As a London based, singer, songwriter, producer and all round creative Laura Bettinson aka Femme is bringing a fresh bit of trouble onto the music scene with her fresh, intelligent and tailored approach to this music game.
Last year she dropped fresh material which helped her garner love from one Stella McCartney not bad hey? Closing last year she dropped the downright dirty track Fever Boy that is simply so original that I am not sure what genre it should be put in. Either way I love it and Femme like chorizo (umhh).
Of course I had to get some time with the lovely Femme. Our chat meandered with great ease through her musical journey taking stops to ponder retro sounds from the 60’s and her creative passions.
I hear that you have your own studio that must make your creative process easier and more spontaneous.
It is great because I can literally just roll out of bed and spend the whole day just creating music. I set up a studio about a year ago with my boyfriend and it is brilliant because we do not have to wait for anyone to get into a studio. I just rock down there and put the idea down instantly.
For me Fever Boy is an awesome bumping pop banger-is it fair to say that was the beginning of the interest in you?
I think it is fair to say that Fever Boy really started turning heads. We did a single before that called Educated In Double Trouble and that got play listed on 6 music for six weeks and that was great. Industry wise people were hearing my music but it was not until Fever Boy that I seemed to have connected with the public and fans. We have seen a massive increase in our fan-base in such a short time.
Fever Boy has a really interesting video explain that.
For all my tunes when I first started I wanted to explore more masculine beats marrying that with that 60’s girl groups like the Crystals and The Ronnetts and all those tracks that my mother used to let me listen to: that era of music that used to move me and still does move me and so I wanted to incorporate that look in my video.
You talk about masculine beats.
Well yes, I wanted to concentrate more on the masculine beats particularly as a female producer and challenge the idea that girls in pop music don’t make their own beats-Fever Boy came out of that. The rap that I do at the beginning started out more as a joke but it kind of came alive and the track really just wrote itself. It is funny when people ask how you made a particular track but in truth I cannot remember really with Fever Boy.
Talk about Heartbeat for me and the way that you have put these two tracks out.
Heartbeat is on the other side of the single. I have got into this thing of releasing AA sides just because as a consumer I really cannot find myself sitting down and listening to a whole album and I think people tend to listen to different tracks and then create their own playlist. In terms of putting out single tracks or tracks that complement each other it works.
Which single has been getting the most love then?
It is funny because Fever Boy and Heartbeat both went out of the same promo cd and people are definitely split down the middle in terms of the two tracks.
You are getting hype from people like Laurene Laverne how do you deal with that?
I think it is amazing and it is so nice that people are hearing it because it is hard connecting with these people when they must have so much crap to listen to but it has been great. Annie Mac played it on Zane Lowe’s show and they are on board. I never expected Zane Lowe would like this vibe and so it is amazing and so hopefully more of that. It is funny once you put stuff out you don’t feel like you really own it anymore it seems like someone other than you own it but the novelty of hearing your track on the radio never wears off almost as exciting as seeing yourself on television.
You are an independent artist explain the benefits of that?
It is important for me as an independent to be able to do stuff myself because I can do things myself instead of writing a track and then waiting three weeks for this guy to produce it, three weeks to book in for a photo shoot. I think with my fans it strengthens the connection because they know that every decision that has been made is through my own choice.
What’s the most exciting thing coming up?
Just this week we were I-tunes track of the week with Fever Boy in Brazil and there is some stuff going on in Brazil and in Japan so I will be very happy if I can be a pop star in all those countries.
Lastly 2014 plans.
I will be putting out another track around spring time but before that there will be other stuff that I am featured on that will be coming out. They are up and coming producers that I enjoyed working with. Gigs there will be shows and festivals I am booked up to about June.