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The double-edged sword of feeling everything intimately and deeply is an experience singer-songwriter BEL navigates in her third project, Read the Room. Pulling from the buzzing energy of touring for the first time and the search for connection in a digital age, BEL puts her very inner being on display in this introspective collection of songs. We sat down with the rising star to chat about each track and dissect the heartful throughline between them.

Ones To Watch: How was writing this EP a different experience from the previous projects?

BEL: This one was different because I started it knowing what I wanted the title to be. 'Read the Room' as an expression was such an interesting thing to think about in respect to dating life and also just as a person, as an artist, feeling like you have to alter yourself a little bit in different situations. I was reflecting on that while writing this project, especially about dating in your twenties. It's a little bit of a response and reflection from the second EP, moving on from that and figuring out how you fit in with people.

I would love to talk about the decision to include the live version of “Are You Okay?” on the EP. When I listened to it, I was like “Okay, now I know why,” because it's amazing. But have you done that before?

No, I’ve never done that! I love playing shows, and I've been playing a lot this year. I wanted to just show that on this project specifically because this year I've been on my first tours and started to do a lot of different iterations of my songs live, so I just wanted to try it out.

Let’s talk about “Cold Brew” and why you chose it as the opening track. Then the breakdown at the end, how did that come about? It's out of left field, but in the best way.

The opening line is kind of ambiguous at first. You don't know if it's about somebody that I have been with, and I want it to set the tone of the project because it’s also a little bit of a response to jet lag. It was me processing a breakup and then also getting excited about somebody again. That person I got excited about didn't work out, and I was trying to move on from that and find other avenues. So opening with this is my way of showing that. It's a playful song, even though the lyrics are sad. I love taking people by surprise.

That's what the ending does to me. I was literally playing it for my boyfriend this morning, and he was like, “Is this the same song?” I'm like, yeah, exactly.

When I was making it with the two producers I was working with, we were having so much fun. This song specifically, we were like, let's just mess around with sounds and let's speed it up. When we first wrote it, it was a little bit slower, so we sped it up, and then we were like, we should just try a chunk at the end where it's completely messed up. And we were so excited about that part.

It’s interesting that you were talking about the ambiguity of the first line because that's how I feel about the next track, “Are You Okay?” I love how when you're asking the question over and over. Is that to someone else? Is that to yourself? 

I just really love being ambiguous. I like that a song can take on a new life once it's out. And I like that it can also change its meaning to even me after processing whatever it was I was writing about. So it actually is both. It was originally a song for my friend who was going through a breakup and kind of poking fun at that, “Oh, you want me to go out with some friends and whatever, but I'm totally fine. I don't need to have anybody right now.” But then it is also asking myself if I'm actually okay being alone when it feels like everybody else has somebody.

So, “Hypocrite.” Tell me about this track. I feel like self-awareness is a huge theme in this EP. How does being self-aware come into your writing?

It’s also a song about maturing and being able to take ownership of realizing when you're also at fault for things. It’s important to be self-aware. Sometimes it feels so silly to be singing little pop songs and then it feels like the world is ending. So I do have a self-awareness that I can be melodramatic about stuff, but I am a human and I feel things really deeply. This is my way of processing it and I can't do it any other way.

“Carry Me to Bed” has such a classic '90s feel. I would love to hear about the process of making it.

I think I desperately want to be in an early 2000s romcom. That just keeps coming through in my music. It’s what I grew up on, watching and listening to the soundtracks from those movies and it made me feel things deeply. This song is lyrically about frustrations and longing for intimacy and romance in the digital age and feeling like the dating app life is not for me. It’s really hard.

The movies we grew up on showed us this ideal romance and now it’s like waiting for someone to message you back on Hinge.

Exactly, and getting ghosted by someone you thought was into you and it’s like “Where did we go wrong?” I know everyone feels that way, so what is the solution to feeling so disconnected?

I just love that this song feels like that classic example of intimacy that we expected.

