Betty Harper is a young singer/songwriter with a songbook of uplifting acoustic alt/pop ballads straight from the heart. Betty writes about real life experiences and true feelings, chronicling her story with a gentle and articulate passion beyond her 19 years. Betty Harper grew up in Wales and Hampshire and took to music as her escape from bullying at school and substance abuse problems at home. Inspired by Ed Sheeran, she learned to play the guitar and discovered her voice which has drawn comparisons to Adele, Sam Smith and Kelly Clarkson. Betty performs on her Joan Cashimira guitar, which she saw being handmade for her by a lutist in Spain.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Betty Harper, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
Hey! It’s great to be chatting with you! I first became interested in music when I watched my mum lead worship at church with her guitar and singing. I was so mesmerised watching her create such a beautiful sound that really drew the audience in and engaged them, and it made me really want to do the same!
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
If I could collaborate with anyone, I would collaborate with either Ed Sheeran or maybe Adele, because I feel like we have similar sort of subjects with our music, and all of the songs I write are written based on real life events and feelings much like most of their music.
Your latest song is 'Made to Last'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
My latest song ‘Made to Last’ is about two people who love each other, but are better off as friends. It’s a follow up song from ‘Only You’. What drove me to write this, was the breakdown of an unhealthy relationship I was in at the time. I thought that breaking up but remaining friends would be an ideal situation because then, we could keep having the good times. Later on down the line, we decided to completely go our seperate ways and this song now remains a memory of time.
What are you focussing on right now?
Right now, I am focusing on creating a podcast and a YouTube channel, where my audience can REALLY get to know me, where I get into the nitty gritty and chat about real life hard things, as well as have a great laugh and get into some more light hearted stuff!
What is the best advice you’ve been given?
The best advice I’ve been given is the advice given to me when I was really struggling with my mental health which is “when you’re going through hell, just keep on going because you’ll make it out the other side” and that has stuck with me for a very long time, I now use it when I’m struggling with anything at all, even just a bad day at work and it really keeps me encouraged!
What is the biggest challenge of being an artist?
I think, for me, the biggest challenge of being an artist is the social media aspect of it. I’m not great at keeping things up to date so from time to time, family will give me a nudge and remind me! But seriously, trying to think of what to post can sometimes be a challenge!
How do you structure your day?
Well, there is never really any structure to my days apart from when I’m working but, when I’m not working, my brain can’t focus on any one thing at once so I have about 50000 tabs open on my laptop trying to either write a song, update socials, look at microphones for singing videos etc. Just a very chaotic brain!
Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music?
Outside of music, I don’t really have many hobbies. Music is my main hobby and interest. I like to make videos so I guess you could say that is my only other interest outside of music.
Do you sing in the shower? What songs?
Oh most definitely! A shower is improper if you don’t sing! It could be absolutely anything and everything from pop, musicals, rap just anything.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future as of right now is to just grow my social platforms and show the world my music, and hope that it helps people along the way.. that’s the dream.