UK YA Author Week 2022 - Interview

I am happy to share that I have been interviewed for UK YA Author Week 2022 - hosted by the book subscription box Paper Orange.

It was lovely to chat to Charley about The Songs You've Never Heard and the messages of success being a journey with ups and downs. I also got to talk about the process of weaving songs into a story, picking artists for our Top 5 Song Lists, and my experience being a plus-sized singer in the music industry.

Please do check out the video and all the other amazing interviews with UK YA authors on Charley’s channel!

The Songs You've Never Heard - Promo Trail

This summer, The Songs You’ve Never Heard has been gaining lots of attention which has been a dream come true! After the excitement of YALC, our team has been spreading the word about our musical book and I just wanted a share a few highlights…

First of all, we were interviewed by United By Pop (Click here!) and asked some incredibly thoughtful questions about our characters and writing process. I have been a big fan of this blog for a long time so it was amazing to be included on the site.

We were also recently the monthly staff pick for LoveReading4Schools which is fantastic as it will help us become more visible to schools and librarians looking to stock book shelves for their students!

Sweet Cherry have also just attended the YLG Conference, sharing The Songs You’ve Never Heard to youth librarians - it’s awesome to see the book on the stall alongside all those tempting goodie bags!

Thank you to every single person who has helped champion Songs and make it visible in the world of YA. We still have much more promo to come including podcast interviews, Instagram Lives and live events so watch this space!

Miru Shiroma Releases "Bye Honey"

Excited to share a brand new J-Pop release that just launched today! Bye Honey is the B-Side for the new single by Miru Shiroma, former member of idol group NMB48.

The track (formerly titled 'Fast & Furious') is a super sassy girl power anthem and was co-written with Ken Harada, Lorenzo Cosi and Peter Boyes - we actually wrote this many years ago so it's amazing to know great songs will find the right home in the end!

Thank you so much Ken and DWB Music for the hard work in securing this placement! Wishing the beautiful and talented Miru Shiroma the best of luck with her solo career. Please check out the song on Spotify and iTunes!

Listen on Spotify!

The Songs You've Never Heard - OUT NOW!

IT'S LAUNCH DAY!!!!

The Songs You've Never Heard is available NOW from all book shops as both a physical copy and an eBook. To order a copy online please pick a retailer at our official website:

https://www.thesongsyouveneverheard.co.uk/book

OR please do request it from your local book shop! The more people who request the book, the more stores will buy in copies woop!

The accompanying album is also now LIVE! (see below!)

All songs were written by me and Ellie and we have amazing performances from Megan Tuck as Alana and Cathal Murphy as Caspar. (And I perform as Meg!)

We would absolutely love to know your Top 5 favourite songs on the soundtrack!! And if you are able to leave us a review on Goodreads or Amazon that would be so helpful and much appreciated!!

We really hope you love this story and these songs - we worked really hard on this and there were times we didn't know if it would actually happen... but WE NOW OFFICIALLY HAVE A BOOK WITH MUSIC EEEK!!!!

Thank you Sweet Cherry Publishing and Bath Literary Agency for making our dream come true - super excited for all the live events to come!

BOOK LAUNCH - 23rd June at Blue Bear Bookshop

BOOK LAUNCH ALERT!!! On Thursday June 23rd, Ellie and I will be at the absolutely beautiful Blue Bear Bookshop in Farnham where we will be signing copies of "The Songs You've Never Heard", answering questions and performing songs from the book live! There is even going to be nibbles and drinkies, woohoo! Book your free virtual ticket at the event page below:

Eventbrite Tickets

'Firework Display' Lyric Teaser

The second lyric teaser for mine and Ellie’s musical book “The Songs You’ve Never Heard” is now online!

Firework Display is Meg’s song about feeling overlooked by the people in her life, and wishing they would turn around and see her colours. This was such a fun one to write and perform - thank you so much to Jussi Nikula for the amazing production!

"Second First Impression" Lyric Teaser

The first lyric teaser for The Songs You’ve Never Heard is now online!

Check out the snippet from Second First Impression below:

It has been so enjoyable to perform as our leading lady Meg, and this unrequited love song plays a huge part in the story. More teasers on the way very soon, can’t wait to share the whole album!

The Songs You've Never Heard - COVER REVEAL

I am SO excited to reveal the cover to my brand new YA novel The Songs You’ve Never Heard co-written with Ellie Wyatt - due to be released in June 2022 by Clock Tower Publishing.

“'Meg McCarthy seems to be everything Alana Howard is not: rich, glamorous and - thanks to Caspar, her world-famous pop star brother - a social media influencer that every brand wants to sponsor. But while Meg is feeling trapped by the squeaky-clean McCarthy brand, plagued by online haters and too terrified to share her own talent with the world, songwriter Alana doesn’t seem to be scared of standing out. When Meg and Alana’s worlds collide, they quickly learn that appearances can be deceiving.’”

