In the time that passed between 2022’s Adultsville and the recently released State of Emergency Vol. 1 British-Nigerian R&B songstress Bellah experienced a shift. k, She released a string of one-off singles, lent her voice on features like and explored a role in Channel 4’s Queenie all the while dealing with health constraints. 

With the release of lead single, “Boo Thang Bootcamp”,  in September of 2025, she appeared primed to reacquaint audiences and fans alike to the alluring vocals and witty composition that caught the world’s ear in the early days of her career. 

Now, coming on the heels of the release of State of Emergency Vol 1, we captured Bellah as she channelled her newfound energy and vibes, which have been so clearly documented on the EP. The title, which feels somewhat fitting for the state of affairs in the background at the time of its release, yet, as you press play, you are once again met with the sonic quality she has brought to the EP.  As the first of two EPs, State of Emergency is only one part of what this new era of BELLAH represents. A Bigger, better Bellah.

You just put out the EP, so how does this feel, and what has this moment felt like for you?

I've been taking it in. I've been trying to rest, I've been trying to chill out. I can scream and shout, but they've actually silenced me. especially on Twitter. I'm like, Oh, you're not coming out of the woodworks.

You took a bit of a break, and now you're back. So even when it was time to come back to music, what said, 'I think I'm ready to come back'?

I feel like I never really stopped creating. I took a break, but I was always creating with this project in mind; it just wasn't as consistent. It was just more sporadic and a bit chaotic. For the whole of 2024, we were looking for a situation where I could release the music, and the moment I got the chance, I was like, ”bet go, I'm ready to do it now.” There is only so much time I can sit on music before I feel like “I'm over this as well. I don't even want to hear this anymore.” So that was what it was. The moment that there was an opportunity to do it,I did.

Do you feel, especially in this current climate, that there is a constant need to always be producing and creating? And how do you think that has impacted   how you feel when it comes to making music?

I find that the thing that's working in my favour right now is that because I took that long break, I made a lot of music. Right now, I'm not feeling the pressure to constantly produce music because there's so much music. However, I do believe there will be a time when I'm caught in the very present version of these events. I already feel that way when it comes to content, just being present, and showing that I'm breathing online. If I could, I would drop my music, log off, and be Frank Ocean, riding a bike in Portugal somewhere. I wouldn't do the internet stuff, even though I'm chronically online. I like to be a consumer of things, and if I don't have anything substantial to offer, I don't want to. The friction between me and this current climate is that I don't want to serve the quantity master, because I serve the quality master. That being said, I also understand that we're in a new space, and the algorithm isn't nice to you if you take breaks. It is a weird balance to strike at this time, because I want all the hard work I've put in to pay off, but I also don't want to be doing stuff for the sake of doing.

State of Emergency, that's quite a bold statement and title for the project, and so where did that title and the whole idea for the EP come from?

I made a song called “State of Emergency,” and it felt so big and so amazing that I named the project after it. So then I was like, okay, this is my brief, and  I'm going to make all the songs underneath this brief. However, there's power in the tongue, and there were so many emergencies happening in and around me. I was like, " Rah”. I didn't even know the state of the world was going to be this nuts when I released the project. So things were becoming more fitting for the title. At first, I was trying to make it with the vibe that we've got a state of emergency in UK RNB, we need something to shift, we've got to ring the alarm, we've got to wake people up. But then it started to be about myself, and self-reflection and self-awareness and questions like what aren't you taking seriously? Ring that alarm. Is it your boundaries? Is it the way you treat yourself? Your health? Is it your mental health? Then obviously, given the state of the world, what it is, I just want people to find 20 minutes of relief from all of the rubbish that's going on. So it took on so many meanings, and when you hear the music, I want you to feel something very visceral; I want that to be urgent, the way you feel. But it is very broad and has so many, and I'm really grateful for that, because you can explore the project in so many different ways. It's such an umbrella term that can be applied physically and metaphorically.

Where did that sound and the palette for that begin, and how did you sort of build that? Was there a specific thing that you were trying to capture with the sounds of the EP?

