“Going to the studio and making a fresh sound every single day? That’s as easy as breathing to me,” says Runway, matter-of-factly. We’re not witnessing her first era we’re being invited into her universe, one that’s only set to expand as her star continues to rise. For Runway, it’s less of a reinvention and more a showcase of her versatility. She’s straddled a giant, Y2K mobile phone in the music video for Little Nokia, channelled Shania Twain’s That Don’t Impress Me Much leopard print ensemble for Damn Daniel, and in What Do I Tell My Friends?twerked over her murder victim’s bloodied body. But Bree Runway is yet to release her debut album and we’ve already seen her take on more genres than most artists will cover throughout their entire careers, packaged with jaw-dropping aesthetics each time.īree wears bra and jeans HERON PRESTON FOR CALVIN KLEIN Typically, this sound and image revamp is ushered in with a new album cycle, presenting fans with a fresh “era” to mark the occasion. When you look back at the biggest pop stars of the past few decades – Madonna, Britney Spears, Beyoncé – the one quality they all share is the ability to reinvent themselves. Released last November, debut mixtape 2000and4Eva is a case in point. When they see how much it works for you, they all want a piece of it.”ĭisrupting pop’s status quo with an ever-evolving, shape-shifting sound, Runway’s lane is as wide as it is long, switching gears between genres on each and every track. It’s only weird because you’re the only one doing it. Then I realised that a lot of the same people who were staring started looking like me or doing what I do. “I’m a very outlandish person in how I dress.” (Think Lil’ Kim meets Lizzie McGuire, styled in Jean Paul Gaultier.) “I just had to own the fact that I was going to get stared at. “You’ve got to fake it ‘till you make it,” she says of her evolution from a performance-shy child to a fearless pop innovator. In fact, it’s refreshing to hear a Black woman unashamedly champion herself without a hint of self-deprecation. None of this sounds cocky when Runway says it. By her own admission, she is “a stand out”, “a trendsetter”, “edgy”, “on her own shit” and “everything a pop star is”. Speaking with Runway over Zoom, or indeed watching her do the splits, drenched in oil and barely clothed, in her music video for Hot Hot, it’s hard to imagine that she was an introvert during her younger years. That was my issue with becoming what I am now, being seen, because I saw what that did to me when I was younger.” “I was so shy that I never really wanted to pursue music in the way I have.” For a while, she considered becoming a cruise-ship singer. Years of colourist bullying throughout school had chipped away at her confidence and the limelight seemed like a place that would only invite more scrutiny. It wasn’t that she thought she couldn’t make it – since college, Runway has been certain of her talent. “She gave me a high five and was like…” Runway slips into an American accent. “I was the only person she stood up to applaud for,” she says, her sentences speeding up with excitement. Since the age of eight she’s been wowing audiences with her vocal ability, performing with her cousin in primary school and graduating to bigger, more presidential fish as a teenager, when Michelle Obama visited her secondary school. “I just want to go out and clink some glasses.”īorn Brenda Mensah in Hackney, East London, Bree Runway’s 28 years on this planet have been coloured by events that make her rise to stardom seem like an inevitability. “There’s always something for me to thank God for,” she says, looking back at her achievements over the past year. On other occasions, the goals are scored by collaborating with Missy Elliot on her bodacious, baddie anthem ATM, or seeing her face blown up on a billboard for YouTube Music. Sometimes, that means receiving messages from fans about how she’s inspired them as an unapologetic, dark-skinned Black woman. Order your copy here.īree Runway wakes up and wins – every month, every week, every day. Taken from the new print issue of THE FACE.
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