Singer-songwriter Betty Who performs at S.F. Gay Pride.
Betty Who: 9 p.m. Saturday, June 24. $50-$150. The Armory, 333 14th St., S.F. armorypridejungle. eventbrite.com; 4 p.m. Sunday, June 25. Free. Main Stage at San Francisco Pride Celebration, City Hall, Civic Center Plaza, S.F. (415) 864-0831. www.sfpride.org
To listen to “Human Touch”: https://youtu.be/ QVnGYzqYaa0
In her 2012 debut single “Somebody Loves You,” Betty Who reconstructs the shimmering glam of ’80s pop around a simple, powerful message: “Somebody misses you when you’re away/ They wanna wake up with you every day/ Somebody wants to hear you say,” she belts, following with a “Oooh, somebody loves you.”
It’s fitting that the song gkicked off Who’s career. It quickly topped the U.S. dance charts, infectious not only in its nostalgic charm but also in its uninhibited positivity. Betty Who — 25-year-old Jessica Anne Newham’s stage name — is a thoughtful pop star, an artist who finds love, poetry and strength in each anthemic, bubblegum high and balladic, synthheavy low.
“I decided early on I would rather be myself,” she says. “Even if it means that I never get to where I want to be, at least the journey of trying to get there was made by doing music that I really loved.”
Who’s strong individualism makes her a fitting headliner for San Francisco Pride. She’ll be playing back-to-back shows, first as the lead act at the Armory’s Jungle Pride show on Saturday, June 24, and then a set on the main stage at City Hall for the culmination of this year’s San Francisco Pride celebration on Sunday, June 25. Throughout the weekend, she plans to create spectacles of polished pop and light, especially for those in the LGBT community.
“People want to let their flag fly for a weekend, and I try to create a safe enough environment to let that happen,” she says. “What I’m trying to do is let people know that this is a place where you are accepted for who you are.”
Sydney-born and Brooklyn-based, Who has amassed a dedicated audience across the world, and her brand of euphoric, distilled pop has appealed to people of various ages, races, genders and sexualities. Rapidly growing and largely composed of LGBT listeners, her fan base’s enthusiasm is in many ways due to her unabashedly earnest discography.
Drawing on personal relationships and past experiences, Who makes music that is proudly her own. Comparisons to pop contemporaries like Katy Perry and Halsey aren’t inaccurate. Musically speaking, they’d fit together on a clubready playlist, but it doesn’t do Who’s own story justice.
“My experiences with my friends, my experiences with my loved ones — that’s 100 percent of what my stories are,” she says. “I wanted it to feel like I’m telling an honest and real story, and usually because of that it’s why people say, ‘It feels like this was written about me.’ ”
In today’s politically tense environment, loud voices telling their sto-
ries are especially important. Events like Pride aren’t just celebrations, they’re vital expressions of self-identity. Throughout her ongoing Beautiful Summer Pride tour, Who has seen crowds that have taken Pride as an opportunity to try to better understand one another, both at her shows and beyond.
“When times are tough, it’s people’s responsibility to be themselves, to speak out for what they believe is right,” she says. “And from what I’ve seen so far this summer, playing Pride, is that more people are coming, they’re yelling louder, they’re loving harder.”
Raised in a community in Australia that was generally accepting of most lifestyles and identities, she remembers first coming across violently negative attitudes toward LGBT people while traveling in pursuit of her musical career. Especially shocked at how radically disparate people’s opinions on the subject were across a single country like the United States, she began to discover places that embraced a more diverse range of lifestyles, including San Francisco.
“I’ve met some people who grow up in smaller, more conservative towns where essentially it’s not OK to be gay, and you come to a place like San Francisco and think, ‘Wait, what is this magical place?’ ” she says. “I think that’s why I love being in San Francisco so much. I think that everybody here can just be themselves. It reminds me of how I grew up and how I want to continue to grow and live my life.”
After a pause, she adds, “The world can learn a lot from San Francisco right now.”