BENEE at Variety Playhouse

CL Critic Matthew Warhol Recommends: BENEE might be one of the best Zoomers doing it right now. She bounces in and out of pop genres, bringing her smart songwriting and melancholic voice to a variety of sounds. Her most popular song, “Supalonely,” is bright and shiny, yet BENEE hums about isolation, an ironic juxtaposition fitting of the TikTok generation. My favorite BENEE tune is “Happen To Me,” a collection of late night intrusive thoughts, mostly revolving around which way to die would be the worst. It’s purely human, relatable whether you’re 15 or 65. The emotions culminate in the chorus with the lines, “I think about these things too much. My mind likes to wind itself up.” — MW