Introducing Interview: Beauty

Influenced by the likes of Sia, Robyn and Sam Smith, pop artist Beauty (aka Mark Thompson) creates gritty, electro sounds with twinkling, uptempo vibes and impassioned vocals.

Keen to launch into the mainstream, Beauty has now shared his brand new single. Flowing with catchy pop melodies alongside heartfelt reflections, ‘Grown Up’ is filled with glitchy beats and Thompson’s smooth, distinctive vocals. An infectious slice of electro-pop that’ll leave your ears hungry for more of its sparkly, poptastic goodness.

With ‘Grown Up’ out next month, we caught up with Beauty to find out more about his love of all things pop…

Hi Mark, what have you been up to today?
Hi! I’ve been writing and recording from home today. It’s amazing – what you can achieve these days without even having to leave your bedroom! Technology eh?!

Your new single ‘Grown Up’ is due for release next month, can you explain the inspirations behind the track?
The inspiration for the song came from a conversation I had over the phone with one of my best friends. We hadn’t spoken to each other in months because we had both moved to different cities. I was alone in London and feeling a bit down. To be honest, I was having a crappy day. Just when I was thinking “God I could really use someone to talk to right now’’, my phone suddenly rang and weirdly enough, when I answered, it was my bestie, Natalie. We said hello and she said she was just calling to see how I was and to check in on me. It was exactly what I needed in that exact moment. Hearing her voice reminded me of home and instantly comforted me. We had a catch-up over the phone and then arranged to meet up the following week. After we ended the call, I all of a sudden became really emotional because I realised how much I missed her. As teenagers, we were inseparable and spent our time living recklessly and doing the wildest things. I felt that in the blink of an eye we had become grown ups and as a lot of people do, managed to somehow drift apart from each other.

When we were younger, I think we had this sense of urgency like “Oh I can’t wait to be older so that I can drink, move into my own place, get a car etc…’’ But then as soon as you grow up, you realise that actually, carrying the weight of responsibility that comes with being an adult, maybe isn’t always that fun after all! So I guess it’s a bitter sweet song about reminiscing about our teenage life and asking whether grown up life is all that we’d hoped for?

What would you say you miss most about being younger?
That kind of childhood innocence that you have where everything seems magical and everything is an adventure. I try to maintain a similar outlook on life today.

Being a big fan of pop, are there any new pop artists that you’re listening to right now that you’d particularly recommend?
Yeah I would definitely recommend Troye Sivan, Dua Lipa, Ferras and Anne-Marie. That’s who I’ve been listening to this week.

And who would you say is your favourite pop artist of all time, and why?
Robyn is my all time fave pop artist. I really enjoy watching how expressive she is. I love that she does things on her own terms. And of course, her songs are absolute tunes!

I’ve heard that you’re writing songs for some Korean pop artists – what’s that been like? And what first sparked your interest in doing that?
Yeah, it’s been great. I visited South Korea a couple of years ago and was bitten by the K-Pop bug. I like how enthusiastic they are when it comes to visuals, especially the boybands. And it’s good fun writing in a genre that is so musically experimental and forever changing.

As well as influential artists, what inspires you most to create music?
Connecting with people inspires me the most. I love going into sessions with artists, writers, producers and having genuine conversations about our lives, relating to each other and turning those experiences into songs. It’s super therapeutic and very rewarding for me.

And what plans do you have for the near future?
I’ll be putting out more music, writing for other artists too, and pretty soon I will working on my live set which will be fun!

Huge thanks to Beauty for answering our questions!

Grown Up, the new single from Beauty, is out 16 September on BeautySMusic.