The book features a companion album of real pop songs to accompany the story and we are hoping to bring live music into bookstores for the launch! Check out the beautiful promo animation below:

Pre-order at the links below:

Amazon UK

Waterstones

WHSmith

Foyles

Blackwell's

"The Songs You've Never Heard" Being Published In 2022!

I am so so excited to finally announce a project that has been a LONG time in the works... My musical YA book written with Ellie Wyatt is being released with Clock Tower publishing in 2022 and will be available in all major book shops! Thank you Bookseller and Book Brunch for covering the story!

The Bookseller Announcement - Click Here!

‘The Songs You’ve Never Heard’ follows teen songwriter Meg who lives in the shadow of her older brother, global pop star Caspar McCarthy... Until she meets fellow musician Alana Howard and finally discovers her own voice…

Alongside the book, we have a whole album of songs as sung by Meg, Alana and Caspar to bring the characters to life! And on top of that, we will be putting on live gigs next year as part of the book launch! 🥳🥳

I am honestly so proud of this project and how much work we have put into it over the last 5 years. It is an absolute dream come true to know it will finally be reaching readers. Thank you so much to our agent Gill McClay and to Sweet Cherry/Clock Tower Publishing for believing in our project.

Stay tuned for more news soon! 😁❤

Jerams McIntosh Writing Duo Launched

Hey guys! It’s been a little while since I had news to share, but there has been loads bubbling behind the scenes and I am really excited to announce one of my new projects… My bestie Sazzie McIntosh and I are joining forces to create Jerams McIntosh - our musical writing duo.

For the past few years, we have been writing music to brief for an in-development musical movie and we have loved the process so much that we want to expand into other projects and officially put ourselves out there as writers for screen and stage.

We are currently writing the script and soundtrack for the mini 10-minute musical Link-My-Heart (all about Internet dating) which we are aiming to film early next year. It’s been so much fun to try something completely new and we can’t wait to get stuck in - follow our progress on Instagram and stay tuned for updates!

"Never Say Never" Now Available On Spotify

I am excited to announce that one of my library songs Never Say Never is available to listen to on Spotify as part of Poke Music’s Broadway album - I often write and record songs for music libraries, but they don’t usually release them as official albums so it’s really cool to be able to share this one!

I wrote this song with Ellie Wyatt and Alyssa Ichinose (whose BEAUTIFUL production was an absolute joy to topline to). I hope you enjoy the song and my Disney Princess style vocal lol! :) Fingers crossed for a placement for this one in the future!

Listen to Never Say Never on Spotify. Becky Jerams · Song · 2020.

Sazzie releases "2021" Demo

Hey everyone, happy new year!

It’s certainly been a strange old time lately what with Covid and Lockdown 3.0… I hope you are all holding up OK. I feel like last year was a bit of a write-off due to the dire circumstances and I didn’t have much news to report as the majority of projects I have been working on have had to be paused indefinitely!

Although it’s been a tough start to the year, I’m hoping things will pick up again soon and that I’ll have lots more to write about on this news page! And what better way to kick off than by sharing a brand new demo written with my bestie Sazzie.

At the end of last year, she came to me with an amazing idea called “2021”, all about the frustrations of lockdown life and wanting to leave behind restrictions and head into the future. I loved the concept, it feels like it really captures a moment in time and it was great to work on it with her. We are excited to have our friend Jussi on board for production too. In the meantime, check out the demo version on Soundcloud:

Demoooooooo WIP WIP WIP - send me an email if you want the mp3 xosazziexo@gmail.com I remember making plans I remember touching hands I wish I'd known that I was free Now it's just myself and me I wanna flip the calendar over Start the rest of my life In 2021 I wanna have some fun Don't wanna stay in the house no more Just wanna dance with my friends on the floor It's 2021 The party's just Got 2020 to make up for I'm gonna live like never before Time's been moving fast then slow Where did all the hours go? But with every second I've spent alone I found a piece of me I didn't know I'm very very done With 2020 I'm ready for 2021 I'm done

I hope you enjoy this raw version of the track, we can’t wait to build it up into a big proper pop song later in the year!

It’s great to be back writing music again and I’m excited to see what seeds will start to bloom in 2021… Take care everyone and will post more soon!

Song Placements Now On Streaming!

It’s been a little bit of a slow time for news at the moment whilst I’m working on some long-term projects (which I hope to announce very soon!) but something cool I discovered over this lockdown period was that some of my songs can now be found on streaming services! Firstly, the Dutch movie Misfit 2 is available to stream on Netflix featuring the song Bad Habit in the end credits that I co-wrote with the leading lady herself Djamila!

