Belle

About Belle

# Belle

Writing about an artist called Belle is like searching for someone named Smith in a phone book. There are probably dozens of musicians using this name right now, and that's before we get into the Belles, the Belle and Sebastians, or people who just thought it sounded nice.

The most likely candidate you're asking about is Belle and Sebastian, though that's stretching the name a bit. They formed in Glasgow in 1996 when Stuart Murdoch gathered some students from Stow College to record what became "Tigermilk." The album was pressed in a run of one thousand copies as part of a college project. Somehow those thousand copies created enough word-of-mouth that Jeepster Records signed them almost immediately.

"If You're Feeling Sinister" came out the same year and turned them into indie darlings. The album sounds like someone recorded it in a library after hours, all whispered vocals and literary references. "The Stars of Track and Field" became the template for about fifteen years of indie pop that followed. They had this whole thing about not doing interviews or photos at first, which in retrospect was brilliant marketing disguised as shyness.

Through the late nineties and early 2000s, they kept releasing albums that split their fanbase between people who wanted more bedroom pop and people who were fine with them using actual production. "The Boy with the Arab Strap" and "Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant" had their moments. "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" in 2003 saw Trevor Horn producing, which felt like bringing in a cruise ship to navigate a canal, but it worked.

There's also Belle, the solo project of South Korean singer Kim Jiyeon, who debuted in 2021. She was previously in the group Sketchbook and shifted to R&B with smoother production than her earlier work. Her track "Love Me Like That" got some traction, though she's still building a catalog.

Or maybe you mean Bella Poarch, who isn't actually Belle but gets confused in searches. Or one of the various Belles making bedroom pop in their actual bedrooms right now, uploading to Spotify with anime girl avatars.

The problem with single-word names is that they're either taken by someone famous or taken by forty people who aren't. Without knowing which Belle you're after, we're stuck with educated guesses. If it's Belle and Sebastian, they're still around, still making albums, still doing their thing with slightly more production budget than the Stow College days. If it's another Belle, they're probably somewhere between their first EP and hoping someone asks who they are.

Belle's live shows are quiet in a way that forces attention. Minimal stage setup, focus entirely on the songs. Crowds tend to be attentive rather than enthusiastic, leaning in during verses. Not a lot of talking between songs. People watch more than they dance.

Known for Belle, Swimming Pool, Modern Day Blues, Gold, You're Not Alone

See Belle Live