The main thing you should know about NYLON parties is that, for such a scene-y, invite-only crowd, no one acts like they’re too cool to be there. We’ll get to the set early. (“Why do I feel like I’m losing my place?” said the guest next to me in the front row as the audience nudged closer to the stage, before shrugging and letting herself get swept along.) We’ll scream our hearts out to “Unwritten” and “These Words” — and maybe FaceTime a friend in, concert etiquette be damned. And even from a celebrity point of view, Bedingfield herself — who sang and played her first DJ set at NYLON’s Fire & Ice party in Montauk — will whip around the stage with an ear-splitting grin, dance with a cardboard cutout of her own head, and playfully “answer” the orange receiver she uses as headphones onstage.
“I don’t often find people who really match me energy-wise,” Bedingfield says over Zoom a few days later as she packs for some U.K. gigs. “[DJ] Hamlet Skinner [and I] made a good duo, and … there’s a lot of energy onstage. We just were head-banging and really chaotic, and the crowd was awesome.”
Ahead, NYLON catches up with the singer-songwriter to talk about the new song she teased at the event, finally learning to embrace her butt, and why joy is the ultimate “f*ck you.”
What was your impression of Fire & Ice? How did it go?
The party was my first DJ set, and it was so much fun. I’m a singer-songwriter and producer, so my head is always thinking about the levels of things, and it’s always really fun to mix it live and get the feedback from the audience. We were just having fun. And I think the more fun you have, everyone else has fun, too.
[Afterward], as I’m reaching under the table to get my stuff, Diplo taps me on the shoulder and gives me a huge hug and he’s like, “Oh, I know your brother [Daniel Bedingfield].” That was cool, too. DJing feels similar to being a comedian where you hand it off to the next person. I have a lot of comedian friends, so I was like, “Oh, I feel like Whitney Cummings or something.”
What made you want to want to try DJing?
There’s been a really huge remix of my song “These Words” by Badger. “Unwritten” has some amazing remixes. And I keep on getting sent videos of every DJ playing “Unwritten.” So I was like, “Let me get in on this.” And then there’s another song by Rudimental and Ella Henderson where they invited me to write a verse, which I did last month. It’s this huge song in England. So I played that as well. It just feels like that’s where the flow is.
I remember you talking to the crowd about using the Fourth of July to set intentions. What intention did you set that day?
Because I’m foreign, I’m like, “What is the Fourth of July?” For me, it always feels like that moment to go, “What ways am I free?” And that’s an interesting question for me, because “Unwritten” is about releasing your inhibitions. In my career, even more recently now that the song is resurging, I’ve had those moments where I’m like, “Am I breaking tradition?” And so sometimes, one of the things I think about is fashion really being art you wear. NYLON, for so many years, has been really embodying that. So it’s really awesome to do something in collaboration with NYLON because I’ve been a fan for a while.
That’s so nice to hear. You have been having fun with fashion lately, especially with your polka-dot look at Marc Jacobs’ 2024 show and the Marc bustier and blazer look you wore at the party.
Marc Jacobs really embodies that whole message. For his recent collection, he actually has the word “unwritten” in his manifesto. And he said “joy, period.” I think sometimes joy is actually quite a rebellious statement. In the world we are in, to be joyful is actually quite a “f*ck you” to all of it. It’s quite punk. And I loved what I was wearing for his show — the [hair] bow is from a designer called Weird Bits who’s really making quite a stir right now because there’s an unexpectedness to the things she designs. She mixes the risqué with the feminine. She made that for me, and I was really honored to wear it.
Going back to what we were talking about with ways with which you can feel more free, how else does that apply to your life right now?
Body positivity is a big one, and I feel like I’m so happy that that’s really such a move right now. I definitely come from that era where people were squeezing themselves to fit into things. One of the ironic things is that butts were really not in fashion many years ago, and people would be like, “Does my butt look big in this?” A lot of the stylists I was working with did a lot of work to try to hide my butt, and we would focus on showing the waist [instead].
When I did the song “These Words,” my label was really controlling. Their last artist before me was Dido. A lot of times labels, they go, “Oh, this is where I had success. Let’s make this other artist just like Dido.” And I remember they just wanted me to wear jeans all the time, which I hate. So with the “These Words” video that I did with Sophie Muller, that’s where I started going, “I’m going to wear dresses, skirts, and show my midriff.”
And now you’re off to play some shows. What are you looking forward to for the rest of the summer and beyond with your gigs?
I’m really looking forward to releasing new music. I actually teased a new song at the show called “Dot, Dot, Dot.” I’ve been writing a lot, so I’m excited about doing that. I’m going on tour with Meghan Trainor. I’ll be singing at Madison Square Garden and Red Rocks, which are two things on my bucket list. I’m singing at the Olympics, and I’m going to sing at a festival called TRSNMT in Scotland, which is really cool.
Are you planning to bring DJing to your upcoming gigs as well?
It’s very fluid — and anything can happen.
Photographs by Ben Watts
Photo Director: Alex Pollack
Editor in Chief: Lauren McCarthy
SVP Fashion: Tiffany Reid
SVP Creative: Karen Hibbert
