Brenda Wireko Mensah (born 18 November 1992), known professionally as Bree Runway, is an English singer, songwriter and rapper of

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

descent. She signed to

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

in 2018 and subsequently released her first commercial EP '' Be Runway'' (2019), followed by her debut mixtape, '' 2000and4Eva'' (2020), which spawned the single "ATM" featuring

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

. Runway has won the award for Best New International Act at the

BET Awards The BET Awards is an American award show that was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which are presented annua ...

; and was nominated for the 2022

Brit Award for Rising Star The Rising Star Award (previously Critics' Choice Award) is an award given by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an organisation which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom. The accolade is presented at the Brit Awards ...

award.

Early life

Mensah was born on 18 November 1992 in Hackney, where she was raised. She is of

descent. She resided on a street given the nickname " Murder mile" due to high rates of crime and conflict. Runway views her upbringing and experiences as her having to have "thick skin", resilience and "having instilled a fight in me" which she is thankful for. At the age of 9, Runway experienced bullying and

colourism Discrimination based on skin color, also known as colorism, or shadeism, is a form of prejudice and/or discrimination in which people who share similar ethnicity traits or perceived race are treated differently based on the social implications ...

which caused her to bleach her skin and have a negative chemical reaction to the product. Runway credits those moments as shaping her both as a person and an artist. Runway discussed the positive shift in attitude regarding her skin when she went to a college in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, ...

where she met model Leomie Anderson who encouraged Runway to take pictures of herself and "take charge of our situations". In an interview, she disclosed that she was only interested in music at school but never thought of herself as a musician. She enrolled in a

Music technology Music technology is the study or the use of any device, mechanism, machine or tool by a musician or composer to make or perform music; to compose, notate, playback or record songs or pieces; or to analyze or edit music. History The earlie ...

subject which taught her the basics of

music production A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. As a result, Runway started making beats and

freestyling Freestyle is a style of improvisation, with or without instrumental beats (Mystrodamus), in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure and with no prior memorization.Kevin Fitzgerald (director), '' Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme' ...

with her friends. Runway discussed that she purchased a "

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

home studio" setup with her first pay cheque which was where she was singing over self-produced beats and

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

her own songs. Earlier material such as ''RNWY 01'' was recorded with her DIY setup and explained that the self-sufficiency taught her what musical sound she wanted to pursue. Runway revealed that Former

First Lady of the United States The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

, once visited her school where she performed for her and was told to keep pursuing a musical career and that she wanted to see her performing at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

to which Runway responded "Invite me then!".

Career

2015–2019: Career beginnings and ''Be Runway''

Bree Runway made her solo debut with the self-released

EPs EPS, EPs or Eps may refer to: Commerce and finance * Earnings per share * Electronic Payment Services, in Hong Kong, Macau, and Shenzhen, China * Express Payment System, in the Philippines Education * Edmonton Public Schools, in Edmonton, ...

titled ''RNWY 01'' and ''Bouji'' being released in November 2015 and May 2016 respectively. Runway commercially released her debut single "Butterfly" in November 2016. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

was released alongside the song, which was shot in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...

, by model Leomie Anderson and directed by Runway herself. On 21 September 2017, Bree Runway released "What Do I Tell My Friends?" which debuted alongside a music video. The video would gather major attention, being her first to pass over one hundred thousand views, and praise due to its serious message of exploitation of young females in the

fashion industry Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashio ...

. Bree Runway was featured on British

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

duo Metroplane's single "Word of Mouth" which was released in February 2018. Bree Runway signed to

Virgin EMI Records Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

in 2018. In May 2019, she released the single "2ON" as her major-label debut. The track would later be included on ''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre e ...

'''s critics list of the Top 50 Songs of

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. Car company

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

would also use the track in an advertisement for their

C-HR The is a subcompact crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Toyota since 2016. The development of the car began in 2013, led by Toyota chief engineer Hiroyuki Koba. The C-HR is based on the same TNGA-C (GA-C) platform as the E210 ser ...

Leave Ordinary Behind campaign. In July 2019, the single "Big Racks" featuring

Brooke Candy Brooke Dyan Candy (born July 20, 1989) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and tattoo artist. Raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, daughter of Tom Candy, former CFO of ''Hustler Magazine'', Brooke rose to prominence after starring in Gr ...

was released. Bree Runway released her major-label debut EP '' Be Runway'' on 16 August 2019 which was preceded by singles "2ON" and "Big Racks" featuring Brooke Candy. A video for the track "All Night" was released five days later, making it the third and final single from the EP.

2020–present: ''2000and4Eva'' and ''Woah, What a Blur!''

