LISTEN HERE
WATCH HERE
Up-and-coming Aotearoa pop artist Ben Horlock (Ngati Porou, Te Arawa) has today released his latest single ‘This Ain’t The End’ - proving once again to be an artist to watch!
This exciting new single from the 19-year-old singer and songwriter has a driving beat, catchy chorus and includes pop perfect shifts from emotional to hopeful and uplifting. “To me it's kind of like a motivational song for anyone feeling really down,” says Ben, who worked on the song with grammy nominated producer and songwriter Rory Noble (Kanye West, Burna Boy, Ruel, Claire Rosinfranz, BANKS) at Parachute Studios. “Rory and I had been working together for a couple days and just as our session was about to end I was messing about on a guitar playing this little riff and singing this melody. Rory asked what it was and I said ‘just a random idea’. It was enough for us to start a new song when we were meant to be calling it quits for the day. I even had a show I ended up being late for.”
Ben says the inspiration for ‘This Ain’t The End’ came from his own difficult experiences, as well as empathising with others stories. “I wanted to try to give anyone out there a message not to give up when things get dark. I'm not gonna lie, I got into a pretty dark place to write this and it has the vulnerability that comes with being a teenager, because we’re all just trying to figure out who we are.”
Also released today is a video Ben made with friends in his home studio (which also doubled as a bedroom when the car got “too much” to sleep in). The video shows Ben on his bed playing guitar, with a friend lying motionless next to him. “We wanted to keep the concept simple, just show what my life is like and try to get as much emotion from the song across. To me, it really captures the feeling of the song - about wanting to hold onto someone (or something) and the thought of losing them giving you the feeling of your mind falling into that darker place,” says Ben, adding that to be able to film in his room, he had to do a big clean. “Hopefully it’s not too clean though, as I still wanted to show what a crazy life I’ve been living these past few years.”
Whakatāne born, and now Auckland-based, Ben grew up in Dunedin where he began writing songs aged 12, after teaching himself guitar. Following on from winning regional Rockquest in 2018, he was quickly recognised as a talent to discover - being teamed up with some of Aotearoa’s best talent/studios (Roundhead/Parachute); landing spots as the youngest artist on the main stage at various Bay of Plenty summer festivals in early 2020; and more recently, headlining a concert with Lime Cordiale and Coterie. Ben’s first unplugged releases gained him a dedicated online following - both in Aotearoa and overseas. With more music on the horizon, ‘This Ain’t The End’ is a great taste of what’s still to come from Ben Horlock - so be sure you’re following his socials!