The next episode of Amazon Music's +44 Podcast is out. Zeze and David are joined by English singer, songwriter and rapper, Bree Runway, where she explains how she met Khalid, what it was like recording their new track 'Be The One' and her relationships with other artists, like Cardi B and Offset. As well as this, Bree also discusses how she began her career as an artist, touring with Lizzo and her future music plans.
On Bree meeting Khalid:
“I was in LA. I went to this party, a lot of people were there and it was an artist's birthday. I turn around and I'm bare shy and he's like, ‘I just wanted to say I think you're so amazing, I think everything you do is amazing and I just had to come up to you.’”
“And then I was like, oh my god it’s Khalid. I was like how do you know me?”
“Now if I was to call Cardi (Cardi B) on the street, I would go up to her and be like, ‘hey’. Whenever I bump into Offset, for example, and I’m not name dropping, I would actually go up to Offset like, he's my brother in law. I'm like, ‘tell Cardi and the kids I said hi’. That's how I am.”
“I was like, wow, I didn't know you knew who I was. So I was like, Oh I'm here for this duration of time, can I take your number? I was so scared to text him. I texted him, he texted back straight away. And I was like, he's sweet. It wasn't like that fake artist crap. From there, I went to go link him at the studio. We stayed at the studio until five o'clock in the morning. We went through so many beats and then we made ‘Be The One’ in one session. So four or five in the morning, because Khalid likes to over texturize music and make me record lots of harmonies and things over and over and over again.”
On Bree beginning her career:
“I started with bedroom covers. So I would put a mirror on the floor, the tiniest mirror, me, my little iPhone and I would do mashups of Missy and Drake or this and that and then I'd create the song from their songs and make my own song. I started with that but I was always too shy to do it. I don't know why, but it was like I don't want to do this but I feel like I need to do this. So I did it. There was one song that went super viral. It was Fetty Wap and I did like a Bryson Tiller and Drake mix. 50 million views going crazy, literally 10k followers a day on Instagram it was just like what.”
On releasing her new music instead of covers:
“This is where I have so much respect for myself. I know that's a bit hard to say but I do respect myself. No, I never fell victim to the pressure, because if I did, I would just be making R&B because all the mashups I did were just based around R&B. So when I started releasing music, my sound and the things I'm in love with naturally are very experimental, there's so many genres in my music. So people were like, ‘Oh, we want the R&B.’ I just kept ignoring the tweets.”
On where in the world Bree feels like she’s most accepted:
“In my head, I've always known how the UK is. And always if America didn't embrace me, if Dojo didn't go out of her way to platform me, if Cardi didn’t go out of her way to platform me, if Kehlani didn’t go out of her way to platform me, if any of those people didn’t go out of their way to do it, I don’t think we would be trying to hear over here.”
“I've gone viral for many wrong reasons over here (the UK), like my style. What is she wearing? Now my shoulders are always going to be out here, with those 160 centimetre Louboutin heels with the tassels on it, and the oversized Gucci studded glasses. It's always going to be that because I'm not scared to move like a star because I am one. “
On Bree’s school life:
“School life was hard. I was bullied so much.”
On how Bree started experimenting with fashion:
“I've just always found joy in it, when I didn't feel that confident in my beauty. For example, I always used to have this line. They could call me ugly because they did call me ugly growing up, they can call me ugly but at least I can dress. But now it's like they can't say either.”
On Bree touring with Lizzo:
“It was so amazing. I've never played arenas before. So landing on Friday, it was my first show day. I was like, oh my God I wish I had like a day to settle in. And then it was straight into thousands and thousands of people. The first night was Oslo. It was so good. It was the arena embrace. I was like I belong here. I really do. Lizzo was so amazing. She is someone that has used my music in her show before, she keeps up with me kind of thing.”
On Bree’s future plans:
“All of the people I've connected with I'd love to collaborate with at some point. I don't have a main goal, but I feel like the Khalid song is a great start because he's someone like his journey has been outrageously successful. And for me to now share a spotlight with him I think it’s crazy.”
