Betta Lemme Releases New Single 'Cry'

Global electro-dance pop darling Betta Lemme returns with her debut offering of the year, vibrant new single "Cry" out now via Ultra Music.

The wide release follows the exclusive premiere with PAPER, alongside a guest playlist curated by Betta Lemme herself with all the hits you can dance and cry your eyes out to from ABBA and SOPHIE, to Ariana Grande to My Chemical Romance. In addition, Betta Lemme is featured on the cover of Spotify's Bangers playlist in the US and "Cry" has landed on Spotify's New Music Friday (Canada) as well as Apple's New Music Daily (Canada), among many others.

Do you remember your favorite song as a kid? For Betta Lemme, it was Europop megahit "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65 which took the radio by storm in 1998. "I'd play 'Blue' when I was happy, sad, angry-anything. That song kept me moving. I replay it again and again and realize how poignant and relevant the lyrics still are," she reflects, "We were all dancing to a song that confronted depression and perpetual sadness. Isn't it funny listening to songs we enjoyed as a child then finding out how it takes on new meaning 20 years later?"

"Cry" juxtaposes its subject matter against its delivery, much like "Blue (Da Ba Dee)," and is as infectious as it is tender to the heart. The track serves as an anthem of resilience and empowers you to find strength in your tears. In under 3 minutes, the rising Canadian star tackles the stigma around crying as a sign of weakness over a reimagined beat that lends listeners the confidence to be bold in their emotionality-on and off the dance floor. "'Cry' is about, well, crying, and the ability to carry on for another day, regardless of what life throws at you," Betta Lemme states, "Every tear helps us level up. Crying is cathartic."

In February, her debut smash hit "Bambola" climbed back onto the charts following an epic sync placement on Netflix's number one film 'To All The Boys: Always And Forever' which premiered earlier this month. The official soundtrack was critically acclaimed by the likes of Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper's BAZAAR, PopSugar, Refinery29, Seventeen, Teen Vogue, among others, and features incredible talent including Anna of The North, ASHE, BLACKPINK, Charli XCX, FLETCHER, Spice Girls, and more.

For Betta Lemme, it all started with an organic collaboration with Grammy-nominated duo Sofi Tukker on "Awoo," which the Canadian artist co-wrote and lended vocals on in 2017. One year later, she released her first single "Bambola" and it became an instant hit touting 68 million streams to date and counting. The modern rendition of Patty Pravo's "La Bambola" impressed all around the world, landing at #1 in Israel, #4 in Italy, and #50 Worldwide on the radio charts in 2018, and transforming Betta Lemme into a true international phenomenon.

Betta Lemme's first ever live performance of "Bambola" was on one of Italy's largest national TV programs Che Tempo Che Fa with over 6 million viewers, followed shortly after by multiple major Italian festivals including Wind Summer Festival and Battiti Live. Both festivals were televised with over 3.5 million viewers. Her French TV debut was an acoustic piano performance of "Bambola" live on one of the most watched and influential TV shows in the country C à vous followed by a live performance on Touche pas à mon poste! where she surprised the audience by shredding her guitar.

No one-hit wonder, Betta Lemme upholds an undeniable track record with her Bambola EP released in 2018 and several singles to follow such as "Give It" and "Kick the Door," among others. Her media coverage in the US ranges from Billboard, C-Heads, Earmilk, Flaunt, L'Officiel, Magnetic, NYLON, Ones To Watch, PAPER, Pride.com, and the list continues to grow.

While Betta Lemme's aim is to deliver certified-bops for you to dance and cry to, a purposeful equivocality is always present in her work. Last year, the hitmaker dropped "Mommy" co-produced with Danny L Harle (Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX, Clairo) to challenge the stereotypes women face around aging. Through its sarcastic demeanour and unpredictable guitar solo, "Mommy" inspires women to get what they want and to never feel ashamed for it.

When shelter-in-place orders hit in March of 2020, Betta Lemme put pen to paper and channeled her deep frustration around the ongoing pandemic. The result was "I'M BORED" co-produced with Jonas Jeberg (Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Hayley Kiyoko, Bebe Rexha, Panic At The Disco's "High Hopes"). Betta flipped her usual dance party script on the track and urged everyone to stay home to do their civic duty in their pajamas.

You'll also find dual intricacies in her 2019 club hit "Play" co-written with Jesse Saint John (Britney Spears, Charli XCX, Kim Petras) and Danny L Harle (Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX, Clairo). At face value, PAPER dubbed the track "the sexy, sinister lovechild of the Vengaboys, Britney Spears, and Benny Benassi." However in her interview with the magazine, Betta Lemme notes, "The world is in peril. People are forgetting how to genuinely connect with each other... Imagine if the world displayed more inclusive behavior - the happiness would be contagious."

Every Betta Lemme song is a movie, or at least part of a movie, a scene set for supreme drama and impetuous romance and sometimes a little lovely tragedy. With her opulent sense of melody, the singer-songwriter dreams up dance music that not only elicits beautiful movement, but builds entire worlds inside your mind. Each of her forthcoming songs are sprung from an elaborate dreamworld where her icons are her closest companions, all designated an essential role - Freddie Mercury is her father, Gaga's her older sister, Liberace's her decorator, etc. When sculpting a new song, she often chooses two disparate artists and envisions their unlikely offspring (e.g., the musical baby of Britney Spears and Nine Inch Nails).

Other times, Betta imagines songs as soundtracks to very specific movie moments, such as a dance-track-in-the-works she conceptualized as a Quentin Tarantino fight scene. A trilingual artist of Italian descent, Betta performs in Italian, French, and English, threading her vocals through a lavishly textured sound that echoes her eclectic obsessions: orchestral pop from the '60s, dance music from the '90s, David Bowie, Missy Elliott, and Burt Bacharach.

It's this unparalleled approach that marks Betta Lemme as one to watch and a force to be reckoned with.

Listen to "Cry" here:

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