National Public Radio (NPR) can finally announce that an internal selection has chosen the artist who will represent the Northeastern United States in WorldVision 62, which will be held in a yet-to-be-determined location in the coming weeks.
Our last few artists have hailed from New York City and the surrounding towns — NPR has decided to shake things up by sending an artist based in... New York City.
Betty Who is an Australian singer-songwriter from Sydney who has been based in the Big Apple for her music career; she moved to the US at the age of 16 to attend the Interlochen Center for the Arts in northwestern Michigan before coming to New York City for her big musical breakthrough.
Her debut single "Somebody Loves You" was initially released independently as a free download, and was premiered by pop music blogger and at-the-time official Grammy blogger Arjan Writes on 30 November 2012. A music video, directed by Evan Savitt, was released on 22 January 2013, and an official remix by acclaimed indie pop producer FM Attack was released on 11 March 2013. On 8 March 2014, "Somebody Loves You" reached number one on Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs chart. Her debut EP,
The Movement, was released on 16 April 2013. An independent, free-download release initially, the EP's huge success online helped lead to a large amount of major label interest, before she ultimately signed with RCA Records. It premiered on Billboard on 9 April 2013, one week prior to its official release date and continually received rave reviews from countless major blogs and magazines throughout 2013. Upon release, Idolator described the EP as "A spine-tinglingly euphoric 80's pop nugget," indie pop blog All Things Go claimed she was "charting new musical territory," and the famous UK outlet Popjustice called it "the best proper EP so far of 2013."
Who released her second EP,
Slow Dancing, on 8 April 2014, which made it to number one on the iTunes pop music charts. The first single from that album, titled "Heartbreak Dream", was released on iTunes and Google Play on 18 February 2014. The song is used over the end credits of the 2015 film Pitch Perfect 2. In late August 2014, Who made the announcement that her full-length debut album, Take Me When You Go, will be released on 7 October 2014. She also released the track list with the announcement. Thirteen songs, four of them being taken from her previous EPs, appeared on the album. From the album, the track, "All of You", was her second number one on the US Dance chart, peaking at number one on 21 February 2015.
NPR invites all to comment on this entry choice, as well as to suggest any potential entries you would like to see from the Northeastern United States in the future! I'm deciding between two of her songs... I suppose you'll find out which one I chose at the semifinal LL.
Note: Her biography has been liberally borrowed from her Wikipedia article to an extent that I feel that this disclaimer is necessary.