GIG REVIEW | BE CHARLOTTE | 03.03.2020

22-year-old musician Be Charlotte, real name being Charlotte Brimmer, has certainly been busy lately – releasing her new anthem ‘Rumour’s Don’t Work’, hitting the road with singing sensation Tom Walker on his acoustic ‘Home Run’ tour last month and now she has just completed a two-day all female songwriting camp which she curated herself in order to encourage more young women like herself to get into music.

To celebrate the release of her new single and the completion of the first camp, she performed an intimate gig at Assai Records in her hometown of Dundee.

The pop sensation has already announced plans for another songwriting camp for female musicians in the future following the success of the first one. She invited a whole host of up-and-coming female musicians from Scotland to take part in the two-day camp which was held at Dundee’s Botanic Gardens, managed by Dundee University, who provided a free studio space for the camp to take place.

We caught up with Charlotte to find out exactly why she created the camp:

Q – “What was your motivation to start the project?”

A – “I just want to empower and inspire other women and I realised this hadn’t been done before in Scotland, so I thought it could take action to change that. As a women in the music industry, I know firsthand how it feels every single day when you are a minority, especially in the studio environment. I have been fortunate enough to attend songwriting camps in other countries including Sweden, Thailand and in Nashville and Malawi. The songwriting sessions can be quite intimidating experiences when you are working with strangers (producers and other songwriters) and I just want to create a comfortable environment where everyone feels free to express themselves.”

Q – “Do you feel that the industry should be doing more to encourage women into music?”

A – There are some great initiatives like Key Change, who are striving for 50/50 gender balanced festival line ups. It’s a great ambition, but PRS statistics show that less than 20% of their membership are female and that’s why I wanted to do something in the songwriting environment to help address the imbalance. I am also going into schools all across the UK to encourage young girls in particular to play instruments, to write songs and realise that they can do it too. I hope I can be a positive role model with the platform I have.”

Q – “Do you plan on expanding the project further across Scotland?”

A – Absolutely, this is the first all female songwriting camp in Scotland but it definitely won’t be the last. We are using this as a pilot to make this a regular and ongoing project for generations to come.”

Q – “What are you hoping will be the outcome of the project?”

A – “I just want to increase awareness of all the really talented women making brilliant music on their own terms. I want to use the local and international platform that I have to celebrate other talented women and build a good community in Scotland. Most importantly though, we are going to have some amazing songs by the end of the two day writing camp and we will premier these at my sold out Assai Records show in Dundee.”

The gig was to provide a space for not only Charlotte to showcase her work but also the talents of the young musicians who also gathered to watch and take part in the gig. The likes of Anniesland Lights singer Zoe Graham, Megan D and Stephanie Cheape took to the stage to sing their hearts out, being greeted with warm applause and appreciation.

The crowd was made up of Be Charlotte’s loyal fanbase of young and old, coming out to show their support for the incredible work she is doing for women in the music industry.

The venue was small but perfect for Be Charlotte, as her incredible powerhouse vocals soared across the room, many of the crowd singling along with her hits. The gig had an informal feel but it worked completely, Charlotte having the crowd in the palm of her hand as she belted out her most popular tracks.

It was the perfect way to celebrate the end of the songwriting camp and gave Charlotte the chance to debut single ‘Rumour’s Don’t Work’ which is set to become the anthem of the Summer. We know we will certainly be listening to it on repeat!

You can stream Charlotte’s tracks on Spotify and catch up with what she is up to on Facebook and Twitter.