Also, if you have Disney+ then you can now stream Penny On M.A.R.S featuring two of my co-written tracks All For One and Timeless in Season 2.

It’s always such a thrill to hear my songs on the telly and I love that they are now available on such huge platforms, woohoo! If you check them out then please let me know :D

Kelsey Ellison releases "F.I.G.H.T" Lip Sync Video

About 4 years ago, I worked on a handful of songs with Kelsey Ellison and Pete Barringer for Kelsey's K-Pop influenced band K-Oh! (Also known as Pixels). Some of these songs got performed at the big YouTuber convention Summer In the City and it was great to see such a big audience dancing and getting excited for them.

Now Kelsey has re-released the song F.I.G.H.T under her solo channel as an anthem of positivity, with the ad revenue each month going towards various causes such as LGBTQ+ charities and BLM.

We first wrote this song around the time Trump was elected and we were feeling so frustrated with the state of the world. We wanted to write an anthem to tell people they aren't alone and that even if they feel like no one is listening, there is a whole army of warriors out there fighting alongside them for justice and equality. "We're gonna fight for love, we'll fight for us baby!"

It means so much to me to see so many people getting involved with the video and spreading awareness to important causes <3 There is also a lyric version of the video if you would like to sing along:

FAKY Re-release "Surrender" and "Chase Me"

A few years ago I worked on a handful of songs for the amazing J-Pop band FAKY - now they are re-releasing some of their older songs with their brand new line up on the album Re:Wrapped - including two of my co-writes Surrender and Chase Me.

Surrender which I worked on with Kanata Okajima and Sky Adams is an official single with a short promo video - please check it out!

All the songs are available on streaming sites worldwide as of next week - good luck with the re-launch girls, I hope to one day come back to Japan and see you live!

Portsmouth Musicians Release "Wagon Wheel" Isolation Singalong

I am so happy to have been involved with a great big Pompey singalong of the country classic “Wagon Wheel” organised by Matthew Harrison and Josh Hibberd of Hometown Show and recorded by 13 different musicians from their own homes!

I have known many of these performers since I was a teenager and it was so nice to be part of a big group project with friends I have grown up with on the local scene. We also hope to raise some awareness of music venues closing in the uncertainty of the current pandemic.

Social distancing has been tough these last few months, but we will always find ways to connect and make music together! Can’t wait for the big live renunion rendition…! :D

Corinna Jane releases "Distant Lights"

My good friend and fellow singer-songwriter Corinna Jane has recently released a 3-track EP titled Songs For My Mother featuring our co-written song Distant Lights.

We wrote this track together many years ago and Corinna performs it regularly in her live sets - however the production has now had a serious revamp thanks to Italian producer Francesco.

It is an honour for the song to be included on this beautiful collection in tribute to Corinna’s mother - find the EP on Spotify and iTunes now!

OH MY GIRL Release "Shower" In Japan

It’s always lovely to start the new year with release news! I recently discovered that OH MY GIRL have released a few different bundles of tracks in Japan this week, one of which includes the song “Shower” that I wrote with Steven Lee and Willie Weeks.

This is the third time this track has been released by the band and I’m so happy to see it continue to find new audiences. I hope the Japanese public will enjoy it!

Jike Junyi Releases "Dancing With The Stars"

Happy end of the decade everyone! I just wanted to squeeze one last piece of news in before we head into 2020 - I recently discovered that Chinese artist Jike Junyi has released “Dancing With The Stars” (which I wrote with Ash Hicklin, Pete Barringer and Chris Wortley) on her new album under the re-written title “The Hunting Field”.

This was the same song that was featured on Lithuanian Eurovision this year and it’s nice to hear it revamped with a brand new artist (and to have male and female versions!) Jike was a runner-up on the first season of The Voice in China and has even worked with Snoop Dog and Nicholas Cage! Her voice sounds incredible on the track, you can listen to it at the link below:

LISTEN HERE!

I am so happy to have my first Chinese cut before the end of the year! Thank you everyone for your support of my music and writing this decade, I’m wishing you all a very happy new year and I’m excited to see what the next decade will bring!

Djamila Releases "Bad Habit"

Today is the release of the song Bad Habit which I co-wrote with Youtuber Djamila. I absolutely love this song, it came together so organically on guitar during a Skype session and we spent a long time making sure the lyrics really told a story. I have loved working together, Djamila is so incredibly talented and a lovely person, plus we have made this happen completely indie so I’m really proud of what we have achieved!

You can stream or buy the song right now so please do check it out - and thank you to Djamila’s followers who have already watched the Instagram promo over 10k times!

LYRIC VIDEO ALSO NOW ONLINE: