Why Clairy Browne Is A "Boss Bitch"

Clairanne "Clairy" Browne has already established herself as an Australian retro-soul star with the Bangin' Rackettes, but now she's expanding into contemporary R&B with her solo debut, Pool. And Browne is joining Beyonce Knowles in expressing a new street feminism.

Pool's opener, Vanity Fair, is vintage diva-soul — very Amy Winehouse — but the album swerves from the slinky '80s synth-funk of the titular track to the modish electro-soul ballad Still Goodbye to, most unexpectedly, the EDM-trap banger Killem With It (a missive to catcallers). Stepping away from her status as the Rackettes' "leading lady", Browne embarked on a voyage of self-discovery — heading to Los Angeles. "I really felt the need to autonomously make some pop music — something that was super clean and shiny and had all of these sounds of music that I'd been listening to over the last few years and that was separate to what I'd been doing," Browne explains, seated comfortably in a boardroom at her local label's headquarters. "A lot of it was about experimentation, because obviously it's my first solo record and the first time that I'd had such a big role in the writing process — meaning all the concepts of the songs came from me and, working a song from the ground up, I was driving that situation, 'cause this record was about me." Indeed, what anchors Pool is Browne — her voice, songwriting, and "complex" personality — as she aimed to "make space" for herself in divergent genres.

Saliently, Browne is no soul purist — she enthuses about Katy Perry, Ariana Grande and trap. She's covered songs like The Weeknd's The Hills on YouTube. Pool could be her answer to Rihanna's rebelliously pop, and innately stream-era, ANTI. "I love ANTI, I've been listening to it a lot," Browne says.

"When I go home, I feel incredibly little and incredibly vulnerable a lot of the time, like [I] sort of need protection, whereas out in the world as a performer I'm fearless and I'll protect everyone around me."

Intriguingly, Browne hired Amanda Warner — better known as the tech-pop suffragette MNDR — to be Pool's executive producer. Warner broke out with her contribution to Mark Ronson's quirky 2010 hit Bang Bang Bang alongside Q-Tip. Warner has since emerged as a go-to songwriter/producer — she's even credited on Kylie Minogue's Kiss Me Once. Browne connected with the "awesome" American via her international arm, New York indie Vanguard Records. "We had a really great working relationship." Nonetheless, she had another reason for rolling with Warner. "I wanted to work with a female as well — that was really important to me. She's super boss! She's got her own shit going on and I thought that was cool. I thought the power that she exuded was cool, as well as [her] being a chill, laidback person." Above all, Warner is "a good listener" — attentive.

Browne was born to migrant parents and grew up in a large family in Melbourne. Back home, her father was a muso who had a band in South Africa and habitually played classic rock. While she enjoyed Video Hits, Browne was soon exposed to her brothers' hardcore hip hop — "Public Enemy and NWA and stuff like that." She'd embrace hip hop soul. "My major thing that I really, really dug was girl groups — R&B girl groups like Destiny's Child and TLC and Salt-N-Pepa," Browne reminisces. She eventually formed her own girl group, Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes, with live players. They specialised in neo-soul with a darkly dramatic post-Ronettes flair. The collective proved popular on the domestic circuit, releasing 2011's Baby Caught The Bus — ABC Radio National's 'Album Of The Year'. They inadvertently forged a profile abroad, notably Stateside, when their single Love Letter was synced for commercials — first for Heineken, then for the department store JCPenney (the latter airing during a US Academy Awards telecast). Moreover, I'll Be Fine was chosen as the theme to Josh Thomas' comedy drama series Please Like Me, which, Browne confesses, she's only just started watching. ("Love it — love him! It's great. I can see why it's got a cult following.") The Rackettes last offered an EP in 2014. In her downtime, Browne sang on projects by — true — both RuPaul and Paul Kelly.

The Rackettes apparently haven't officially split, but Browne is non-committal about further activity. "I don't really know what the future's gonna hold. I just needed to do this [solo album] right now for me. As an artist, it was really important that I explore this style of music and also being on my own. So I can't really speak for what will go on there. But I think, coming straight off a tour, talking about nine individuals who all have completely different ideals and goals — it was really hard to get anything off the ground or settle any kind of conversations around anything. It would take, like, 55 meetings for even small decisions. I needed to move faster than that."

Browne comes across as sassy, if not strident, on Pool. The '90s groove FUB (Fuck U Baby) — a cheater revenge anthem involving social media — reveals latent anger. The singer, who once blogged about gender politics, has freely identified as a feminist — and "queer". Browne has consistently challenged misogyny and sexual objectification but, ultimately, her message is one of empowerment. Through her music and her alluringly glamorous urban image, Browne reclaims and celebrates those aspects of hyper-femininity that are culturally exploited, devalued or disparaged. Pool is a tribute to pop's long line of femme icons — including Tina Turner, Madonna and Nicki Minaj. However, in person, Browne is guarded. She admits to cultivating a "persona" — as "boss bitch" — although it's less defined than Knowles' alter-ego Sasha Fierce. "I think you always need a separateness from the person that is in the limelight or on the stage or doing whatever. For me, it's just become a little bit more natural or something. You can be a confident person and have a lot to say and be friendly and gregarious and whatever, but you still can have fear inside… So creating something that can hold all that together, some kind of bravado, is what I think a lot of performers do. But it's not like I stepped out of it and now it's like, 'Hey, shake that off — it's gone.' It's more just like, I don't need all that armour all the time. It just becomes a little bit more natural and more authentic. But, when I go home, I feel incredibly little and incredibly vulnerable a lot of the time, like [I] sort of need protection, whereas out in the world as a performer I'm fearless and I'll protect everyone around me."

Browne is currently contemplating her Pool live show — she might go with a DJ or drummer over a band, but add dancers. "When I wrote this record, I wasn't thinking about a live show because I wanted to do something so different. I'd just come off tour and I was like, 'Hey, let's just focus on being a recording artist and writing these new songs and feeling my way around being a solo person.' But I'd really like to tour the record. I think it'll be superficial, and choreography will be a big part of it, and I'd like to do something with huge stage production."