It’s hard, I’m too sensitive to be casual. I can’t be casual. 

Wait what sign are you?

I’m a cancer.

Same. I figured, because you kept saying you’re sensitive. That’s another thing that our generation is so obsessed with (zodiac signs) because it’s about connection too.

Yeah, that's true. Understanding people.

That you just don't get online, because you're trying to connect with a version of someone.

That's also part of what I was talking about in that song too, “Hey, there funny boy, pretty boy.” It's like, this is the idea that I think I'm falling in love with, who I think I'm talking to. But then they’re not that person.

In “Forget Everything,” what I got from this track is the idea of questioning friendships. Is that something that you were thinking about? Is it just relationships in general?

It's more like the friends to lovers to strangers pipeline. It's hard when you cross that boundary with a friend and it's hard to go back. It's not that it's impossible, but I think for the specific person that I was writing about, it just couldn't be.

I love the question, “Can you forget everything?” Because I mean, the answer is no.

It's really vulnerable. You think about it and you're like, “Oh my God, this person has now seen me in a totally different way. How could they forget it? How could we go back?” There's a little bit of embarrassment that I have, but ultimately I don't want to regret any of it.

There are so many people writing about this right now and I love that because it's not easy to talk about.

I also sometimes try to filter myself because I feel like I've written about this so much, but it's what I'm feeling. I have to just do it.

That’s probably one of the hardest parts about being an artist, deciding when a topic has been written about enough. But if you have more to say, then you have more to say. "Read the Room,” the title track. After deciding you wanted to use that phrase, was this the first thing you wrote?

I had actually written most of the other tracks before I wrote it, but I knew I wanted the project to be called Read the Room, and I didn't know if I was going to write a song with that title. But, it just came out really quickly and it’s interesting that I didn't start with this, but I knew I wanted it.

The lyric “I get sad the world is doomed every time I read the room” could just sum up life right now. And as a Cancer, sometimes I wish I was one of those people who, like, doesn't pick up on things.

I remember telling my therapist this, “It would be so nice if I just didn't feel anything at all.” and she was like “Would you ever make music?” I always feel jealous of people who just go through life not realizing and then I'm like, wait, no I'm not.

I love when a lyric just sums it all up like that. That is such a highlight for me.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to straight up say it or not, but I did and I'm glad I did. 

“Woman On Fire” is so different from the rest of the EP and I love that you end on it. It's such a badass song. Tell me about choosing it as the closing track.

I was listening through everything trying to figure out the order and felt that I wanted to end on a hopeful note. And even though it's kind of like, “fuck you, I can do whatever I like,” it's the most hopeful track on the project because it's talking about being okay on my own. It's definitely grittier than every other song on the EP, but I think it helps set the tone that I could go in any direction sonically on my next project. I always want to explore things and experiment more. So I was definitely nervous about it feeling disjointed from the rest of the project, but I hope that it still has that throughline with everything else.

It's taking everything, all of the emotions that you've been talking about in the EP, and then just letting it all go and using that to get through shit. That's how I interpret it.

I don't have any songs that express anger and I think this one has a little bit of anger in it. But also confidence. So I was like, I need to show that side of me because again, I do sometimes filter myself to only show a certain emotion or theme. I wanted to show that I can also do this.

So this has been your first year touring? How has that shifted you as an artist?

It’s been really affirming because I really wanted to go on tour and I love playing shows, but I was nervous because I’m a homebody. Maybe it's not going to be for me and what am I doing with my life if I don't like touring? Because it's such a big part of being an artist. But, I love it. I was like, oh, thank God. I'm a developing artist right now and to still have people that know my music in a city that I've never been to before is incredible. Getting more practice on the road has been really helpful and has informed my writing a little bit too. What gets people dancing and like what grabs people in a different way on stage versus on the record? I'm going on tour with girlhouse and it’ll be my first time playing the whole EP all the way through and I'm sure that my perspective is gonna shift on so many songs.