bethanysmile
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Everything’s On Fire But I’m Back To Blogging.
🕑 Added 2025-08-25 09:30:02 +0000 UTCWell, what a week. In the space of six days I’ve somehow managed to play 11 shows, eat 5 subways, watch far too much trash TV in various travelodges, and oh yeah… release our fourth album, ‘Everything’s on fire but I’m fine’ - which honestly sums up our week perfectly.
It feels surreal even writing this, because somehow, our album made it to number 8 in the UK charts. I am tired, emotional, and more than a little overwhelmed, but mostly, I am grateful, thankful, and proud of what we have accomplished.
Now I’m not going to lie to you, waking up on release day had me nervous as hell. I was all too aware I was about to be pushing my vocals to the limit by performing at 11 shows that included an acoustic set, q&a, and a signing with no breaks and early starts. The actual excitement of releasing an album had escaped me… until I got in the car and headed off to Kingston for our first show. I checked my phone and saw that I was completely inundated with tags and comments about the new record and messages wishing me luck for the week ahead. It’s difficult to stay anxious when you’re surrounded by positivity. The shows were selling out, and record stores were telling us they had already sold out of physical copies of the album. We were well on our way to securing our place in the Top 10 - The energy in our ford focus was buzzing! (Yes we were traveling in a ford focus.)
Then the mid-week chart numbers hit, along with a little email from the official charts company. ‘We believe you have products in your store that do not comply with the chart rules, so we will be discounting X amount of sales.’ No room for argument. Now earlier this year, we had a similar email from the OCC, to which we responded proving our products were indeed above board, and made any changes they told us we needed to make. So the lawyer in Ande perked up, and immediately we were sending proof that our products had been checked, former email correspondence from the team member we had spoken to, all whilst in the middle of playing an in-store… (if we seemed a little distracted in Leeds, now you know why!) A few hours later, we received confirmation the products were fine and that zero units would be discounted. THE RELIEF! This would have single-handedly ruined our whole entire album campaign, all because someone somewhere did not like the fact that we were in the Top 10. Now one, that’s very scary as a fully independent band, and two, someone is clearly threatened by us… an independent band. The thought was mind-boggling, suddenly it all clicked that I am no longer just creating music with my pals, I’m in the midst of a chart battle with Billie Eilish, Oasis, and Sabrina Carpenter. Like what?
So it’s the morning we find out the final chart positions, after a tiring week full of ups and downs, we devised a plan that as soon as the email came through, Ande would pass me his phone, and I would tell the gang whether we had hit our goal. To which Siri piped up, (clearly feeling left out,) and began to read Ande’s emails out loud to the whole car. NO SIRI NO BE QUIET STOP TALKING STOPPPPP! Luckily we managed to hush our robot companion and the waiting began.
*Queue video of Bethany getting a phone yeeted at her face.*
‘Guys we didn’t get Number 10… We got Number 8!’ The car erupted, nobody could keep a smile off their face, the pure happiness and glee we felt, I can’t even describe it, I just felt lighter? A weight off my shoulders that I didn’t even know I was carrying fell away breath by breath. We did it.
Now I’m aware that I say this all the time, and I’m aware you know this, and I am VERY aware you are probably fed up of hearing this, but WE did it. YOU did it. We know that everything we accomplish is because of you guys and we want to once again thank every single one of you for helping us do this. We’re not trying to impress anybody else, we will forever be doing this band for you. So again, I repeat, I scream from the rooftops, THANK YOU!
As I sit and write this post, I’m tired, emotional, and a little in awe of everything we have accomplished this week. I’m still trying to catch my breath, and avoiding Subway for the foreseeable future. This album exists because of you. So thank you for being here, for reading, for continuously reminding me why I love doing this. I am so grateful for everything life has thrown my way and will continue, (writing may have already commenced for future songs…) and I look forward to seeing you on the road in October. Now the tour prep begins! (Once I have had a very long nap.)
Hope you enjoyed this lil return blog post,
Cya soon!
Stay awesome,
Bethany
P.s. We promise not to email you… for at least 24 hours.
Comments
Courtney Elizabeth Giblin
CONGRATS!!! 🥳🥳 im so incredibly proud of you!!! I knew this was our year for sure!! Never doubted for a second it wouldn't make top 10 like its just incredible from start to finish! (Yes the wholeee album became the new obsession 🤣 like it wouldnt 🤣) but this band for me feels like nothing but home and damnn do we feel the love you guys have for us. But not only that we LOVE you just as much if not more. Seeing how far you've come over the years is just something incrediblely special and makes me so proud! Not only did you reach #8 in the UK charts BUT also set everything on fire with a #1 ROCK album!! The list just keeps going! You absolutely smashed it!! I totally screamed so loud in work when I found out they thought i was injured 🤣🤣 i'm honestly so excited and can't wait to see what you do next but until then ill be right here forever cheering you on 🫶 YOU DID IT TEAM!!! you've earnt this! No one deserves it more! CONGRATS!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🖤🖤🖤🖤
Richard Dollmeyer
CONGRATULATIONS 🎉🎉🎉 I still can't believe you made the top 10 in the UK. Seeing what this band has done since the Happier Tour has been nothing short of amazing. We as fans feel your love for us and we have nothing but love for this band. Can not wait to see what the future holds. Once again, CONGRATULATIONS ON # FUCKING 8!!!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
