Well, well, well - look who it is? The inconsistent SJP-wannabe who wowed you with dating tales galore in the short but utterly dreadful window of heteronormative sensibilities known as my ✨ twenties ✨ has finally decided to tap her witchy acrylic nails across her mucky mac keyboard to give you some well-deserved content (because we don’t have enough of that do we!!)

In all seriousness, I’ve been a little stuck (and, as ever, juggling approximately 8 jobs simultaneously) so carving out the precious time to think about what the future of this newsletter could be has proved, well, a little tricky. In an absence of witty Hinge-date-gone-wrong stories to give you, I’ve been wondering where to take things and the only logical thing is back to where this all began…. the music.

While I do understand many of you stuck around purely for the countless tote-bag wielding Patricks who left me high and dry or tales of my now beloved partner taking me to Thailand for our second date, I feel I lack adequate current experience to keep ranting on about the state of dating (although if you do need something to scratch that specific itch and you haven’t already, Chanté Jay’s iconic piece for Vogue might be just the ticket).

Instead, since becoming a signed songwriter (still gassed about this and not sure I ever did a newsletter announcement about it but yay me!) I am somewhat all-consumed by music, not simply tracks and albums I strongly recommend you don’t go without but the industry at large, live events to not be missed and, of course, my own projects… of which there is some exciting news.

As ever, in earnest, we begin

A METAMORPHOSIS

I’ve been edging it on my socials, but it is time to say a potentially-temporary-but-potentially-permanent au revoir to Paige Bea as you once knew her. I’m not killing her off, it feels all too brutal but since the summer of 2023, there’s been something else brewing. Although I remain immensely proud of quite literally all but maybe 2 tracks I released between 2017 - 2024, another sonic spark has been lit and it’s led me somewhere else entirely. If I’m honest, I’d also just grown a little weary of trying to make Paige Bea click, and so, despite it very likely becoming yet another boulder-up-giant-fucking-hill, the idea of a brand new project, a brand new persona with a brand new sound became ever-so tantalising.

It all started with a session in June 2023 (yikes!) where by some crazy act of God, London Grammar guitarist, songwriter and producer extraordinaire Dan Rothman caught wind of little old Paige Bea and alongside Jacana People, another incredibly talented duo he’d been working with, we all got in the studio (Damon Albarn’s studio to be precise lol) to make a track. I’d been listening to a LOT of Róisín Murphy (what a horrid, disappointing turn she’s taken) and for the first time in my life, I desperately wanted to just make something FUN. At the time, I was also suffering from mysterious and debilitating issues with my voice. I could belt it out, but I’d somehow lost the vocal elasticity to do much else. I got in the vocal booth, approached the same microphone Hannah Reid uses (?!) and mid-pushing out a more soul-infused topline that wasn’t terrible but wasn’t great either, someone in the control room suggested I try talking instead. A penny was dropped, a lightbulb lit, and, in that very moment, the first seeds of Adult Woman were sown.

I’ll say so much more in the months to come, but for now, if you are on Instagram, you can follow here or @adult___woman <3 (yes, that is three underscores as actual @adultwoman handle was taken by a very stylish older Brazilian lady who lives in Switzerland)

ANYWAY eaaaaarly access to my first single (slated for Feb 2026) and other snippets to follow, but if you want some kind of melange of Robyn, Marie Davidson, Grace Jones and Confidence Man, you’re in for a bloody treat. Oh and I went to Costa Brava and filmed about a year’s worth of content with my best friend the inimitable Marcus Nolan. There really is SO MUCH TO COME!

SONIC WONDERS

Ah yes, the section where I recommend new tunes for your ears galore! It’s actually been impossible to whittle things down given it’s been a LITERAL YEAR since I’ve recommended anything at all. I have eschewed the obvious (new Lily, Celeste, Charli, Robyn) as no-one really needs me for that, but 10 new tracks and this month’s obsession below!!! Also - in an effort to move away from the Swedish beast, this is the last time I’ll be doing Spotify links - but I need to know what you’d prefer?!! Apple? Tidal? Bandcamp? No links at all?!

Full-on bangers

Underscores - Do It - JESUS THIS SONG - a high-tech Britney black-out era thumper, underscores is a queen of rhythm and texture.

Teen Angst - INJI - While I am CERTAINLY no longer a teen, this INJI song makes me feel YOUNG. The Istanbul-made New Yorker is frustratingly cool, whole EP is super fun. Want to hate because she’s so young and hot but can’t :(

MIRROR - vi0let, Wolfcutt - Absolute HEATER and very delighted to say I’m working closely with both of them on some songs you’ll hopefully be able to hear soon. What can I say? Phds in c*ntology left right and CENTRE

flowers (need u here) - Mikii - Another INCREDIBLE artist I’ve started working with, the PIPES on this girl are truly unmatched. I absolutely adore anything with a vocoder but the harmonic build of this song is simply something else.

