaster Triple J’s segment Like a Version. She covered British musician James Blake’s “Mile High”, in addition to a performance of “Glitter”.

In June 2020, the song “Supalonely” clocked over 250 million streams shortly before Benee made her television debut performing it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon alongside Gus Dapperton.

9. Benee revealed that she has dyslexia

In an interview for The New Zealand Herald, Benee revealed that she has dyslexia. Dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one’s age.

Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, “sounding out” words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud, and understanding what one reads.

Often these difficulties are first noticed at school. When someone who previously could read loses their ability, it is known as alexia. People with dyslexia have higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental language disorders, and difficulties with numbers.

10. Benee released her second single in 2022

A photo of Benee by Jesse Gohier-Fleet –

Beach Boy was Benee’s second single. She had originally teased on her official Discord server on 25 January 2022 about the single. Benee shared the new video for 鈥淏each Boy,鈥�. In the video, she manifests a vampire boyfriend. The track featured on the New Zealand pop star鈥檚 new EP, Lychee.

Benee has gained an international debut for the good display of her talent throughout her career. She also described her childhood experiences with songwriting during an interview with The New Zealand Herald.

Benee said, “Throughout school, I struggled with writing…I liked creative writing, that was what I loved…Songwriting for me was this place where I don’t have to be grammatically correct…”