Newham is also self-taught on piano and guitar, and wrote her first songs at age 14, and began performing as a singer-songwriter at age 16.
After high school, Newham attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. During her first semester, she met producer Peter Thomas who was also attending Berklee. Thomas suggested pairing Newham’s songwriting with a more dreamy, anthemic production style. The two began writing new material together and developed Newham's sound over the next two years.
Betty Who's debut single, "Somebody Loves You," was initially released independently as a free download, and was premiered by pop music blogger and at-the-time official Grammy blogger Arjan Writes on November 30, 2012. Co-written by Newham and Thomas, and produced by Thomas, the song garnered immediate praise, spreading quickly online and being featured by other well-known outlets including Socialite Life, Pop On And On, and Popservations. A music video, directed by Evan Savitt, was released on January 22, 2013, and an official remix by acclaimed indie pop producer FM Attack was released on March 11, 2013.
Betty Who’s debut EP The Movement was released on April 16, 2013. An independent, free-download release initially, the EP’s huge success online helped lead to a large amount of major label interest, before she ultimately signed with RCA Records. It premiered on Billboard on April 9, 2013, one week prior to its official release date and continually received rave reviews from countless major blogs and magazines throughout 2013. Upon release, Idolator described the EP as "A spine-tinglingly euphoric 80's pop nugget," indie pop blog All Things Go claimed she was "charting new musical territory," and the famous UK outlet Popjustice called it "the best proper EP so far of 2013". Press continued to organically build throughout the year, with ELLE calling her "Your Next Pop Obsession" on August 5, 2013 and TIME hand-picking Betty as one of 14 Musical Acts To Watch In 2014.
She’s described her sound as, “taking influences from [past] music and mixing it in with the emotions I’m actually living through. We’re all secretly wrecks and we’re all in love and all being heartbroken. Combining those things for me has been a huge tool to get the sound I want.”
So far, her music has been crafted in collaboration with producer Peter Thomas. The pair operate under the motto that “making something good is easy, the challenge is making it right.”
Betty Who signed to RCA Records on September 15, 2013.
On 8 March 2014, "Somebody Loves You" reached number one on Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs chart.[15]
In April 2014, Who released her second EP, Slow Dancing, which made it to number one on the iTunes pop music charts. The first single from that EP, titled "Heartbreak Dream", was released on iTunes and Google Play on 18 February 2014. The song is used over the end credits of the 2015 film Pitch Perfect 2.
Who has praised Katy Perry, Robyn and Miley Cyrus as influences. She told Variance Magazine in 2014 that they "make pop that's generational. They're making the pop music of our generation that's going to stick around. People are going to look back and be like, 'Oh my God, it's Robyn's Body Talk album. That's one of the best pop albums of the last 10 years.'" Who supported Katy Perry and Kylie Minogue on part of the Australia leg of The Prismatic World Tour and Kiss Me Once Tour respectively. In 2014, Who made her American television debut when she performed "Somebody Loves You" on Watch What Happens: Live.
In late August 2014, Who made the announcement that her full-length debut album, Take Me When You Go, would be released on 7 October 2014. She also released the track list with the announcement. Thirteen songs, four of them being taken from her previous EPs, appeared on the album. From the album, the track "All of You" was her second number one on the US Dance chart, peaking at number one on 21 February 2015.
On 3 June 2016, Who released a cover of Donna Lewis' "I Love You Always Forever". It became her third number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, and proved to be her breakthrough hit in Australia, reaching number 6 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
On 24 March 2017, Who's second album, The Valley was released.
On 19 January 2018, Who released "Ignore Me", which is Who's first single as an independent artist, after parting in 2017 with RCA Records. On 16 February 2018, the singer released a cover of Kylie Minogue's "Come Into My World" for Made in Australia compilation by Amazon Music. In 2018, Who released a remixed version of Widelife's "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" to be used as the theme song for season two of the Netflix reboot Queer Eye. A music video was released featuring the cast of Queer Eye and Who.
On 15 June 2018, Betty, Pt. 1, Betty Who's third EP, was released containing the singles "Ignore Me", "Look Back" and "Taste" as well as two other previously unreleased songs: "Just Thought You Should Know" and "Friend Like Me".
On 14 November 2018, "Between You & Me" was released as another new single. It was the first single from the new album Betty that had not been previously released on the Betty, Pt 1 EP. With the release of this single, Betty Who used different shades of blue and photos of herself on her social media profiles to release lyrics to the song. The lyrics that were revealed were "You've got one hand on the wheel", "Sitting at the red light, tensions are high, vibe you could cut with a knife", and "just between you & me, I can feel something here, wondering if you do too". An Instagram post by Betty Who on the day after the release showed that the single already had 22,310 streams on Spotify, and had risen to 31,000 streams two hours later. By 12 December 2018, streams had surpassed 500,000. The music video for this song dropped on 28 November 2018, in which Betty Who plays herself as well as her own love interest. On 10 January 2019, "I Remember" was released as the fifth single from the album, with the music video for the song being released on 24 January.
In June 2020, Who launched a Patreon to fund new music and give fans access to exclusive content.