Sexy n slinky

BAWDY is A LOT - Shygirl, Nick Léon, Six Sex. Shygirl doesn’t really miss imo, and this latest collab with Nick Léon and Six Sex goes owwwwf. Makes me want to forget my slipped disc and get sweaty in the club !!!

Armour Amour - TATYANA. Been a fan of Tatyana for TIME but the production on this new EP is verrrry slick. Uber cool vibes. Fave track: What Can I Do.

Paris - Just For Fun. This track is SO FUN, I almost don’t want to like it out of sheer jealousy (a running theme it seems)… there are definitely Adult Woman vibes in there, electro-squelchy house in its prime.

Soft(er)

CATTY- Man On The Run. A true masterclass in songwriting, Catty has got that Stevie Nicks rasp DOWN. This track definitely has some kind Lady Gaga Million Reasons energy to it.

Sophie May - Dog Body. The concept for this song on the surface, feels silly, but then it feels kind of terrifying, I’m left questioning so many things and feel like I want a whole short novel (Sophie May has also had creds on new ROSALIA album, girl is smashing it)

Anabelle Didan - Logging Field. Didan recently blew tf up on TikTok with her song Hands, which I think has the most powerful lyrics I’ve heard all year. Unfortunately, the produced version of the song doesn’t cut it for me, so I’ve gone for Logging Field instead. This woman’s lyricism is unmatched.

OBSESSION OF THE MONTH

Rather unoriginally, this month’s obsession is, without doubt, ROSALÍA’s new otherworldly offering, Lux. It’s honestly just exhilarating to hear an artist with a huge fanbase, who has operated largely in a pop/mainstream space, make something bursting with so much musicality and originality. With orchestral arrangements performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, the album unfolds in 4 acts, weaving various stories inspired by hagiographies of female saints and poets and sung in THIRTEEN LANGUAGES. I’m not entirely sure whether I find the linguistic scope necessary, but I’ve found myself so personally moved by the music itself, it feels neither here nor there. I think if you understand only a few lines of a 50-minute album and it still moves you to tears, it’s probably a keeper. My personal faves (so far, because they always shift over time):

Porcelana - a moment for Rosalía’s ability to sing in Latin and still make it the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard?? The drama, the drums, the textured outro that feels like a new dawn. Here for it all.

La Rumba Del Perdón - while there are relevant conversations around her appropriation of flamenco as a Catalan singer, for me, this song more than honours the emotional rawness and yearning which flamenco does so well. It also features the flamenco goat Estrella Morente. Listen further here.

Memória - featuring Portuguese fado singer Carminho, this song is a thing of sheer beauty, a dynamic lullaby for the ages.

Okay this is way too long so GOOD-BYE FOR NOW!!!! And please follow Adult Woman haha xxx

Oh hey there loyal reader,

Lying on your sofa in fetal position doom-scrolling your life away? Drowning in guilt because that one glass of medicinal red at Sunday lunch turned into four? Anxious about GOING TO WORK TOMORROW AND OPENING EMAILS MUCH LESS FUN THAN THIS ONE? 

Fear not! I have joyous news that is 100% money back guaranteed to help dust those why-is-existing-so-hard-and-why-have-I-been-chosen-to-do-it thoughts clean away….

MY HEADLINE SHOW (on November 13th at The Lower Third) IS 10 DAYS AWAY AND I HAVE A SPECIAL DISCOUNT TICKET LINK FOR BEAMAIL READERS AND BEAMAIL READERS ONLY!! You can access £10 tickets on this link here but there is a need for speed because I may have already sent this to quite a few of you!!! If you miss out, either message me and grovel or reach those hands into those crumb-lined pockets and get a full-priced one here or here <3

It’s going to be a real 3-in-1 as not only will you be able to see me sing my little heart out but you will also have EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to my first ever merch line (and honestly it pops OWF) and I’ve secured YET ANOTHER ethereal pop princess to join me on stage in support. The gorgeous Orchid will be warming up the crowd with her slinkiest bangers and I just can’t bloody wait. Like imagine seeing this…

and then THIS???

BIG LOVE AND SEE YOU ALL THERE XXX

Loyal readers, fans and the odd stranger who has signed up perhaps unknowing to the fact this newsletter is but a sporadic literary manifestation of the 300 tabs that constitute my brain at any given time!

