1. Thank you very much for your time! Before we introduce your new release to our readers – what kind of drink would you recommend to zip on while they listen to your new music?
I’m a cocktail girl at heart. I love a good sour.
2. Please give us an update about – new single, new album, tour dates, new videos?!
In the next two months, I’ll be releasing my first bilingual project, Spirallore. It explores the spiral as a universal symbol of change, growth, and transformation—concepts that resonate with coming of age. It’s really about experiencing things for the first time: sweaty palms, falling in love, your first club night and afterparty, followed by heartbreak and outgrowing places and people—the journey of a twenty-something.
You’ve already gotten a glimpse with the singles I’ve released this year: Beine Spüren, Skin Deep, and Morgengrau. Each of these tracks has been accompanied by a music video, which I’m very hands-on with because the visual aspect is a big part of my art.
I’m also playing some shows across Europe, including a release party in Berlin—details to be announced soon.
3. We live in times of many conspiracy theories. Which, harmless, theory would you wish were true? (For example Dinos living inside Earth or E.T. living in a home in California)
It’s not exactly a conspiracy, but I love the idea that volcanoes are energy vortexes, spiritual nodes for mythical creatures, or gateways to other dimensions. I feel very drawn to volcanoes – the black lava stones, their raw energy. If that theory were true, it would make me feel like I have some kind of spiritual heritage tied to them, which would be pretty epic. I really like the idea of the supernatural — it adds depth to the human experience.
4. What fashion style or brand would best describe your music?
I find it hard to describe my aesthetic, so I came up with my own term for it: #benziicore. It’s inspired by the indiesleaze era and rawness – think American Apparel, medical wear, fake hair, bruised knees, sweat pearls, sex. Turning the uncanny into something beautiful.
5. Tell us more about your songs! Topics! Message!?
The songs on Spirallore are very introspective and tell stories from a personal point of view. They explore themes of love, friendship, and self-discovery, capturing the ongoing evolution of growing into adulthood.
6. Beside music, do you have any special talents?
Making visuals from scratch, I’d say, haha! I’ve been in situations so many times where I had almost no budget, but with the help of amazingly talented friends, we made the craziest ideas happen. From a carwash make-out session to building a spiral out of lava stones between wind turbines.
7. Name 5 things we all should know about you as an artist?!
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benzii is my nickname for my second name mercedes.
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visuals are an important extension of my music. I direct and edit my own visuals, sometimes with help from my talented friends, sometimes on my own.
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I co-produce my music. I’m not just hopping on beats—I’m involved in the production process.
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I love mixing horror with beauty. I think it adds depth to the conventional idea of beauty and makes people reflect more deeply. I love art that scratches beneath the surface and triggers strange feelings.
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I love to come up with metaphors. For instance “beine spüren” means “feeling your legs”, which isn’t a phrase in German or English. However, I felt like it perfectly describes the feeling I wanted to capture with the song: to leave things behind that don’t serve you anymore, to feel fresh wind in your hair after being stuck for a while.
8. How did you learn to sing/ to write/ to play??
By simply doing it. As a kid, I was in a choir and learned to play the piano. But I got bored quickly with playing other people’s songs—I wanted to create my own. By the time I was 14, I was experimenting with writing and singing my first rough songs on the piano. I grew up on artists like Flume, Fever Ray, and Eartheater, so I naturally gravitated towards electronic music after a while.
9. A question you’d like to answer, but never been asked in an interview before?! + Answer pls
What’s the song that inspired your upcoming project the most?
“You’re Not Alone” by Olive.
Instagram: @callmebenzii