Betty Who describes herself as a "queer, bisexual woman". In 2014, Who began dating photographer Zak Cassar, son of director and producer Jon Cassar. The couple announced their engagement on 21 November 2017. They were married in 2020. Betty Who is a dual citizen of Australia and the United States.
Missing you
Betty Who Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I got drunk in a cheap hotel
Now I'm trying not to hate myself 'cause I'm missing your face
I'm a mess, baby, can't you tell?
I know you're happy, white fence in Pasadena
I thought we'd get there first
I see you smile, and it cuts a little deeper
I'm in the bed, and I'm still sleeping in your t-shirt
I pretend you're missing me, me
I'm not on your mind, but when you hear our song
At least pretend you're missing me, me
At least pretend you're missing me
Me, me
At least pretend you're missing me, me
Don't you worry, I'm doing fine
I found a boy, and I'm getting by
But I think of you all the time and I picture your face
Anytime that he kisses mine
I know you're happy, I hope that she's a keeper
Just know I loved you first (first)
I see you smile, and it keeps on cuttin' deeper
But it's just me that hurts
I'm in the bed, and I'm still sleeping in your t-shirt
I pretend you're missing me, me (I pretend you're missing me)
I'm not on your mind, but when you hear our song
At least pretend you're missing me, me
At least pretend you're missing me, woah
Me, me
At least pretend you're missing me, me
And now you're happy, white fence in Pasadena
I see you smile, and it keeps on cuttin' deeper
And it's just me that's hurt
I'm in the bed, and I'm still sleeping in your t-shirt
I pretend you're missing me, me (me, me)
I'm not on your mind, but when you hear our song
At least pretend you're missing me, me
At least pretend you're missing me, me (pretend you're missing me, oh)
Me
At least pretend you're missing me, me
At least pretend you're missing me
The song "Missing You" by Betty Who is about the feelings of heartbreak and longing for someone who has moved on. The lyrics describe the singer waking up in a hotel room, hungover and trying not to hate themselves for missing the person they're singing about. While the person they're missing seems to have moved on to a happy life with someone else, the singer is still struggling to let go. The lines "I'm a mess, baby, can't you tell?... Is it just me that's hurt?" show the internal struggle and pain the singer is experiencing.
The verses of the song also touch on the singer's attempt to move on with someone else, but they can't help but think of the person they're missing. The lines "Don't you worry, I'm doing fine, I found a boy, and I'm getting by... But I think of you all the time and I picture your face, anytime that he kisses mine" exemplify the struggle between trying to move on and not being able to let go of the past. The chorus of the song repeatedly asks the person they're missing to at least pretend they're missing them, showing how the singer is still holding on to hope, no matter how small it may be.
Line by Line Meaning
Wakin' up in a twin XL
I woke up in a small, uncomfortable bed that reminds me of how alone I feel without you.
I got drunk in a cheap hotel
I made poor decisions because of my sorrow, and ended up in a place that reminded me of how little I'm worth without you.
Now I'm trying not to hate myself 'cause I'm missing your face
I'm having a difficult time dealing with the pain of missing you, and I'm trying not to blame myself for it.
I'm a mess, baby, can't you tell?
I'm a complete disaster and I can't hide it, even if I try.
I know you're happy, white fence in Pasadena
I understand that you've moved on and found happiness, living in a perfect home in a perfect place.
I thought we'd get there first
I thought we would have a happy life together, but now you have that with someone else.
I see you smile, and it cuts a little deeper
It hurts me to see you happy, because it reminds me of what we had and what I lost.
Is it just me that's hurt?
Or do you feel the same pain that I do, even though you seem so happy?
I'm in the bed, and I'm still sleeping in your t-shirt
I can't let go of the memories of you, so I sleep in your clothes to feel close to you.
I pretend you're missing me, me
I try to convince myself that you still think about me as much as I think about you.
I'm not on your mind, but when you hear our song
I know that you've moved on, but when you hear our special song, do you still think of me?
At least pretend you're missing me, me
Even if it's not true, please pretend that you still have feelings for me and miss me.
Don't you worry, I'm doing fine
I want you to know that I'm okay without you, even though it's not entirely true.
I found a boy, and I'm getting by
I'm trying to replace you with someone else, but it's not the same and it's not as fulfilling.
But I think of you all the time and I picture your face
Despite my efforts to move on, I still think about you constantly and can't help but imagine what you're doing.
Anytime that he kisses mine
When he kisses me, it's just a reminder of how much I miss your touch.
Just know I loved you first
Before anyone else, I loved you and cared for you deeply.
I'm in the bed, and I'm still sleeping in your t-shirt
I can't move on and let go of you, so I cling onto anything that reminds me of you.
Me, me
All I can think about is myself and how much I'm hurting without you.
At least pretend you're missing me, me
I know it's not true, but please pretend that you still care about me and miss me just a little bit.
And now you're happy, white fence in Pasadena
You have everything that we ever dreamed of having together, but now you have it with someone who isn't me.
At least pretend you're missing me
Please give me some hope that you still have feelings for me, even if it's just pretending.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JESSICA NEWHAM, JORDAN K JOHNSON, MARCUS LOMAX, STEFAN JOHNSON, THOMAS ERIKSEN, ZAK WATERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind