Betty Reed is the performance persona of Taylor Dill, a graduate of Berklee College of Music with a BA in vocal performance. Her expressive vocals and clever lyrics resonate in every song. Drawing on life experiences, Betty Reed relates stories of everyday life through her music. Struggles. Triumphs. Journeys.
After moving to Nashville, TN from Boston, MA, Betty Reed released four country-pop singles throughout 2020: Her, Drunk On You, I’ll Get By, and Good Days. In the winter of 2020/2021, Betty Reed released three electro-pop singles: Fall Apart, Never Enough, and My Way. In the fall of 2021, Reed released a six-song EP, “Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned.”
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Betty Reed about the latest project, surviving the pandemic, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and how do You describe your style of music?
I grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2018, I moved to Nashville. I grew up on pop, rock, indie music (as country music wasn’t on the airwaves in Boston). My parents were really into music and going to concerts so I was exposed to a lot of different musical genres and artists. And when I say diverse I mean everything from Grateful Dead to Pink to Tom Petty to Avril Lavigne to Radiohead to The Decemberists to Bob Marley to Sara Bareilles. My dad was into classic rock, my mom was into indie rock, and my sister was into pop and pop-rock. Even my grandparents are big music fans, and through them I was exposed to Broadway tunes and standards. And I think in some way, all of these artists have influenced my songwriting. But, when I first got to Nashville, I wanted to try my hand at writing country music. While in Rome, right? The result of that was the first four “pop-country” songs I released… Drunk On You, Her, I’ll Get By, and Good Days. I decided to do something totally different with the second batch of songs I wrote and recorded — and worked with producers who were squarely in the pop/EDM space who gave my songs a more electro-pop feel (My Way, Fall Apart, Never Enough).
But… the country vibe didn’t quite fit me (or my voice) and the electro-pop stuff, while fun, didn’t feel to be quite the right fit either. So… I headed back into the studio last year with a bunch of extremely talented Nashville musicians to record six new songs for my debut EP “Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned.” I collaborated with producer Bill McDermott, who understood my vision and brought his depth of music knowledge to the project. There was still a lot of genre-crossing in this EP, but it was definitely closer to what I consider my sweet spot. Misunderstood and Happy lean toward pop-country. Karma and Let It Out have more of an indie-folk vibe. On My Mind feels like adult contemporary pop. And This Time can probably be categorized as pop-rock. Soon after releasing this EP, I wanted to create a companion EP with acoustic versions of these songs — and make it even more cohesive musically by giving it an overall coffeehouse vibe.
How did you get here? As in, what inspired or motivated you to take on this journey through music and the music biz?
Music is in my blood. My great-great grandfather was a composer for the Yiddish Theater and his wife a singer. My great grandmother was a piano teacher. My grandfather is a singer and bass player. My parents are big into music and concerts. When I was four, I went to a daycare center where a woman came in once a week and played guitar and sang. I can’t even express how wonderful that weekly guitar session made me feel. When I was nine, my dad bought me a small “child’s” guitar and my aunt Cathy taught me three chords: C G7 and Am. A year later I begged my mom for guitar lessons (Rockin’ In The Free World by Neil Young was the first song I learned to play). I started to feel lonely and depressed in middle school and one day after camp I came home to an empty house and wrote my first song, “Invisible.” I probably didn’t realize it at the time, but it was like therapy — getting my private thoughts down on paper and singing them to myself.
When I expressed the desire to perform, my mom signed me up for School of Rock, where I learned to play electric guitar. Soon after that, I started working with a wonderful vocal coach. In my senior year, I joined my high school’s gospel choir. But it was at Berklee College of Music (where I majored in vocal performance) that I had the opportunity to really learn the craft of writing a song by taking a lot of classes in music theory and songwriting.
My grandmother, who I was very close to, died of cancer. Her name was Betty Reed (she preferred we call her Betsy) and my career in music is an homage to her — which is why I took her name. She always encouraged me to find a creative outlet for my sad feelings, and although she wasn’t around to ever hear me play, I sense her presence whenever I perform and I have a feeling she hears me.
How does your latest project compare/contrast with your previous release(s)? Were you setting out to accomplish anything specific, follow a specific theme, or explore different styles of creation?
