Sometimes in life there’s a need to start again, and work from a clean slate. Songwriter, live performing artist extraordinaire has been in this situation. Thinking carefully about career moves, there was a deep feeling that something needed to change.
“I’ve never felt it was the right time to delete the past and be completely fresh,” the vocalist begins. “I always wanted it to feel like it was a building block. Whereas it felt like a good time to just move into something new, owning what was there, but moving into the next thing.”
Embracing the life-changing decision with energy and optimism, the York-bred musician talks all things change. Naturally, in creative terms, it’s having a notable impact on output, as a passion for drama is given more room to manoeuvre. But the new path does enable a focused approach, with lots of room to manoeuvre.
McCarthy describes the elevated route as elevated yet darker. “It’s a more complex version of what was before. I’ve always been very honest in my music, telling stories that come straight from me, straight from my life experience but make it into a story, beyond that, into a character. I’m leaning into an alter ego.”
It’s easy to see that storytelling is essential to this creative phase. An opportunity for fans to immerse themselves in a narrative and follow along with the story that unfolds is how the singer plans to release music. It’s a keenness to achieve the effect akin to that of the excitement ahead of a favourite television show, when a new episode is released.
Based on the idea that the listener is given detail with every song, and how at the end of it, everything fits together. “I really love that idea because it means people have a thread to grasp onto. If they arrive in the middle, they can be all over the place, and then they can find the beginning and follow. That’s fun, it feels more like art. I’ve missed making music into art and being creative with it.”
The project offers playfulness. McCarthy has given it attention; and as it turns out, it’s been in development for years, and it might explain the ease at which the conversation with Clash flows. “I feel like I’ve been preparing this my whole life, with my heart and soul for it to come to life on a stage. It has always been what it’s about for me. I love playing live. People have different dreams in their careers.”
Due for release soon, a single is on the way. The track plays on a femme fatale and anti-heroine theme, and it may well be an indicator of what’s coming down the line. Strong female artists like Miley Cyrus, Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish figure and Freddie Mercury always figure in the background. “I’ve found myself leaning into what I was loving when I was a teenager.”
The ability to make magnificent art is one thing, true confidence is often hard to find. Gigging, indoors or outdoors, is where the creative tension is. In many ways growing up busking has been godsend. “The thing busking teaches you is that no one is forced to stay or to give you money. You have to learn the stagecraft to keep them there. That’s probably why I’ve loved performing, why I have such a connection to being live in front of an audience. That’s how I started, and for me, it’s the biggest version of winning people over that I’ll ever have. So, bring it on! I’m ready to do it.”
Equally, McCarthy views it as important to write music for those whose lives are featured less frequently. “I have always enjoyed writing a song for the people that don’t have songs, I feel like there are people out there who are in the position of being different.”
“For every good guy in a story, there’s always a bad guy. For every heartbreak there’s someone who broke the heart, and I found it interesting to hear that side of the story that we don’t get as much in music.”
There will be plenty of opportunity to follow Beth McCarthy’s journey, hear the fresh material and see the singer live, in person. Because this is the just the beginning of something new, something rather thrilling.
Catch Beth McCarthy at Reading and Leeds festival this weekend.