Beem her up
A rising local pop star got a big boost from Beyoncé — and she’s only 17
THERE’S no doubt “Lemonade” will clean up at Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards, but Beyoncé is already making sure her presence will be felt on the awards-show circuit for years to come through her talented new protégée.
The singer signed electro-pop starlet Sophie Beem to her Parkwood Entertainment in 2014, after an executive at the management company spotted Beem performing at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village. The now-17-year-old New Yorker, who plays Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day in Flushing, Queens, on Saturday, spent two years honing her songwriting skills and performing style with the megastar and is ready to unleash her Knowles-knowledge on the wider world.
“One thing Beyoncé taught me was to sing and run on the treadmill at the same time,” Beem tells The Post. “Most people don’t realize, but singing and dancing at the same time is something you have to train really hard for — and now I can do it!”
She’s got the breathing technique down, but Beem’s got nifty songs, too. Her self-titled debut EP emerged in March and is already making an impact: “I Got It,” featuring Fetty Wap, has clocked nearly 1 million plays on Spotify, and “Girls Will Be Girls” is featured prominently in the new Mila Kunis comedy “Bad Moms.”
Bey and her team may get the credit for developing Beem’s raw talent, but it’s actually her mom who deserves the most kudos for realizing Beem’s potential. After seeing her daughter perform at a summer camp and spotting her enthusiasm for music, she started Beem on music lessons. Beem, who grew up on the Upper East Side, also auditioned for Fox’s “The X Factor” at age 13, and made it to the round of the last 40 contestants. Judge Simon Cowell even observed that she was one of the people “born to do this.”
All the while, Beem was developing her songwriting skills as her parents went through a divorce. “It was like therapy for me,” she says of the lyrics she wrote during that tumultuous time. “My parents didn’t shield me from it at all. I think that helped me in the long run. I had to grow up fast.
“I didn’t rebel because my mom and I became a team — and we still are!” with ment or quee n bey