Baby Queen may not sound or look “country” but she has a passion for the genre, taking the anchors of songwriting that have translated into her style of pop music. Last year, she dropped her debut album ‘Quarter Life Crisis’ that tells of her “journey through her early twenties”, as she noted – “leaving my childhood and my adolescence behind but never really losing my childlike wonder and never quite growing up. The songs are all facets of what early adulthood has been like for me while discovering new parts of myself, my sexuality, my past and my place in this world.” Born Arabella (Bella) Latham, Baby Queen hails from South Africa and has been writing songs since she was as young as twelve years-old, having moved to London when she turned eighteen to pursue a music career. Her fanbase grew throughout the early days of the pandemic as her songs gained recognition and enabled her to get signed to a record label. Navigating the normal challenges of young adulthood and a burgeoning career gave Latham much inspiration for the material on the debut LP, “I felt like I had so much responsibility, but I still felt like a child.” She shared how the idea stemmed from a conversation with her cousin, “I was talking about how I felt, and she said the phrase, quarter life crisis….People have this experience where you’re looking both forward and back. It’s the realization that actually, you can’t fck around anymore. Fcking around finally comes to an end.”
Baby Queen has been in the US for select dates that included festival appearances at Governor’s Ball and Bonnaroo, where B-Sides host Pete Mar met up with the emerging talent. The pair spoke about performing at the iconic festival, how eager she was to visit Tennessee, especially how it helped shaped Taylor Swift’s early career and inspired her to pursue her own career in music, country music and more.
BSIDES: What was it like performing at Bonnaroo? This is a different vibe than other festivals.
Baby Queen: Yeah, it was! I didn’t quite know what to expect I’ve never played a show in Tennessee before so I didn’t know if anyone would turn up and it was quite an early show. I didn’t know what to expect when I got out there but it was actually incredible and it was like so many people knew the words and everyone was so hype. I don’t know how because it was so hot, and I was like you guys are you okay right now because I was literally dying but it was so much fun man, it was a an amazing crowd.
BSIDES: This is like a part of your US tour – New York, Boston and all the other major cities but Nashville and Tennessee is a totally different vibe.
Baby Queen: Totally different and a totally different heat! I’d love to come and spend more time out in Tennessee because I love country music music. We stayed last night near Bristol, Tennessee, which is supposedly the home of country music, but I do love country music. I’ve been in New York for quite a while before this tour started, so it’s nice to be on the open road.
BSIDES: Country music is interesting because it’s having a moment of resurgence, or interest is a better word, from other artists that don’t normally make country music. I’ll be honest I’m a little surprised and pleasantly surprised to hear you say you love country music.
Baby Queen: I think that country music is some of the best, if not the best, storytelling in music. How to tell a simple story and the progression of that narrative. I think that country artists have historically nailed that. Growing up I was actually very into country music. I was a huge Taylor Swift fan at 13. I had a fan page on Twitter, I immediately got into the whole world of country music, very deep. I wanted to go to Nashville, I wanted to do that whole thing but I ended up in London.
BSIDES: What was it about Taylor’s music that spoke to you as a 13-year-old? I’m sure you were part of the whole Tumblr crew
Baby Queen: Oh yeah, I was deep in the Tumblr crew! I think seeing this girl do this thing, someone that I felt made it seem impossible to me in a way that I’d never considered it as an option for myself. Then I saw this person doing it and I thought, oh like I could do that. I want to do that and I think that’s why Taylor Swift is such an inspiration because she’s literally the greatest who ever did it. As far as the whole thing, she’s literally on her thirteenth album! No one gets to do that unless they’re the best in the game.
BSIDES: And especially performing live and still selling out arenas that have such huge demand.
Baby Queen: It’s completely insane! She’s another breed of creature. I think that when you do it, you realize how intense it is. I’ve gone through this to get here then she must have literally.. I can’t even imagine, so hats up!
BSIDES: We are in her home area where she started and really honed her craft songwriting. What was that album that really was a gate opener for you?
Baby Queen: It was ‘Speak Now’ when I really got into it. I remember in South Africa logging onto the livestream for the “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” song preview and release party. I was there for that whole thing but ‘Speak Now’, those are the songs I heard, “Love Story” was the first song I heard. That was the first one to hit South Africa.
BSIDES: That hit home for you, that really resonated with you.
I literally sang in a country-western accent and I’m in South Africa, in the city and nobody talks like that, no one sings like that! – Baby Queen
Baby Queen: When I started writing, I literally sang in a country-western accent and I’m in South Africa, in the city and nobody talks like that, no one sings like that! That’s how I started and and that’s what the challenge is as a musician- is to actually break away from your influences because it’s so easy for me especially. I emulate things a lot and so I actually don’t listen to much music anymore. But when I was younger that was it, I literally was going to be a country girl! It’s crazy this is my first time like in Tennessee.
BSIDES: Well now you’ve got to stay here for a little bit!
Baby Queen: I really feel Tennessee would just f*ck with Baby Queen. I felt that way at the show today. It’s a bit gay, there’s gay people in Tennessee!
BSIDES: There’s a lot of great gay(queer) country artists. Maren Morris just came out as bi, there’s Orville Peck and there’s a whole slew of others that have been bold enough to come out in country.