On 5 March 2020, Bree Runway released the single "Apeshit" which was met with critical acclaim and drew immediate comparisons to

who would later co-sign the track on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. A censored version of the song titled, "Ain't It", was included on the

FIFA 21 ''FIFA 21'' is an association football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts as part of the '' FIFA series''. It is the 28th installment in the ''FIFA'' series, and was released on 9 October 2020 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Swi ...

''VOLTA Football'' soundtrack. During April 2020, Bree Runway was featured on the cover of Issue 87 of British magazine ''Notion''. On 28 April 2020, Runway announced that her next single would be titled "Damn Daniel" and would be a collaboration with American singer and rapper Baby Tate. The single was released on 30 April, alongside a "quarantine edition" music video. The song was featured on

Annie Mac Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents ...

's Future Sounds show on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

as the "Hottest Record in the World" on 30 April. On 10 July 2020, Bree Runway was featured on a remix of

Rina Sawayama is a Japanese–British singer-songwriter, actress and model. Born in Niigata, Japan, she emigrated to London with her parents at age five. She is known for her musical versatility and has been labelled a "musical chameleon". In 2017, she ...

’s single " XS". In July 2020, Bree Runway released the single "

Gucci Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty Inc., ...

" with American rapper Maliibu Miitch. She also released the single "Little Nokia" in September 2020, which would later go onto be ranked the fourth best song of

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

by ''Time''. In October 2020, Bree Runway was the cover star for the DIY issue of British magazine ''

Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...

''. In October 2020, Runway announced the release of her debut mixtape, '' 2000and4Eva'', which was released on 6 November 2020 via Virgin EMI Records. The mixtape's release was preceded and supported by the singles; "Apeshit", "Damn Daniel", "Gucci", "Little Nokia" and "ATM". A music video for the mixtape's fifth single, "ATM" featuring Missy Elliott, was released on 11 January 2021. A solo version of the song, subtitled the "Breemix", was released on 25 January 2021. On 28 March 2021, Bree Runway announced the release of the single, "Hot Hot", which was released on 31 March 2021. On 20 May 2021, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast", a collaboration with English band

Glass Animals Glass Animals are an English indie pop band formed in Oxford in 2010. Founded and led by singer, songwriter, and producer Dave Bayley, the group also features his childhood friends Joe Seaward, Ed Irwin-Singer and Drew MacFarlane. Bayley wrote ...

was released. In the beginning of September 2021, she was featured on the

Jimmy Edgar Jimmy Edgar is an American conceptual artist and sound designer from Detroit, Michigan. Influenced by minimalism, Yves Klein and Immaterialism, early in their career Jimmy released two hip-hop glitch albums under the names Michaux and Kristuit S ...

remix of " Babylon" by

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

off her

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 20 ...

Dawn of Chromatica ''Dawn of Chromatica'' is the third remix album by American singer Lady Gaga, released on September 3, 2021, by Streamline and Interscope Records. Consisting of remixes of songs from her sixth studio album, '' Chromatica'' (2020), the album embr ...

'', as well as in the music video for " Have Mercy" by Chlöe. In December 2021, Runway made her debut award show performance at the 2021

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and ...

, where she performed "Hot Hot" and teased a new single "Pressure". "Pressure" was released on 7 February 2022. The following month, "Somebody Like You" was released, which served as the second of three releases. On 27 September 2022, Runway announced the release of the single "That Girl", which was released on 29 September. The song served as the lead single from her fourth EP, ''Woah, What a Blur!'', which was released on 8 December 2022.

Artistry

Bree Runway has expressed her sound as "genre-bending" as well as "genre fluid" with her material experimenting with a multitude of genres including;

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

, dance, R&B, rock, and

hyperpop Hyperpop is a loosely-defined music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated in the United Kingdom during the early-to-mid 2010s. It is characterized by a maximalist or exaggerated take on popular music, and artists within the genre ...

. Despite being signed to a major label, Runway revealed that she is entirely in charge of her creative process. Runway explains that she tries to study genres that she doesn't listen to on a daily basis quoting that there is "inspiration everywhere". When discussing Runway's sound, she emphasizes her disapproval with genre labelling, rejecting the labels of a rapper or an "R&B sensation" and claiming that―if she weren't

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

―she wouldn't be labelled as such, while insisting on being dubbed a " popstar". She cites

Lil' Kim Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include: * * * * * better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and reality television personality. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, she lived much of he ...

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

, Madonna,

Pharrell Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

Kelis Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Perfor ...

and

the Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos ...

as her biggest influences.

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Runway, Bree 1992 births Living people Black British women rappers 21st-century Black British women singers English women pop singers English rhythm and blues musicians English songwriters English people of Ghanaian descent People from the London Borough of Hackney Rappers from London Singers from London English LGBT musicians LGBT Black British people LGBT rappers Pop rappers 21st-century women rappers Virgin EMI Records artists 21st-century LGBT people