Becky Hill has been a household name in the drum & bass scene for quite a while now. Ever since ‘Afterglow’ came out in 2013 she has been building her career. 2024 is already looking like her biggest year to date, with tours in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, UK and the US. The Bewdley born singer is planning to take over the world with her drum & bass sound and her second album coming out next year.
That doesn’t mean 2023 wasn’t a massive year for her, though. With her Chase & Status collaboration, remixes from ShyFX and IVY amongst others, and ‘Afterglow’ celebrating its 10th anniversary, there was plenty to celebrate for Becky Hill. We called her up and talked about her love for drum & bass.
What an exciting year it has been for you! The most recent thing has been the announcement of your upcoming UK tour. How did that go?
I’m incredibly excited, we’ve sold a lot of tickets already so it’s a really good start. I guess all the hard work is gonna start next year.
We’re also going to Australia and New Zealand in December and January, which is massive for drum & bass. I’m really looking forward to that, because I’ve never been there before. I’ve heard that ‘Afterglow’ is an anthem in Australia so I can’t wait to sing it with all of the people there. Then after that tour there are plans for an EU tour, festival season after that, and then after that it’s the UK tour and finally back to the US. I’m really covering the whole world next year, and that’s exciting.
The tour will definitely have some drum & bass in there, because of my absolute passion for the genre. ‘Afterglow’ and ‘Disconnect’ will be on the setlist for sure, among others. It will also be album focussed, as my second album is coming out next year. The show will be more considered, telling the story of where I’m at now, as someone who’s feeling more confident in herself. I’m really excited to show people the other side of me now!
How did you gain that confidence?
I guess my 20s were quite turbulent, I’ve had a lot of stuff happen both good and bad. My career has taken a long time to become successful and now it feels amazing! I’ve also learnt a lot about the music industry. As most of my repertoire was collaborating with other people, with it has come a lot of lessons. Some people were amazing to work with, others were a bit more difficult, so I had to learn how to navigate myself through these situations and focus on the music. Next year is my 12th year in the industry, and being in it for that long you become a lot more knowledgeable and confident in what you’re doing. I’ve really enjoyed becoming the woman that I am now.
How do you see yourself growing even more in the next 12 years?
In the next 12 years I would love to become a global selling artist, selling millions of records and I would love that to be rooted in dance music but stay authentic to myself. I would also love to be on a line-up like Ushuaïa standing next to David Guetta and Calvin Harris.
The one thing I’ve always loved about drum & bass, and UKF in particular, is that they have raised me. I was born in 1994, so I remember the internet being invented, getting my first mobile phone… and I remember when dubstep was invented and UKF were at the forefront of pushing that genre. I was always a green UKF over blue, but I did love both equally. It was through the pushing of those platforms where I learned a lot about how dance music was made, how songs in that genre were created by people like Jenna G. To me she is still the original queen of dance music.
I will always have a deep love for drum & bass and electronic, thanks to my brother Adam. He’s guided me through that, but when he left home I was left to my own devices and it was UKF that helped me grow my passion for dance music.
At Glastonbury you did a shoutout to your brother for getting you into drum & bass. How did that happen exactly?
My brother was going to clubs such as Custard Factory, and Air, in Birmingham – both now have unfortunately closed down. He would come home and tell me about these crazy nights he’d had. My brother has always been very eclectic in terms of his music taste and I think that really inspired me. He taught me how to feel music on a deeper level.
I think drum & bass has saved my brother in many ways. He lost his best mate when he was 16, and all he would do is sit in his room and listen to drum & bass, and make drum & bass. I also remember when we lost Marcus Intalex, how upset my brother was about it. He listened to him when he lost his best friend, and Marcus Intalex had helped him through that time. I think that’s the beauty behind the genre, the amount of support you get from it. The community around it is always something that I’ve loved and will always support.
You talk about how community is really important to you. In what way do you feel this sense of community in the drum & bass scene?
