Following her BRITs win in February for British Dance Act, Becky Hill is busier than ever.
Ahead of her six-week You/Me/Us Ibiza Rocks residency from July 5, Becky Hill has announced a second series of The Art Of Rave podcast and released the deluxe edition of her 2021 album Only Honest On The Weekend (Polydor).
The debut LP, featuring collaborations with 220 Kid, Banx & Ranx, David Guetta, Ella Eyre, Shift K3Y, S1mba, Sigala and Topic, has sales to date of 46,509, according to the Official Charts Company.
The new edition of Only Honest On The Weekend has boosted sales by 200% week-on-week and it is pushing for a return to the Top 10 in the latest chart (March 25).
Hill waited until the moment was right to build on her huge success as a singles artist. The release of her debut album at the end of last summer was plotted carefully with her label team at Polydor and long-term manager Alex Martin of AM Music.
“It was really about waiting for the right moment that we felt was going to have the most momentum in Becky’s career to make the impact that we wanted,” said Martin, who spoke to Music Week for the LP’s release. “We feel as though this body of work is really representative of Becky, her journey and her incredible songwriting.
“The last couple of years in particular had been very strong for Becky and there has been incredible momentum behind her. She’s had to be incredibly patient to get to this point. I’m really proud of her. I’m proud of the team for where we’ve got to.”
The expanded version of the album includes a new song, Personally, alongside bonus tracks that didn’t make the original release.
Hill was the third most streamed UK female artist on Spotify last year (behind Adele and Dua Lipa). She recently secured her 14th Top 40 entry with current hit Run (with Galantis).
Prior to her debut, Becky Hill was one of the most successful UK hitmakers of recent years with a run of dance hits. Her first full-length release, Get To Know (2019), was essentially a greatest hits collection. It has sales to date of 281,710.
“Get To Know has done fantastic business,” Alex Martin told Music Week. “It was the tipping point for a lot of people to recognise Becky not as a featured artist any longer, but to realise that she was the artist as well, and the glue and architect of all these hit records. It provided a foundation to be able to reach a platform and audience base to move to the next stage, which was consistent solo single releases, which in turn would lead to the debut album.”
Hill’s current period of success can be traced back to the 2018 hit Back & Forth (with Jonas Blue and MK), which peaked at No.12.
Although she’d had a huge hit in 2014 on Gecko (Overdrive) with Oliver Heldens – the first single by a contestant on The Voice to top the charts (1,464,002 sales) – she later got dropped when her own singles stalled.
“It was very challenging,” said Martin. “I always knew Becky had a great album and great songs in her locker but as we know these things are never just black and white, it’s about timing, it’s about how opportunities manifest and present themselves at any particular point in time and taking those opportunities when they’re in front of you.
“The stars just didn’t align at that particular moment, and there are multiple reasons why. I think, ultimately, it was very difficult for Becky to understand because she was a lot younger then. That rejection and that perceived lack of confidence in an artist is very difficult for them to take.”
We work with Polydor to make things happen, as opposed to waiting for things to happen
Alex Martin
It gave them the opportunity to set up their own label, Eko Records, and taste success again. After meeting with label co-presidents Tom March and Ben Mortimer, they then aligned with Polydor.
“Whilst we enjoyed being independent and enjoyed having complete control, we always knew that to get to the level we wanted, we would partner with a label and a team who understood what we needed,” said Martin. “Polydor was the right fit for that. We’re very glad they have shown the confidence and patience in order for us to get to this position now.”
Becky Hill’s manager stressed that she’s completely in control of her career, while drawing on the strategic support of the Polydor team, including Lucy Dann and Richard O’Donovan, as well as Sony Music Publishing’s UK president and co-MD David Ventura.
“We’re driving it and we work with Polydor to make things happen, as opposed to waiting for things to happen,” he added.
Subscribers can click here to read our Becky Hill interview.
