“My Favourite Time Of The Year” by Betty Beata

Crossovers and hybrids have been spiking in popularity lately across the western music world, but there haven’t been many artists that have astonished me with their stylistic experimentations as Betty Beata has in the brand new single “My Favourite Time Of The Year.” For those who aren’t aware, Beata is an indie R&B/soul singer who has cut a handful of minor hits in the underground over the last few years to increasing acclaim from critics and fans. In “My Favourite Time Of The Year,” she abandons the poppier elements in her craftsmanship and adopts more straightforward jazz tones that are sporty, indulgent, and quite complementary to her seductive singing style. 

This single is constructed using a rather anti-formulaic approach to the chorus, but it doesn’t sacrifice any instrumental textures in exchange for its surreal design. The bassline is big, bold, and plays as much of a part in making the words evocative as Beata’s vocal execution does. The piano is the second star of the song after the sizzling serenade driving the main melody, and it gives the grooving drums a pristine harmony to chase after in the verses. There are a lot of layers to it, but “My Favourite Time Of The Year” plays out seamlessly every time I give it a listen. 

Beata doesn’t go with particularly enigmatic lyricism in this song, and in the place of postmodern metaphors, we instead find straightforward, earnest admissions about what the season means to our singer, without anything to come between her message and the audience. She’s getting pretty raw with us poetically in “My Favourite Time Of The Year,” but I never feel like she’s being self-absorbed in her statements at all whatsoever. Anyone who has ever been in love with the Christmas spirit itself has the potential to relate to this single, and as much as mainstream publications might say otherwise, that isn’t all that common in American pop music anymore. 

The instrumental portion of “My Favourite Time Of The Year” is sublimely subtle in its moodiness, but make no mistake about it – the sonic smokescreen between the sharply appointed lyrics and the bipolarity in the music doesn’t stop the melodies from defining the very nature of this single. Betty Beata is a force to be reckoned with when she’s in charge of the microphone, but she’s on an equal playing field with the backing band in this song. Different emotional subtexts are being fired at us from every direction in “My Favourite Time Of The Year,” making this an interpretive single that is accessible to almost anyone who enjoys a tender tunefulness. 

There are lots of reasons to be excited about the new music we’re slated to hear in 2023, and Betty Beata’s latest release is one of them. Beata is blending styles like an OG in “My Favourite Time Of The Year” and not exhibiting any inhibition or fragmentation in her sound as a result – something that a lot of her closest rivals could currently only hope for. She’s roused my interest from a critical perspective, and I’m eager to hear how she develops her musical profile further as the 2020’s come into their own. 

Mindy McCall