People know each other from going to raves as you see the same people going to the same raves. You become friends through chatting shit in the smoking area. It’s that community for me that feels very close. My first rave experience was when I was 18. I remember going to Fabric for the first time and walking down those stairs, and I had this innate feeling of hope. I felt like I had found my second home. That togetherness is really inspiring to me, and to be able to create an environment where people can let go and enjoy themselves, is humbling.
That’s a really inspiring story! Another big time that happened to you earlier this year was a collaboration with Chase & Status for ‘Disconnect’. Can you tell us more about how that came about?
I met them at ‘Radio One’s Big Weekend’ a few years ago and I teased them about how I have wanted to work with them for years. Saul (Chase) then told me that I had earned my stripes, so it was really nice to get that validation from him. During the session where we wrote ‘Disconnect’, we really struggled writing this song, because we kept coming up with different ideas. It was about half five in the morning when I said “If we don’t come up with a song soon, I’ll have to go home.” But luckily I stuck it out for an extra half hour and that’s when we wrote the track. We all fell in love with the song so quickly as well. Will (Status) knew exactly what to do for production, and it was really nice to sit with two people I admire so much and watch them at work.
When Chase and Status’ second album No More Idols came out I was about 17 and I remember how that album changed my life. It’s been a dream of mine to work with them, and having them on my record is a massive, massive deal.
There have also been some remixes of ‘Disconnect’ coming out.
Yes! When I first heard the ShyFX remix, I couldn’t believe my ears. Shy is someone I’ve been a fan of for years and years so I felt supergassed to have his remix on there. The first time I met him was for the ‘Rebels’ soundclash. He got me to re-record ‘Afterglow’ and change the lyrics so it could fit in his set and I remember thinking “he is amazing.” I did Charlie Tee’s ‘60 seconds Send It’, and I included ‘Shake Your Body’. That song and ‘Feelings’ by Jenna G were some of the songs I used to sing hanging around school causing trouble in my hometown.
IVY was important to me as well, because it feels good to be able to support up and coming female talent. When I started out with my career 12 years ago, there were hardly any women in the scene, especially in drum & bass. Now to see the amount of people doing well, like Mollie Collins, IVY… So many! And more vocalists as well, like Charlotte Haining, A Little Sound and Emily Makis. It’s really nice to see this progression in the scene, and to be able to support this new talent. It’s like a full circle moment for me.
Another big milestone for you this year was celebrating the 10th birthday of ‘Afterglow’. How did that feel?
It made me feel really old! It also made me think about how I was 19 when that track came out. To look back now and think about how young I was, and no record deal… For ‘Afterglow’ to be the first track I ever released and it to go straight into the Top 10 was incredible. I remember the session where we wrote the track. At the end of that session we got a phone call from Wilkinson. I downloaded Wilkinson’s EP Moonwalker when I was 16, so to be in that session and have Wilkinson call in and hand us a drumloop to work with… well, I thought “We have to write this song!”. Within the hour we had the track finished, and sent to Wilkinson!
Twice now you mentioned coming up with an idea very quickly, but very late in a session. Is that how you work?
Not really. One of the best and worst things about writing music, is that sometimes you write really quickly and you have a Top 10 record in an hour, and other days you struggle really hard and come up with nothing. But I love that about writing, because there are no two days that are the same, you never know how you are going to come out of a session. Sometimes it can be amazing, other times it can be shit… It’s incredibly unpredictable, which can be really unnerving and exciting at the same time.
What’s next for you?
I’m finishing up the album for the rest of the year, and working on the creative. I’ve got a track coming out in January while I’m touring Australia. After that I’m coming back to Europe, turning 30, and touring the rest of the world!
Any last thoughts?
I want to thank UKF for always having my back. I absolutely love Luke (Hood) and what he’s done for the scene is completely invaluable. I think people forget, because of the kind of music that I make, that I used to be a little snobby drum & bass raver when I was a teenager. To the people out there that criticise the drum & bass movement, I want to say: getting drum & bass to the wider audience and helping it become the biggest that it can be, that’s how we are going to get another 30 years of D&B. I think drum & bass is the best genre in the world, and I think everybody should love it!
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