Kaylee Bell, winner of Best Country Music Artist and the Impact Award (1 of 2 recipents on the night). Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Kaylee Bell has been flying the flag for Aotearoa New Zealand in the world of country music.
The singer took home two awards at the Aotearoa Music Awards last month, including Best Country Artist and Te Manu Mātārae – a new impact award recognising international success. Recently she performed at the Country Music Association or CMA Festival in Nashville for the first time with her band from New Zealand.
“They close off the town for four days and you can walk everywhere,” says Bell. “There’s people playing everywhere. It’s a massive celebration. It’s pretty hard not to love it for that week.”
She says it was a joyful way to wrap-up three months of playing together every weekend.
But Bell isn’t a newbie to the scene. An independent and self-managed artist, she’s spent the past fourteen years splitting her time between Aotearoa and the country music capital of the world - Nashville.
After moving to Australia at the age of 21, she launched her career after winning the Toyota Star Maker crown, a prestigious Australian country music competition.
Following her performance of 'Keith', an original song written as a tribute to vocal coach Keith Urban on The Voice Australia, the song became a global hit with more than 20 million Spotify plays. It spent five weeks at the top spot on the Australia Country Radio Official Chart.
Last year she won a CMA Award for Global Country Artist, and now, Bell is the most streamed female country artist in Australasia, with more than 60 million streams.
She recently relocated to Nashville where she now produces and records all her music.
Fashion and style is a big part of country music and donning her band in white started as an accident.
“We did it once and they absolutely loved it. Stepping into something that felt ‘stage ready’ - the persona almost kicks in,” explains Bell.
It was one way to combat feeling tired and sluggish when touring on the road.
Bell always makes sure to customise her outfits with touches of red - her lucky colour.
Kaylee Bell at the Aotearoa Music Awards red carpet on 30 May, 2024. Photo: Stijl / James Ensing-Trussell
“I love getting to try things out and I’m very much in my customising season. For the awards (AMAs) I sewed about 100 diamantes onto those shorts.”
And of course, with country, comes sequins and tassels. Lots of it.
Kaylee Bell joins Culture 101 for this week’s ‘Fast Favourites’.
She recommends Shania Twain’s autobiography, From This Moment, recalling lining up for four hours at Nashville for the book signing when it was first released in 2011. She didn’t get the opportunity to speak to the Canadian singer, but Bell looks back fondly and still reads the book every year.
With an extended season in the United States, Bell grabbed tickets to Prima Facie, Suzie Miller’s one-woman play starring Jodie Comer on Broadway. A huge fan of Killing Eve, which Comer stars in, Bell says she was on the edge of her seat through the whole play.
For her musical picks, Bell recommends Brothers Osborne - a country music duo from Maryland and Band Camino - a rock/indie-pop band based in Nashville.
Reflecting on country music in New Zealand, Bell believes “we’re in a good place.”
This is a contrast to her childhood when country music was something she did only with her family, and never her friends.
“We’ve toured for the past two years in New Zealand and the amount of kids coming to the shows has been overwhelming. It’s cool to know there’s a proper shift happening.”
Growing up in the era of blasting Golden Horse, Bic Runga, Brooke Fraser and Anika Moa, Bell says the power of radio can’t be underestimated.
“We had a song called ‘Boots 'N All’ - and I could see the difference it made. People were coming to our shows because they heard the song on the radio.”
“There’s so much country music on the radio now and people like it because they’re finally hearing it.”
