Benee

Stella Bennett (born 2000), known professionally as Benee (/ˈbɛniː/, stylised BENEE, formerly spelt Bene) is a New Zealand musician from Grey Lynn in Auckland. She is best known for her 2018 single "Soaked", which reached number 14 on the New Zealand singles chart and was certified platinum.

Benee began her music career by posting covers to SoundCloud, and began making her own music in her final year of high school. After dropping out of a communications degree at the Auckland University of Technology after two weeks, during what she called "a quarter-life crisis", she decided to enter the music business professionally. Her music caught the attention of Josh Fountain, a producer and member of the band Leisure, with whom she worked two singles: "Tough Guy", released in 2017 and "Soaked", released in 2018.

Her debut EP, Fire on Marzz, was released on 28 June 2019. A follow-up EP, Stella & Steve, was released later in the year on 15 November.

In an interview for The New Zealand Herald, Benee revealed that she has dyslexia and that "throughout school I struggled with writing....I liked creative writing, that was what I loved, but I was always making mistakes, and I was confined to this way that I should write....Songwriting for me was this place where I don't have to be grammatically correct. Learning the craft with [Josh Fountain], when he was sharing all his knowledge – something clicked, and I was just like, I love this. It's a great emotional outlet for me; I just love splashing what I feel on to a track."

Extended plays

Singles

Other charted songs

Guest appearances

Notes