So every time I went into the studio, I knew the sounds had to be immediate when you heard them. I had songs like that that made the project feel like “Boo Thang Bootcamp” and “Typical”, where you know the moment you hear it, it's fine. But I would go into the sessions and say, "The project is called State of Emergency." So, give me something that speaks to that. And so, for things like “Critical Condition,” I came in with the title and said, “I want to make a song like this, but how do we spin it?” And “Burning Desires” became “Burning Desires”. It was called "Triggered " first, and then I wrote the second verse. And I wrote it before I named the project. So when the project was coming out, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I could change the name to' Burning Desires. '" I can change the hook, and it can fit inside this world, and God just made it work out for me in that way. But I think because my intentions were set on this theme, things were just kind of bending towards my will. Things were just making sense to me.

The Bellah you were you when you first started making the EP, versus who you are now? Where would you say you are now?

The Bellah now is the most assured version of herself. Adultsville feels like I was figuring it out, not only sonically but lyrically. Whereas this feels a lot more introspective and assertive: "These are my boundaries; this is what I'm setting for." These are my terms. So now, I'm in the space of what exploration takes place when we understand each other, because I was trying to understand you, and now I'm telling you what I want you to understand. For me, the question is “what happens when we have a certain understanding of each other?”. Hopefully, I can explore that in certain spaces; I still feel like there are stories I haven't told yet, and I'm excited to write about them. So I will be dipping back into the historical archives, because I feel like there are songs that haven’t come to fruition because things were happening whilst I was writing that I'm like, okay, well, I need to log that for when I do the next one. I'm more assured, more confident, and more understanding of what I want and where I want to be, and I'm less okay with just taking it as it is. I'm less okay with accepting circumstances and excuses. So, I'm more assured, more confident, and more open to making things change if they don't want to. For me, you know,

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You are somebody who has always been open and vulnerable when it comes to the things you talk about in your music, and so even when you open up in that way, is that something you find easy to do when it comes to expressing yourself in that way?

I've grown up with a mom who has allowed me to express myself in a way that lets people see beyond the surface. She is a social worker, a psychotherapist, all that good stuff. So, I've been having complex emotional conversations from a young age, and as a creative person, it's easy to write about these complex feelings because that's the nature of the conversations I have at home most of the time. Musically, I just surround myself with people who are better than me and who create a safe space for me to have these nuanced, complex conversations. And so, I think when the conversation meets the musical ability, it creates Bellah. I love speaking to people, I love getting through to people,  beyond the surface level. I love encouraging people. I love understanding that trauma plays a big part in the way we communicate and interact with each other. I love that everybody has their story, and I'm also aware that everybody's not able to communicate their story the way that they need to or as effectively, and so that's why I believe sometimes putting things that people are too scared or too shy to say in songs gives someone an outlet for something because they may not have known how to articulate that before they heard the song, or before they spoke to me. So I think the human experience is much deeper than people make it out to be, and I want to be part of helping people uncover it.

Even in striking that balance of you being able to still have certain things that you know are yourself, and you know how to sort of toe that line and just make sure that you as a person are also protected within yourself?

I don't think I toe the line in the sense of, ”this is what I want to share with the Internet, this is what I gotta keep.” I think that because these experiences are my own, no one will ever fully understand what I'm going through.  So, my vulnerability comes from trying to get us as close as possible to the understanding we need, so that your empathy or understanding can be triggered. I feel like even when I speak about my sickle cell, I can tell you how much it hurts, but you will never know, because you don't have it. There are things I keep away from my social media, like personal things: this is not a conversation I need to have; this is just mine. But the things that I choose to have a conversation about, I really try to let people in as much as possible, because I know there will always be a certain door that you can't open, because it's not your door. However, I can get you as close to the stage as possible, so that you have an understanding of who I am. I think that makes artistry more interesting. I think it makes people more invested in other people's stories. Sometimes I find a disconnect between specifically more RNB artists that I don't really know because you're making such emotional music, and there's nothing for me to like, grab onto, and it's not to say that I want to be nosy and know your life, but there's nothing for me to connect the music and the person as one entity. So, I try to give people an experience where they know this has come from a place, and I understand the place it's come from, even if it's in my own special way.

