BeatRoute Magazine BC Print Edition April 2018

BPM
BISHOP BRIGGS
GRAPHIC NOVELS, THE OC AND A CHURCH OF SCARS
ADAM DEANE
PRADO
MAKING WAY FOR THE WEIRDOS
JORDAN YEAGER
Photo by Jabari Jacobs
A star on the rise, Bishop Briggs grew up obsessed with American culture and karaoke.
To put it lightly Bishop Briggs (aka Sarah Mclaughlin)
does not do anything half-assed. In truth, after
hearing tracks like “River, ” “Wild Horses” and her
most recent release “White Flag,” you’ll begin to
understand why she has repeatedly graced the
Billboard 100 charts and smashed Twitter’s Emerging
Artist charts while performing alongside bands like
Kaleo and Alt-J. The traditional pop-electronic genre
label is immediately discarded once her cathartic
vibe meets her unavoidably relatable and honest
vocals and lyrics.
Having caught up with BB precisely one month
before the 4/20 release of her debut album, Church
of Scars, following her SXSW performances,
peculiarly, her spirit was incredibly high. If her energy
was any more animated, she’d have to take up an
acting role in anime. Speaking of which, Briggs let us
in on a few of her other artistic vents.
“Darker poetry is always my go-to. Even if I’m
having a good day I like to write poetry to remind
me of who I am at my core. I am a big diary-writer,
and that involves a ton of graphic novel vibes; I draw,
I do speech bubbles, the whole thing. I started to
get drawn to tattoos as a way of therapy, which my
mum was very upset about. I started to see a distinct
correlation between getting the tattoos and feeling
as though I got closure on events or experiences.
And then as time progressed, I feel like my tattoos
grow with me.”
At 25, the London-born, Hong Kong and Tokyo
raised singer has already graced soundtracks of
multiple blockbusters, she’s collaborated with bands
like Cold War Kids and more recently, she forged
next to Dan Reynolds (vocalist of Imagine Dragons)
for her newest track “Lion” off of her upcoming
release.
“If you can imagine (no pun intended) being in
a vocal booth standing next to him, it’s just the
strength of his voice,” she says. “You don’t hear
tracks where he’s just singing acapella. It makes you
a superfan.”
When questioned about her unconventional
upbringing, Briggs credits her childhood as the spark
of her love for all things music and culture.
“I didn’t really realize that it was an unusual
upbringing until I moved to the States at 18. At that
point I was like, oh it is strange to go to karaoke bars
every couple of days after school. For me, it was all
I’d ever known. I went to an international school and
was pretty obsessed with American culture, so by the
time I moved to the States I was ready to become a
character from The OC.”
Bishop Briggs will begin her first headlining tour
in Vancouver at the Commodore with her debut
album, Church of Scars, set to release the week prior
to the show. If you’re a fan of hard-hitting vocals,
deep bass, high-energy and big hearts; you should
catch this one. Otherwise, stay home and watch
reruns of The OC or something.
Bishop Briggs performs April 27 at the Commodore
Ballroom.
Photo by Zee Khan
Benita Prado’s energy is infectious – when she
talks, you want to listen. The 19-year-old hip
hop artist has quickly carved a place for herself
in Vancouver’s music scene, challenging existing
structures and revolutionizing the game. Listening
to her, it’s clear Prado knows what she wants and
how she’s going to get there; she’s been crafting,
refining, and redefining her sound since her mom
gifted her a guitar at age 13.
“My mom gave me the guitar and she was like,
‘Here, I want you to learn some Rolling Stones on
this,’” laughs Prado. “I was like, ‘Uh, I don’t fuck
with that.’ So I just started writing my own stuff,
just stupid little teenage heartbreak stuff. And
from there I started going onto SoundCloud and
Twitter and branching myself out that way.”
Before making a name for herself in the public
sphere, Prado was a ghostwriter for big-name
rappers when she was just 15. She’s used the
following four years wisely, learning the game from
the inside out – there’s no better way to overthrow
the system than from within it.
“I came out the womb looking like I was 12, so
I deadass just finessed people,” she says, laughing
after a comparison to Maeby Bluth from Arrested
Development’s stint in the film industry. “I was 15,
like, ‘Yeah, I’m 19, and I know how to do this.’ I still
20
do it, but it makes it harder to focus on my own
career. I was always the behind-the-scenes type
person and now I’m in the fuckin’ foreground.”
If you have the dedication, the vision, and the
talent, you will succeed, and Prado’s mission is
to be the living proof. When asked about the
purpose of her art and what she hopes to achieve,
she responds with a laugh: “Maybe like… world
domination?”
“I hope people see themselves [in my music],”
she says. “[In my songs], I let myself be the worst
version of myself for, like, two minutes. Everyone
needs an outlet for that shit. So I just want them to
take away the vulnerability, and accepting that not
everybody has to be a positive person – you just
have to be a person. Have that balance. Sometimes
I feel like a dark ass bitch. But it’s like, just live your
life. You don’t have to be positive all the time. I was
an emo ass kid. I was deadass emo as fuck from
grades five to 10. Now I’m getting back into it; I
have all the My Chemical Romance albums.”
Ultimately, Prado makes music for the people
who have been in her shoes, living in their feelings
without public figures to look up to.
“Have you ever seen the Vine of that little emo
black kid who does screamo in front of mirrors?”
asks Prado. “He’s literally the best Viner. People
Prado is poppin’ off with the release of her new mixtape, Yung Depression.
always make fun of him. I make music for those
people, and I want those people to have an outlet,
and women of colour to have an outlet. All the
people that don’t feel like they fit into a SZA or a
Beyoncé – that super feminine, hyper-beauty type
thing. It’s all centred around men, and I don’t have
time for that. Centre around yourself! Be proud of
your ugliness.”
“I want to be the person people look up to for
that kind of shit,” she continues. “But at the same
time, I’m human, I make mistakes. So I try to keep
it real while creating a movement for black little
weirdo kids like me. Cause there’s all these white
little weirdo heroes and I’m like, where’s the one
for the black kids? Being black in Vancouver, and
being Aboriginal, I have all these odds against me,
but you’ve got to just show up like, yeah, I’m here,
I’m this bitch right here. And it’s pretty much just
constantly being yourself and really just going for
it. Be a bad bitch.”
Prado’s new mixtape is due out April 2018.
April 2018