The early and accidental success of Belladonna
Words by Tessa Guest.
Image taken by Shyam Patel.
Bella Cook has walked backwards into the music industry. Before the release of her debut EP, the Wellington singer-songwriter found herself on the top 20 list for the APRA Silver Scroll awards. When she submitted her fun-loving track ‘Hands’ in January, Bella, or Belladonna as her stage name goes, only had two singles available to the world.
She was bewildered when she received the news six months later, partially because she’d forgotten about the whole ordeal, and partially because it seemed too good to be true. “Have I been pranked?” she wondered.
Since the nomination in August, Belladonna’s repertoire has grown exponentially with the recent release of her five-track EP Salty Dog. Cheery synths and drum tracks feature heavily, which give it the perfect bounce to walk down the street to. And it’s the everyday feel that makes her music special. It talks about normal chats with her mum, normal weather events, normal romance and normal heartbreak. Bella’s Kiwi accent has free reign, and her melodies drift by in a way that feels like a conversation.
Image taken by Elise Rank.
Most of the EP was finished before lockdown, but the last track was pieced together in a Covid-friendly fashion. Bella recorded vocals for ‘Kiss Me’ at her parent’s house in Newtown, before sending them to Shannon Matthew Venya in Auckland to be slotted into the track.
Thankfully, the location restricted setup went smoothly for this artist-producer duo, who have been working together for almost two years. Bella admitted she was starstruck by Shannon when she first met him during a year-long artist development programme with Parachute Studios. He’s been in the industry for a while as both a producer and artist -- Bella treasures every piece of advice he’s passed on.
She also carefully watches every move made by her favourite local artists, from the likes of The Beths, Bic Runga and Chelsea Jade, who all found themselves on the Silver Scroll list at some point.
“I don’t really know what I’m doing; I just pretend to know,” she said. “I’m still working out what it even means to be a musician.”
The top five Silver Scroll finalists were announced on 22 August, and feature Reb Fountain, BENEE, Troy Kingi, L.A.B., and Nadia Reid. Belladonna is “unsurprised to say the least” that top 20 was as far as she went this year, but she’s looking forward to the mid-October ceremony in Auckland. It’s safe to say she’ll be starry-eyed all night.