Spotlight on BITEZ
From participant to commissioned artist, young creative BITEZ has a new found confidence in her music.
- Date
- 30 October 2023
- Category
- Stories
It was during lockdown when Princess Arinola Adegite (aka BITEZ) was first welcomed into a Brighter Sound project. At the time BITEZ was at the beginning of her music journey, having largely focused on poetry and performance beforehand. She’d dabbled with bedroom pop at home but not to show anyone, just for fun.
During the COVID pandemic, a turbulent and isolating time, BITEZ was thrilled to stumble across our music employability programme for young people Get Started with Music. Specifically the programme was for aspiring artists who lacked resources to kick things off in their music career. The atmosphere in the (virtual) room was so warm and welcoming that after a few sessions BITEZ felt like the project was taking place in-person.
One of the main highlights for BITEZ as a working class artist included our offer to receive £200 worth of free equipment to develop her craft from her bedroom. The ability to experiment with new instruments, gear and tech without having to spend all her savings was game-changing.
And experiment she did. She learned the ropes of BandLab, Ableton and Logic to create new music. She learned about marketing, PR, and a whole host of other nuggets of knowledge on the business side of music. To the point where she finally felt music was a career she could pursue with confidence.
"I now have a better idea of what the music industry is and what it has to offer, as well as what I have to offer it!"
Fast forward to 2022 and BITEZ was back with us for a commission, providing spoken word in collaboration with Loraine James and Urban Projections. That full circle experience of joining as a participant, then not long after being recognised and valued as an artist to be commissioned for a piece of work was particularly empowering for BITEZ.
BITEZ now has a strong foundation to bounce off in her career in music. Our artist-first approach instilled in her a confidence to take an imaginative approach to music. Which has reaped exciting results. She’s since worked with Contact to create new demos which were sent to Youth Music and Turtle Bay, both of whom have since sponsored one of her EPs. She’s also now signed to No Such Thing Records.