Baby Queen: Which is amazing because it does have connotations that you would attach to country music in general. But I think that it is amazing to see that music industry-wide, across all genres. We’re in a place now where you actually want to be gay; that’s the best thing to be ever. Everyone wants to be gay!
BSIDES: If you were to go country, do you think you would come to Nashville and record a few things or do you think you would have absorbed enough to go back to London or South Africa or other places?
Baby Queen: I wonder if I would ever do a country album….I don’t know if I ever would. Who knows, anything could happen! I feel like you shift and change so much as a creative. I definitely want to come and write in Nashville. That’s a dream to me. We could have a few country songs on the record, who knows! I could be like the next big country thing.
BSIDES: There have been artists this year that are known for other genres and they’re putting their foot in country! Look at Beyoncé, Lana is releasing an album later this year which is a whole country album and there’s so many other artists that have pivoted from pop to country.
Baby Queen: It’s really cool because it’s usually people coming out of country and pushing to a different genre. It’s a genre people grow out of as opposed to come to at the end of their career. It’s amazing when an artist like Beyoncé, it’s completely courageous to take a risk on yourself as a creator. You can find what works and keep doing that or you can completely challenge yourself to change and to stay true to yourself as a human and human beings are changing all the time. You can’t stay the same. I think it’s amazing, it’s really cool and so my country album is coming out really soon guys and stay posted! (laughs)
BSIDES: Your songwriting is very rich as well and I think that’s the connection to what you have put out so far. ‘Quarter Life Crisis’ really speaks to very personal stories and it’s very much the snapshot of being in your early 20s. “I can’t get my ‘S’ together”- it’s just so universal, that’s not even something for someone that resonates in their 20s, that’s like all of life.
Baby Queen: It’s crazy because a lot of the time when I’m writing this music it feels so like innately personal to me that I feel it’s so specific that people aren’t going to relate to it. That’s an experience that I’ve had throughout my career of writing something that feels so honest to me. I’ve got this song called “These Drugs”, for example, and it’s such a honest song that I almost felt like it was a alienating people by releasing that song. What I realized is that the things that I feel are the most personal things, that no one’s going to relate to, those are the things that everyone relates to because it’s real. It’s real and I think that there’s so much that we go through an experience as people um and we don’t communicate. There’s a huge internal world inside of all of us that we’re constantly struggling with and dealing with and then when we communicate with each other, that internal world doesn’t get to exist. I think that’s what being honest in music does. Your internal world feels heard because it’s so lonely. That’s what has built my relationship with the people who listen to my music. Honesty, because they feel like they can be honest back.
Just be you and that’s how I have to believe- that that’s how to succeed. – Baby Queen
BSIDES: You’ve cultivated this community of people that resonate with your music online because a lot of it came out during the pandemic.
Baby Queen: It’s so insane and it’s weird that that happened because my first song was a song called “Internet Religion” and the first music I released was very like ‘zeitgeisty’. It was very Gen Z internet. That’s what I was talking about because that’s what I felt so pissed off about at the time and then the whole world went into lockdown. All we had was the internet, so it made it all very real. That was a crazy time, like I literally signed my record deal at my kitchen table over Zoom. It was the most awkward thing; there were all these like label exacts and everyone was cheering and clapping and I closed the laptop and I was like cool, I guess I’ll just go sit outside now.
BSIDES: You referenced the number of people that were at your set here at Bonnaroo and I’m sure it’s was like that so far at other shows on the US tour. Your music is very existential for a lot of people. Looking back at this journey, four or five years now in this industry, how how have you changed, how have you grown, what has been the biggest learning experience?
Baby Queen: Oh my God, it’s really tough, it’s one of the most difficult industries. As someone who wants to go into this job there certain wound inside yourself of insecurity that you want validation for, and I think when you go after the thing you want the most, it has the greatest potential to be able to hurt you because that’s where all your weaknesses are. The most interesting thing about you as an artist in a world where everyone can sing, everyone can make music and everyone can do these things, the most interesting thing that you’re bringing to the table is your perspective or whatever it is that’s different about you or unique about you. So much st sounds the same and the market is so oversaturated and that’s what’s interesting and fascinating. What I had at the very beginning and of always had and the demos on my laptop that is the fking fascinating st, that’s why the major label signs you. That’s why you get all the interest and you get all these people that want a part of what you’re doing. It’s because you’re doing something interesting and I think that a lot of what people try to do to you then is change. Change what is interesting, which is you and that’s where I am right now, understanding that I’ve got to do my fking s**t and that’s what everyone should be doing. Not trying to work with the best producers that are going to make you sound like everyone else. Just be you and that’s how I have to believe- that that’s how to succeed.
BSIDES: 1000%! That’s also in life in general. Even if you’re a schmo in a corporate world, you’ve got to stand out and stick out. Make yourself different, worry about yourself and never mind what so and so is doing next door.
Baby Queen: Someone gave me an amazing piece of advice, this is my A&R at my first label, and he said to me that horses wear blinders because if they look at each other while they’re running they’ll trip and they’re all going to get to the finish line. You’re going to get to the finish line, at different times and if you look at the person running next to you you’re just going to trip so that’s it. You’ve just got to know what you’re doing and that’s what I’m trying to remind myself at the moment.
