Belabela Forever Foundation – Instagram – Spotify – Apple
Other music under the name BELA: Spotify – Apple Music
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“Mesmerizing.” – Rockdafuqout
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belabela – “Blood” (out now) b/w “Lilith” (out Aug. 24)
The late Los Angeles electro-shoegaze maven Bella Isabelle Catherine Jhun (aka belabela) unexpectedly passed away on July 5th. She conjures two new carnal singles with her upcoming “Blood” (out July 27) b/w “Lilith” (out Aug. 24). These songs invoke a gothic atmosphere of demons reflected in puddles as belabela walks down dark, neon-lit L.A. corridors beneath a full moon. Belabela now walks with the angels, speaks to us via her beloved creatures, greets us with each full moon and continues to bless us with her music.
The provocative “Blood” opens with 808s rumbling your body and chirping crickets inviting us to nighttime activities. It evokes a visceral sexuality with its pulsing bass line and sensual vocals. Belabela creates a world for us to be surrounded by her sanguine embrace. “You held me tight,” belabela sings, “legs open wide / I’m drowning in the water / but you don’t look / you just watch / it’s in my head / you’re in my head / blood red on my hands / blood red on my lips for you.”
“My partner left me and I was upset,” says belabela. “I needed to wear blood-red lipstick around this person. He never saw me without it. I was having intrusive thoughts about sex and I wanted him out of my brain. I would go to this church across the street from my school and take naps underneath the Virgin Mary. I just kept imagining having sex with this person. I felt evil.”
Belabela’s “Lilith” is a mellow, psychedelic, ritualistic love song and biblical reference to Adam’s first wife. It’s a hymn of empowerment that taps into the darker side of feminine energy; it’s a song of seduction and temptation. Belabela summons forth the potency of this otherworldly entity, entwined with her creative inspiration, power and spiritual liberation. It’s a love song that projects a meaningful symbol of rebellion against the patriarchal status quo.
“There is a system in place,” says belabela. “It’s about making a choice to live more in the Lilith archetype of femininity. Every bad thing I believe about myself was said by a man. I don’t want to sound like a man-hater, because I’m not. I’m a total masochist and I hate it. But I’m working on that.”
Belabela grew up in Los Angeles and attended an arts high school focusing on visual art. She didn’t start music until she dated Richard. Richard who’d obnoxiously bring his guitar to every party. Richard who’d have belabela sing along. Richard who sparked belabela’s love of singing.
But before Richard, there was heroin and halfway homes for sober women. Since she was teenager, belabela has spent a decade fighting mental health issues, panic attacks, and has survived nearly a dozen overdoses. “When I’m sad,” says belabela, “it’s way more than what other people think of as ‘being sad.’ I’d go back [to drugs] whenever I’d have a panic attack. I’ve grown out of that cycle now, and I’m still here. I feel like the luckiest person in the world.”
In the L.A. of it all, belabela’s aunt Samantha Bennington was once married to a singer of a famous turn-of-the-century nu-metal band Linkin Park. Belabela stayed with her for a summer and received advice from some of the greats from a generation before her, including Steph Carpenter of the Deftones teaching her how to properly string a guitar. Belabela eventually met guitarist Dave Sender, and had him play on these two songs. And then she met mixer/engineer Claire Morison.
“Claire was in there when she was a brand new audio student, and I was in there just starting out with my acoustic guitar. Now, ten years later she’s full-blown doin’ it, and mixing my song!”
Belabela went to school for audio engineering, and had been honing her craft by assisting with studio recordings at Savannah Studios and with live sound at the Whiskey a Go Go while she was recording her next batch of songs.
“I enjoy the Pro Tools / Logic side more than guitar because I like to get my nails done with my mama,” says belabela. “I always start with bass. That’s my favorite part. Bass is like your solar plexus chakra, a very sexual energy to me. I can’t stress how much I love bass, tuned down, distorted. It can make you dance. It’s sexy.”
Belabela weaves the haunting with the hypnotic in her immersively, evocative songwriting. “Blood” and “Liltih” charm with their hyper-sexual dreamscapes, like cinematic, slow-motion kisses in soft focus. There’s a primal urge buried deep in all of us that belabela seems to effortlessly bring to the surface in her songs.
As fate may have it – at the time of this release the universe has unexpectedly had belabela return to heaven or another dimension. Belabela now walks with the angels, speaks to us via her beloved creatures, greets us with each full moon and continues to bless us with her music.
There has been a foundation set up in her memory to support causes she would believe in. Please see www.belabelaforever.org for more information.