In 2022 18-year-old Bella Frances had a decision to make. She could stick with her plan of pursuing a promising career in musical theatre she had lined up for herself in Los Angeles, or she could commit full-time to the evolving new country sound she worked tirelessly through the pandemic to develop. At that moment Frances realized she had her own voice she needed to express in the world, and she’s been doing just that through her music ever since. 

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As it turns out, country music and musical theatre aren’t so different.

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Frances’ songs are earmarked by their perceptive, witty lyrics that make light work of encapsulating and analyzing deep emotions with a conversational attitude. (Like talking with close friends over dinner, only the table is candlelit and there’s also a glittery kickline going on in the periphery.) She writes with nostalgia and conviction to create songs that use her emotional articulacy to draw listeners into a moment in the style of an early Taylor Swift, infused with some of Kacey Musgraves’ mystical ponderings. To all this Frances adds her versatile vocals, the sweet-tart cherry on the cake, and delivers her melody lines with the same passion and magnetism she can deliver a line in a play.

 

In 2023 Frances released her first single independently, collaborating with Juno-winning, Grammy-nominated producer Rob Szabo. After ‘Magic,’ she put out in quick succession three more singles (“The Tower,” “Super 8,” and “Hope You’re Here For Christmas,”), two self-directed music videos, and her first EP ‘She’ll Cross Oceans’ in the summer of 2024, also produced by the incomparable Szabo. Named 2024's Emerging Artist of the year in her hometown of Orillia, Ontario, Bella has performed at music festivals and venues including Springtide, Mariposa Folk Festival, Roots North, Folk Music Ontario, Sofar Toronto, and City TV’s CMCTV Talent series.