Where to begin? The last few months have been quite the ride, I’ve had days where I’ve woken up ready to throw the towel in on all this music malarkey only to be wringing out the bin juice mere hours later having being emailed by a huge publisher out of the blue or asked if someone can design an entire new regular DJ night around my own personal taste…?! It’s a strange world out there and I’m forever torn between planning my every minute or just working hard at what’s in front of me and seeing where it all goes. Curiously the more I try to do the former, the latter seems to start paying off. Confused? Me too. 

As ever, in earnest, we begin. 

TLDR: If you’re not interested in my lofty musings on romance, various gig updates and excellent music recommendations (rude) and have time to consider ONE THING ONLY, please let it be my HEADLINE SHOW ON NOVEMBER 13TH. Just like Gemma I will be giving it all the socks and urge you to get your ticket in advance if only to relieve me from fortnightly panic attacks for the next 6 weeks. You can get your tickets through Dice here - or through TicketWeb here. Ly x

THE DATING

As the majority of you know, I am no longer in the piranha-infested pool that was, at the very least, my own personal experience of dating apps and its ghoulish culture. Earlier this year, I made the arguably quite rapid U-Turn from dating useless men to flying out to Thailand to go on a third date with my new housemate who I was completely obsessed with. Lucky for me - and especially lucky for our other housemate - she’s still my girlfriend, but that doesn’t mean I am suddenly uninterested in the weird twisted landscape of modern dating, nor how reductive putting romantic love on a pedestal can really be. 

Yes, I’m in a relationship, but with the exception of a rather regrettable 8 month period, I spent a decade as a single person. In a lot of ways, I still feel a much bigger sense of community with the friends and people I meet who live life like this than I do with those accustomed to living in romantic partnership. The platonic bonds, hours of side-splitting laughter and emotional intimacy I forged with women (and some very select men) in my teens and twenties fundamentally changed me as a person. While there were times where I felt achingly alone there were times I felt nothing of the sort. Cackling wildly over a bottle of vino til the early hours with someone you love deeply is not the reserve of the romantically inclined.

So why don’t we celebrate platonic love and give it milestones in the same ways we do with romantic partnership? I celebrated my 6-month anniversary with my girlfriend just a few weeks ago - but what about the 15 years I’ve spent with my best friend? What about all the other parts of my life I’ve poured love and commitment into? I had a great life before I met my partner, so why is it that I feel so much more relaxed now? Is it because society better understands me and affords me certain privileges by default? Is it because I don’t have to field anymore bloody questions about my dating life from coupled-up friends who treat my actual life like a reality show they need catching up on? Is it because I no longer have to subscribe to the endless swipe culture of dating apps that has sucked dry so much of the actual genuine joy that can be found by exploring new connections?

I’m not entirely sure and it’s tricky to articulate. I know because I rewrote the above paragraph nigh on 15 times and I’m still not happy about it, but someone who has done a much better job than me is Amy Key, a writer whose raw and heartbreaking debut Arrangements in Blue hit me like a freight train this summer. From what it really means to accept your life as it is and concurrently hold out hope for love, to tearing apart self-care, self-love bullshit, to laying out in painful detail her countless attempts to fill the void and the big, scary question of having (or not having) kids - it’s messy, imperfect and at times, quite brutal. There’s no sugar-coating here, no self-help prophesying and no indication that Amy has worked it all out either. Just an open-ended call to action for understanding that two, even three things can be true at once. Not sponsored at all I promise!! Just go buy it immediately here. 

THE MUSIC MAKING

Moving swiftly from Paige De Botton to just plain Paige Bea I have much more exciting and less lofty things to pretentiously waffle on about!!! I have DJ gigs aplenty! Who knew? No-one actually because I keep forgetting to post on my socials because I am so desperately drained!! HOWEVER, before I mention those it’s time to get to the real star of the show….

MY HEADLINE SHOW!!! I am delighted to announce (re-announce lol can’t remember if I mentioned?!) that I will be doing a BIG SEXY HEADLINE PERFORMANCE at Soho’s The Lower Third on NOVEMBER 13TH!!! And honestly guys don’t be playing or thinking, hmmm maybe next time, or wow £16 is a bit spenny because TRULY this show means everything to me right now. There’s rumours on the street this might even be the last iteration of Paige Bea as you know her (!!!!) plus legit buying 2 packs of Lurpak costs £16 these days so get those cute little paws in your pockets for me while those payday funds are still funding!! The links are here: https://dice.fm/event/pyoxpw-paige-bea-13th-nov-the-lower-third-london-tickets?lng=en and https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/paige-bea-the-lower-third-tickets/13660453?REFERRAL_ID=tmfeed <3

ALSO I have a few ideas up my sleeve BUT I am still on the lookout for a hot sexy (ideally gay/queer?) support act, so please do apply within!! (And by that I mean, reply to this email or WhatsApp me!)

