York, UK · pop

Beth McCarthy

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York's queer-pop firecracker — TikTok-honed hooks backed by real band energy and a live show that outruns the algorithm that found her.

Beth McCarthy, born Bethany May McCarthy in 1997, grew up in the York suburb of Rawcliffe, the daughter of a dentist and a hygienist. She began busking in the city's St Helen's Square at 13, studied at the local Access to Music college, and self-released her first single, "Hero," in 2012, followed by a debut EP, Northern Light, the following year.

At 16 she competed on the third series of The Voice UK, turning Ricky Wilson's chair with an acoustic cover of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" before being eliminated in the knockouts. Through the mid-2010s she kept releasing music independently, including "Pretty Lies," which reached number two on the iTunes singer-songwriter chart, and presented a weekly show on BBC Radio York.

Her wider audience arrived through TikTok, where 2020 reworkings of other artists' songs, including a cover of Will Joseph Cook's "Be Around Me," turned into her own singles; "She Gets the Flowers" spread further in 2021. Her songs deal openly with queer relationships, self-image and the awkwardness of growing up, sitting in a guitar-inflected corner of mainstream pop with hooks written for a full band rather than a backing track, which she performs with live.

She has released a run of EPs since, among them Self Portrait, IDK How to Talk to Girls and Hot and Stupid, alongside singles such as "Good Bi," "No Hard Feelings" and "Treat Me Like a Rockstar." She has toured as a headliner and supported artists including Caity Baser and G Flip.

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