In re-imagining “Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned (Acoustic Version)” as a purely acoustic project, I wanted to share a more intimate version of these songs. By changing up the tempo and key, and using only on an acoustic guitar and percussionist, the stripped-down songs were re-architected to give them a more indie-folk, singer/songwriter, coffeehouse vibe.
Each song on the EP addresses the overarching theme (to varying degrees) of learning from past mistakes (or at least coming to terms with them) and finding the strength and desire to move forward. This reoccurring theme of learning from mistakes is a thread that runs through many of my songs (not just the ones on this EP) — messing up and making stupid decisions, but then taking valuable lessons from the experience in the hopes of not repeating those mistakes. And even more importantly, the message of becoming a better version of yourself…stronger and wiser.
I chose Let It Out as the single because out of all the songs on the EP, this one is the most personal. I cope with depression, as did my grandmother, and she believed a good cry was cathartic and a healthy way to shed sadness and carry on. Misunderstood is about not being afraid to assert your boundaries and make clear that no means no. Karma is about getting that good life you deserve after breaking free from a toxic relationship. The chorus of Happy is the affirmation to myself that even on dark days, I know that there will be happier days ahead.
Many of my songs touch on sensitive topics — abusive relationships, addiction/dependency, depression, anxiety, heartache — and hopefully people who hear my songs will see themselves in these songs and embrace the messages of triumph over adversity, independence, standing up for oneself, finding the positive in your life, accepting that it’s okay not to be okay all the time, and moving forward from past mistakes.
Name the biggest challenge you faced as a creative during these unprecedented times? How did you adapt? How have you kept the creative fires burning during all this?
Definitely not being able to perform live, especially at the point in my career when touring was essential to building a fanbase. The pandemic hit just as Drunk On You Remixes hit the Billboard Dance Chart, but Billboard shut down that chart when festivals got cancelled due to COVID. ButI continued to write new material. I also took the time to learn more about music marketing and social media. There are a lot of ways to spend your marketing dollars, both wisely and foolishly, and it’s a bit of a minefield for independent artists. After a few missteps early on, I surrounded myself with trustworthy allies who act as sounding boards and reality checkers to help me make better decisions. I’m still making mistakes, but I’ve certainly learned a lot these past two years.
What was the last song you listened to?
I am loving the new Mitski album, Laurel Hell, especially the songs The Only Heartbreaker and Love Me More.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? 8-tracks? Cassettes? CDs? MP3s? Streaming platforms?
I still have all the CDs I listened to when I was a kid and teenager. I eventually loaded them onto my laptop and listen to them that way. Once in a while I go on TikTok and sing those 90s/early 2000s songs live as I put on my makeup. These days, streaming is how I listen to new music. I subscribe to Apple Music, but I also listen to music on Bandcamp, Spotify, Pandora.
Where is the best place to connect with you and follow your journey?
As an independent artist, the best place for people to connect with me and follow my journey is Bandcamp. That’s the best platform for fans to support up-and-coming artists, as it requires a purchase to listen to the music artists make. I just recently joined the Bandcamp community so I’m still building my music catalog on there and need to get my merchandise listed there as well (my merch can be found on my website bettyreedmusic.com/shop). I should probably be on social media more than I am… but I’m pretty active on Instagram, creating Stories and Reels. I have three handles on TikTok. @bettyreed.music is mostly music oriented, me playing my own songs and covers, singing duets with others. @BRmusic02 is content related to current trends, such as makeup transitions, comedy lip-syncing and silly cat videos. And the third one I just created – @BettyReedMusic – is going to be focused on promotional video clips of my songs, kind of like mini music and lyric videos. It’s the TikTok channel that I hope will launch trends that utilize my songs.
I really appreciate Your time. Anything else before we sign off?
I released a single on April 15 — an acoustic version of my electro-pop song Never Enough. I wanted to take this dreamy, synth-led pop song and recreate it as a guitar-led, moody indie song. Since I was already in the studio recording “Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned (Acoustic Version),” I decided to add it into the line-up. But instead of including it on the EP as a “bonus track,” I thought it would work best as a standalone single (although on Bandcamp you can buy the entire EP and that song comes as the bonus track). I’m ready to record three new songs and plan to go back into the studio this spring. My plan to is drop each song as a single about 2-3 months apart starting in late summer.