If you cannot make my headline show, firstly, welcome to Paige Bea purgatory from which you will never truly leave and secondly, you COULD come to see these shows instead. 

Friday October 4th - Paige Bea DJ set at Hyper @ Two Palms in Hackney - I’m on 11 pm - 2 am, it’s FREE ENTRY for the first one so come THROUGH for a free dance. I’m going to be playing Charli XCX, Robyn, Madonna and basically whatever I want because the promoter wants to design the night around my taste lol. Free ticket here.

Saturday October 12th - Paige Bea DJ set at The Rise and Fall of a Pop Girl Summer @ The Yard in Hackney Wick. This one is SPECIAL because it is a fundraiser for The Common Press, a queer bookshop and community hub that we could be saying good-bye to if you don’t cough up!! The fabulous Liv Darcey and Cheza Lucina will be joining me on the line up and we’re going to play lots of FUN GAY STUFF and Cheza will probs play some clubby thumpers too. TICKETS HERE.

Friday October 18th - Paige Bea Live at DASS Dance for MIND @ Market House Brixton. This will be a VERY GORGEOUS live set for another VERY IMPORTANT CAUSE. All proceeds will be going directly to MIND, supporting mental health initiatives that make a difference. Tickets here.

THE SOUL-SAVING 

Well 1000 words down you may think it would be time to wrap up but truly, it would not be a Beamail if I didn’t KEEP BANGING ON REGARDLESS. It is, of course, that time of the newsletter where I natter incessantly about new music that you should be feeding your famished little ears. I’m also doing this because a friend of mine recently was begging for some songs that weren't algorithmically chosen by Spotify radio which she had correctly noticed seem to suggest the SAME THING OVER AND OVER. Yes labels and artists pay to be boosted in those. Yes you should be finding other ways to seek music outside of algorithms. Yes I am happy to provide some of that service. OKAY LET’S GO.

Okay so if you don’t already know and you want some sexy, sultry modern r&b from the Colombian via South London bisexual queen Sasha Keable, please wrap your ears around all her new releases. Hold Up was my absolute JAM this summer, and last week’s release with 6LACK - Take Your Time - is a close second. 

More towards the modern electronic sophisticated soul train, we have the INCREDIBLE new release from Rosie Lowe, Lover Other. An album crafted with a deep musical sensitivity - it’s her best work yet: Mood To Make Love is pure beauty and the little bossa swing of Gratitudes is plain giving. I’ve also been rinsing Charlotte Day Wilson’s Cyan Blue, the little plucky muted riffs of Canopy are true ear candy. Finally, on a similar vein the just-released EP Part B by Harve is NEXT LEVEL, the production is always surprising but in a way that brings you in rather than pushing you further away. 

For stuff that goes a bit harder, I’m feeling NISSAN ALTIMA by Doechii and also EAT MY ASS by BIG WETT hehe. 

For stuff that goes bit softer, the truly beautiful new Jacana People ft Temms tune - Sienna - is a warm hug of electronic goodness, and it is very well complemented by the melancholic groove of Dejector ft Bad Honey’s touch - I sung the first line of the chorus round my house for weeks and no, I’m not sorry about it. And finally, for detuned synths and all the feels, take a lil listen to Killen and Oaks’ Love You Better - oh she’s a goodun. 

Oh and randomly I’ve also been re-obsessing over Madonna’s Ray of Light. Specifically, the William Orbit remix of the title track, the genius who produced most of the music anyway, it’s on hard repeat right now. 

OKAY NOW THAT IS FINALLY ALL!!!! Please please please buy tickets to my headline show, there’s simply no better place to be on November 13th!!! 

Sayonara huns!

Paige xoxoxo 

Dear lovely loyal readers who probably slept terribly because summer has finally arrived in London!!

A short but important one from me today to say my BRAND NEW EP “Flutters” is available to listen to RIGHT NOW. I won’t lie, I think sonically the song is more reflective of a long Siberian winter than a finally quite warm European summer but I still want you to play it until your ears fall off. 

The whole EP - Floods, Worth It and Flutters - came together by way of Instagram DM some 4 or 5 years ago. I’d been listening to this absolutely STELLAR EP called Arrows and I made it my mission to get in touch with the producer to see if there was any chance he’d be open to a session with little old me. Well, turns out it really does all just pop off in the DMs and pay to be bold. The lovely Gabriel replied, we organised some remote sessions and he went on to mix my second EP “Goodbye, Then!” It was then time to solidify this relationship in person, so I flew to Berlin and we got to flesh out all the bits and bobs that were floating about on Gabe’s well-organised hard drives and the pure chaos that is my MacBook filing system and in doing so, we found we actually had 6 or 7 solid tunes. Given the fact I can barely afford my annual trip to the dentist let alone to mix and master that many songs, we slimmed it down to our three favourites. With the help of my insane manager Matthew, my distributors DMY artists and my financers Help Musicians, “Flutters” was polished and prepped for the world to see - and it is now yours <3

It’s a hackneyed adage but I really do mean it when I say releasing these songs has been a JOURNEY and one that has often felt pretty rough but it’s also given me time to reflect and recalibrate my approach to art and remember why it's so important to me. At the end of the day, whenever I think I’ve had enough I think: is there a world where I am not releasing music? And no, there isn’t. That’s just pure insanity, especially when I have cover art like this (props to Chloe Karnezis). So put these damn songs on repeat and don’t forget that factor 50!!!

Bisous,

Paige x

Goodness gracious, great balls of would you believe it. I released a WHOLE NEW SONG TWO WEEKS AGO and forgot to tell all my precious supporters about it!!

Is it because halfway through 2024 Paige Bea and all her many aliases are booked and busy? Yes! It is! Is it also because the monumental effort of pushing the titanium boulder that is a nascent music career up the hill through the dumpster fire that is the music industry in 2024 sometimes just gets all a bit too much? Yes - that too! But without further ado - please give “Worth It” ten million spins, add it to your playlists and send it to friends far and wide - because boy, your support is cool as hell and I’d bloody love it!

“Worth It” is a song that was lyrically born out of a potentially slightly bratty frustration with this new guy I’d started seeing. He was being far too sensible and orderly about the giddy lust-filled chaos that I believe should characterise the start of any new relationship: no sleepovers on school nights and an eye mask-ear plug combination that was not far off a sensory deprivation tank. No shade really, we all like our 8 hours, but in the end it turns out that he was an all-mighty bore and that I’m more than a bit gay. Plus, I still believe that at a certain age (she’s 30 huns!!!) the baggage or the therapy (or usually both) that guides us can be a little bit of a death wish to the sexy and thrilling free fall that is the possibility of love. 

Sonically, “Worth It” was birthed in the same Zoom writing session as my last single “Floods”. It was the fourth or maybe fifth song in a batch of maybe over a dozen I wrote with the inimitable Berlin-based producer and artist Gabriel Gifford over the course of a year, and I think that day in particular gave a good indication of just how musically aligned we could be and a renewed impetus to fan the baby flames of these potential bangers into fully grown fires. The artwork is also a thing of true beauty and I’m so grateful that on the very same month-long Berlin trip of April 2023 that I finally finished the songs with Gabriel in person, I met up with the Greek digital whizz and creative powerhouse Chloe Karnezi. We watched a chilly but crisp Spring sunset in Tempelhof and had conversations that eventually led to an artistic collaboration that’s not quite over yet. Just look at it :’)

And yet, like always, despite all I’ve poured into this release, and everything I’ve ever sent gleefully into the ether, it’s been hard too. While I’ve had some great press and some lovely curated playlist additions from genuinely great tastemakers like COLORS and Line of Best Fit, I’m still not where I want to be or really where I think I deserve to be having started releasing music in 2017. Yet in the midst of wading through the utter quagmire that is trying to attract a decent fanbase who will listen to my music in a meaningful way, I have to remind myself how lucky I am to get to do the start-to-end process of making art at all. At risk of sounding incredible naff it really is all about the journey and while I sometimes feel a lot of shame about the fact that maybe I am failing (after all, the endless scream into social media’s silent amphitheatre isn’t great for someone with semi-chronic voice loss) ultimately I am proud. I spent most of my teens and early twenties too afraid to be seen trying but no longer! Up cringe mountain we climb! Forever onwards! Until we all reach cool valley! 

Anyway jeeeez!!! That got a little deep!! Blame it on the toothless hippies I met at Stone Circle who said the sun will show me the way, but while you mull it all over, how about playing “Worth It” on repeat. Go onnnnn. You know you want to!!!!

In other news, my NEXT HEADLINE SHOW is on November 13th and I am truly GASSED at the thought of doing something incredibly epic for you all!!! Think VISUALS, think cathartic vocals, think on-stage sass and an outfit my mother will tell me off for!

My last show that was around the same capacity *sold out* so I don’t know what to tell you, get those damn tickets today!!!! Buy buy baby, baby buy buy!!!

P xxx