In a few short years, Auckland’s BENEE–aka Stella Rose Bennett–has come far since uploading covers to SoundCloud. Her 2017 debut single “Tough Guy” and 2019 debut EP Fire on Marzz announced the arrival of an artist with a quirky but highly relatable take on R&B and indie pop. That quirkiness extends to the lyrical inspiration for her songs, with “Afterlife” a message to the girl who murdered her in a dream, and “Evil Spider” inspired by an arachnid she named Steve that used to live in her room. She’s not one to shy away from self-examination, though, singing, “I know I f****d up, I’m just a loser” in “Supalonely” (featuring Gus Dapperton), a song written after a breakup that has a far sunnier pop disposition than its lyrics would suggest. Indeed, that juxtaposition is typical of an artist who refuses to rely on standard pop tropes, but instead takes elements of indie rock, pop, R&B and funk and melds them all into a decidedly unique, earworm-friendly concoction.