Be Steadwell (sometimes stylized as be steadwell) is a singer-songwriter and filmmaker from
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
She is best known for producing a genre of music she calls "Queer Pop".
Steadwell produced the film ''Vow of Silence'' (2014)'','' which received Best Experimental Short at the Black Star Film Festival.
She released the EP ''Succulent'' in April 2020.
Early life and education
Be Steadwell was born and raised in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
She is the youngest of four children.
Steadwell attended The Field School. She began singing at age 14 when she joined the jazz band.
She received her BA from
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
Howard University
Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...
.
Career
Music
Steadwell released weekly music videos on YouTube while at Howard. She released her first album, ''Queer Pop Mixtape'' in 2013, for which she gained wider prominence.
Steadwell sang at the
2017 Women's March
The Women's March was an American protest on January 21, 2017, the day after the first inauguration of Donald Trump as the president of the United States. It was prompted by Trump's policy positions and rhetoric, which were and are seen as mi ...
on the
National Mall
The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...
behind
Maxwell
Maxwell may refer to:
People
* Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist
* Justice Maxwell (disambiguation)
* Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of N ...
and
Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe Robinson ( ; born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper and actress. She has received ten Grammy Award nominations, and is the recipient of a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Children's and Family Emmy Award. ...
in Toshi Reagon's Big Lovely Band.
Steadwell released an album called ''Queer Love Songs'' in June 2018. She described the album as “a collection of love songs I’ve written in the past ten years from my perspective as a super queer black woman who loves love.”
In April 2020 she released the EP ''Succulent''. Steadwell stated that the album focuses on her enjoyment of sex. The sound was described as R&B, hip-hop, pop, and electronica.
Other work
She produced the 2014 film, ''Vow of Silence'', during her MFA program. It received the Howard University Paul Robeson Award (2015), Best Experimental Short at The Black Star Film Festival (2015), Audience Choice Award at the QWOCMAP Film Festival (2015), and was featured at the NYC
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) be ...
.
In 2016 she was selected to be a Strathmore
Artist in Residence
Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...
and the DC Commission on the Arts awarded Be an artist fellowship.
In 2018, she released a musical titled ''A Letter to My Ex'' which tackled themes of love, loss, and intimacy.
In 2025, Be released their debut novel, ''Chocolate Chip City'', an exploration of the love lives of Black women in modern-day D.C.
Artistry
Musical style
Steadwell self-produces her music, which is known for its lyrics and LGBTQIA+ content. She makes music that she refers to as "queer pop", and has stated the importance of that specificity.
AfterEllen
''AfterEllen'' is an American culture website founded in 2002, with a focus on entertainment, interviews, reviews, and news of interest to the lesbian and bisexual women's community. The site covers pop culture and lifestyle issues from a feminis ...
described her sound as "multi-layered but lofi" Her songs also frequently have political themes. She wrote a song called "Gay Sex" in response to the Charlottesville
Unite the Right rally
The Unite the Right rally was a White supremacy#United States, white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, whi ...
beatboxing
Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a Roland TR-808, TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.
Music videos
Steadwell releases music videos on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
under the moniker "Be Steadwell". The channel had around 17,000 subscribers as of May 2025.
Personal life
Steadwell is
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...