Those are the moments that you actually need, because those are the moments we actually are able to, you know, check in with yourself. Yes, happen to be like, okay, you know what I am. And you know, there's always the whole thing about one's identity and, like, you know who you are versus what you do. And, yeah, especially when you are someone who's like, you know, a performer or just like, in any sort of, like, outward-facing position in life. You know, people see anything, okay, oh yeah, that's a doctor. She's diseased. But it's also about being like, "You know what?" I am that, yes, but also I'm, I'm more than that as well, you know? And sometimes you don't get to actually realise and understand what that is, until you're out of that space, space?

That is what happened in my time down, the Self Realisation. My mom always says that you're a human being, not a human doing. I live by that now. So, when I say I'm more assured, I'm like, okay, cool. The music is amazing. Everything I'm doing is amazing, but if I stopped doing it today, I would still be just as amazing. I just know that this is the music being low-key, part of my rebellion. It sounds mad, but as I exist right now, these things are not supposed to be working for me. So, it feels like my own version of a revolution, like a middle finger to the systems at be. I get to live my experience, do my human experience the way I want to, not the way you've told me and everybody else I should, but again, all these realisations happen, like you said, in the downtime, yeah, yeah. And I think, because of the downtime, I get really excited to do the things I want to do.

Coming back

My excitement for music right now is because of the downtime, because I have a completely different approach. Whilst I was creating great things, there was an air of desperation that wasn't the good kind. It wasn't the desperation that would get you out of bed in the morning. It was the desperation that came from a very empty place, the kind of desperation that needed Validation to satiate it. Whereas I feel like the desperation I have now isn't about others' validation, but for seeing what I am capable of, seeing what I can do in my time here. I feel like my life is a bunch of really big side quests. So, like, world domination is one of my side quests. How do we get a Grammy side quest? You know, like, and it helps me just wake up in the morning and do what I need to do. And, you know, feed, water, what I need to water, feed, what I need to feed, knowing that the amalgamation of the things that I'm doing is me and not just this one thing, and not just this one sector, So everything's a side quest, which makes everything the main quest, which, you know, in turn, makes everything the side question is a complete circle.

Even as we've spoken about, where you are now, like even in what you've in, what you've just said, and everything, what excites you about, like, you know, this new space that you're in, and just like this new era, and everything?

I'm excited that, for the first time, I’m being my most authentic self, and I’m finding that people are drawn to me more. The idea that people are witnessing me as I am is exciting because it means they're here for the growth, for the journey. And so, the thing I'm most excited about is taking everyone on this journey with me. It's really edifying and heartwarming to know that people just want to see me, not a version of me I put on.

For you, what has been the difference in, you know, creating volume one and then being in the essence of volume two?

Volume One was supposed to be longer, and we had to split it. So some of the songs on Volume One are on Volume Two, and then I'm creating fresh new energies to go on Volume Two, and I think that's what it needs. So I’m excited to kind of curate something based on what we had and how to elevate it. So I can't wait to feel the New Energy and be excited. I feel like volume two will be the one I listen to a little bit after it comes out, since it will be fresher and newer to me., I've cleared up the space in my brain. I'm waiting for the new, fresh downloads. I can't wait for the new downloads. I can't wait to bring the new confidence into the studio. Well, I have it now, but I can't wait to see how that manifests in the studio. So yeah, that's the energy I'm entering with, excitement, anticipation, bigger, better Bellah period.

Team Credits:
Photographer & Creative Director: Will Sousa @wc_sousa
Producer: Seneo Mwamba @seneomwamba
Creative Producer: Zekaria Al-Bostani @zek.snaps
Makeup Artist: Lake Sanu @lakesanu
Hair Stylist: Tomoya Jasmine Eastwood @valoreuk
Fashion Stylist: Jaden Salman @jadensalman
Styling Assistants: Evrade Loredana @evradeloredana & Daniella Fitzgerald @daniellafitzz
BTS Photo & Video: Rimaz Yousif @shotbyrimaz
Design: @dianeadanna
Writer: Seneo Mwamba @seneomwamba
PR: @ourhousepublicity