Artists You Should Know: Venbee Deals Out Another Drum And Bass Hit With "gutter"

U.K. artist Venbee just dropped her latest single with the release of “gutter,” a brutally candid retelling of her life’s heaviest moments. At 22 years old Erin Vebmy Anna Doyle has drummed up quite the hype around her rapidly volatile creations that hinge on her talents as a songwriter. Growing up in Chatham, Kent she found her musical aspirations early on thanks to her grandad’s piano playing and an aunt who introduced her to the likes of Carol King and Alanis Morissette. Today, Doyle is on a meteoric rise through the typically male-dominated spaces of drum and bass music.

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In “gutter” she gives a run-through of some low moments: from a near-death experience to multiple relapses Venbee hides nothing in her expression. “I should be dead in a gutter by now / I should be six feet under,” Doyle reminisces on the track. “Don’t know how I swerved that corner.” The song expresses as much regret as a surprise that she’s truly made it beyond those experiences.

But then she jumps to the present day — “Now I’m 22 haven’t got a clue / I got a chip on my shoulder” — to find herself wrestling with her inconsistencies still. She even calls herself a hypocrite for telling her brother not to smoke when she’s unable to quit. Yet her lyricism betrays a certain humility and shows little evidence of pride in those flaws. This is perhaps why Venbee has grown so popular and why her songs resonate as they offer up an unfiltered and honest look at the ways we as individuals clash with ourselves.

“gutter” also comes with a music video that sees Venbee performing the song around the cold gloom of her hometown of Chatham. Dressed in what’s become her signature headpiece — a bucket hat — she raps over the track’s virulent current about the memories that still clearly haunt her. Despite their setting being the very same beloved place she sings in the video from. “I love my hometown. It’s rough round the edges but the people are good,” Doyle said of Chatham. But like childhood homes or schoolyards, the trauma is always wrapped up in nostalgia and Venbee draws out that complicated mix of emotions on “gutter” like no other.