By Chloe Morris
If you’re looking for some new music to add to your summer playlists, let me put you onto Better Joy—Mancunian musician Bria Keely—whose debut EP, Heading into Blue, mixes an indie pop sound with dreamy vocals and emotion-inducing lyrics.
I had the privilege of catching up with Keely, briefly over Zoom a couple of weeks ago, and here’s what she had to say about her music:
For anyone who hasn’t listened to your music before, how would you describe it?
I would say it’s jangly and bright. Essentially, it’s been influenced by 80s guitar sounds but there’s a real pop sensibility to it. It blends my love for pop music with the stuff I discovered a lot later in life, like The Cure and The Smiths and those riffs. I’m always quite apprehensive to say that I’m influenced by The Cure or The Smiths because everyone seems to say ‘drawing comparisons to The Cure…’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not comparing myself!’ Some of the sounds they use are just massively influential. So yeah, I’d say my sound is indie pop. Bit jangly; crunchy occasionally.
Who would you say are your main inspirations?
My main inspirations, I would say, are mainly the women in music that are just themselves. I mean, Debbie Harry – for her kind of grit and stage presence, but then I love Billie Eilish in terms of her as a person. She massively inspires me to just try and be myself and be authentic. But overall, women in music really inspire me.
You’ve just wrapped up your first headline tour! What was that experience like for you?
It was pretty surreal! I know everyone says ‘surreal’, but it really was. We took a risk doing so many cities and I really didn’t think we would sell any of them out. We wanted to, but you know, that’s a big reach… but we ended up selling out in four cities in the end! I feel really proud of that, and it was a massive team effort. I can’t take all the credit as a lot went into trying to sell those shows out.
I remember when we sold out Manchester – we were originally in YES Basement, but we sold that out in two weeks. Then my team were like ‘let’s upgrade!’ and I was scared of that. But we ended up selling it out again anyway, so I was like ‘OK no one listen to me on future decisions!’
Night and Day is such an iconic venue. The energy in there was so electric and I was just so relaxed and just taking it all in. Even though I couldn’t really see the crowd, I was just so happy to be up there and accomplish that. It was mega. It was special.
I read an interview you did with Leftlion a few months ago, and I loved how you mentioned that Nottingham has a special place in your heart… because that’s where I’m from!
Which leads into my next question – do you have any favourite cities you like to play in?
I’ve done quite a few of the big cities through little support slots here and there. Nottingham has a special place in my heart because my parents met there, and they went to university there. I don’t know Nottingham well, but every time I’m there it feels like… had they not gone there, I wouldn’t be here doing what I’m doing, so it just feels very special.
To be honest, I still want to do all the big venues in Manchester that I haven’t ticked off yet. I really want to do Albert Hall. I just love the venue; it’s so beautiful and every time I’ve seen people up there, I’m like “I wanna be up there!” I want to go to more cites but I’d still love to tick off some bigger venues here in Manchester.
You’ve just released your debut EP, ‘Heading into Blue’. How was the process of making it for you? Was there a lot of back and forth, or was it quite smooth sailing?
There was so much back and forth! I feel like it’s never smooth sailing in terms of re-writes, but it was just so liberating.
It was the first time in ages that I’d felt open to being brave and exploring my style of song writing, I guess. Everything goes into the first EP. You’ve got a bit more time than you do when you write the second EP, and then the debut album, so it felt really liberating and it’s almost like the start of me being who I want to be: this is me at the start of my song writing journey.
I’ve written loads of songs before, but this was where I felt like ‘Ok, this is what I’m about.’ It takes a long time to figure that out, and I still am – I feel like I’m on a constant train of how I can give more of myself to songs. The process was a lot of re-writing in that sense, it wasn’t always smooth sailing, but, in terms of being creative and open, that felt easy and natural.
The recording was just dreamy. We were with Mike Hedges, and we had a good team doing it. It was just so fun and light. I feel like that really dribbled into the songs because we were having such a good time. This EP is a good starting point and it’s like a diving board into the next chapter.
One thing I loved about the EP were the enticing intros on every track. Do you write the lyrics first or do you come up with the melodies first?
Firstly, thank you for mentioning the intros because I love a good intro. I think it’s quite easy to write for radio, and you know, intros don’t do that well on radio, but I was just like ‘I don’t care’ – I really love when something hooks you in straight away.
I would say, with those songs, sometimes it was lyrics and melodies at the same time, but the way I’ve gotten used to writing at the minute is melody first, and then within the same day, or sometimes even leaving it a while, trying to figure out what that song is making me feel, so I can then find the words it needs.
I’m still figuring out what really works best for me. I feel like I’m quite new – even though I’m not, I’m still a learner. I started writing a song last night and it was lyrical instantly, but I do find it easier to have some sort of melody to go with it. It’s always changing, but recently I’ve been struggling with lyrics and what to say and yesterday I sat down, and I was like ‘Ok, whatever comes…just let it come.’
Some nonsense was coming out of me, but it obviously wants to come out like that! You can refine and make sense of it later but when it just comes out naturally there’s a magic in that, even though sometimes it makes absolutely no sense.
You’re heading on tour with Amy MacDonald in the Autumn… how excited are you?
That one doesn’t feel real yet! It felt like the best support we could’ve got this year – or any year! It was quite unexpected, especially when my team told me about it… I was like ‘can you check the email again and make sure they’ve got the right person?’. But I feel incredibly lucky, and I’m excited most about OVO Hydro because it’s just sold out. That one is going to be the biggest show that I’ve done, so I’m going to try and get friends there. I’ll remember the whole thing, but I think that moment will be huge.
Finally, I know ‘Heading into Blue’ didn’t come out too long ago, but it’s left me craving more of your sound! Is there any new music in the works?
Well, I’m starting to tease a few new songs, but I have a sister EP to Heading into Blue. So, there were a bunch of songs that we split into two projects, but they were all written and produced at the same time. So, to answer that question – yes!
It’s still in the works right now. We are still figuring out the details like the title and everything, but we’ve got all the songs. It feels like a real sisterhood. Some of the songs are a lot darker, and then the brighter songs are a lot brighter, so it’s more eclectic I’d say. There’s a song on it that I absolutely love, and it’s called Plugged In, and when I wrote it, I felt like ‘OK – this is me lyrically.’ It’s the song I relate to the most because it just feels so authentically me. I’m excited for people to hear it!
You can stream Better Joy’s debut EP, Heading into Blue, right now, on all platforms.
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Text Copyright 2025 © Chloe Morris/ADRENALINE Magazine.
Alfie Dook