Baroque-pop song about stolen childhood, with ethereal vocals, weeping cello, orchestration and distorted bass.

Written & Performed by Michaela Betts
Production & Engineering: Jon Griffin
Mastering: Mobtown Studios
Original Artwork: Forms Most Beautiful

The Rose (Darker)

Twisting ethereal dark cinematic fairytale about the loss of childhood. Recorded live at The Cabin studio. 

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Engineer / Mixing: Jon Griffin

Photo: Ben Wulf

01 - The Rose

Dark folk fable about a girl who gets bullied and turns into a tree. Recorded live at The Cabin studio.

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Engineer / Mixing: Jon Griffin

Photo: Ben Wulf

02 - Wooden Girl

Hypnotic, soaring, theatrical-pop, power ballad about being persecuted for your beliefs. Recorded live at The Cabin studio.

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Engineer / Mixing: Jon Griffin

Photo: Ben Wulf

03 - Outsiders

Mythic, dark-folk fugue about passion and betrayal. Based on the Greek myth of Apollo and Coronis. Recorded live at The Cabin studio.

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Engineer / Mixer: Jon Griffin

Photo: Ben Wulf

04 - White Raven

A reflective, intimate and wistful travelling folk song about the loss of innocence and wanting to stop time. Recorded live at The Cabin studio.

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Engineer / Mixer: Jon Griffin

Photo: Ben Wulf

05 - The Girl I Left Behind

Chamber-pop piano ballad about making peace with the end of a longterm relationship. Recorded live at The Cabin studio.

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Engineer / Mixer: Jon Griffin

Photo: Ben Wulf

07 - Requiem

Haunting, cinematic-folk song about stolen childhood.

Recorded live, in one take (piano & vocals), 100% analogue, at The Cabin recording studio.

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Producer & Mix Engineer: Jon Griffin
Mastering: Mobtown Studios

Photo: Ben Wulf

The Rose (Acoustic)

Baroque-pop, power ballad about being persecuted for your beliefs... oh and death.

Recorded live, in one take (piano & vocals), 100% analogue, at The Cabin recording studio.

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Producer & Mix Engineer: Jon Griffin
Mastering: Mobtown Studios

Photo: Ben Wulf

Outsiders (Acoustic)

Intimate chamber-pop, piano hymnal, about making peace with the the dark side of yourself.

Recorded live, in one take (piano & vocals), 100% analogue, at The Cabin recording studio.

Piano / Vocals: Michaela Betts
Producer & Mix Engineer: Jon Griffin
Mastering: Mobtown Studios

Photo: Ben Wulf

Requiem (Acoustic)

Michaela’s dramatic and haunting cinematic folk music has emerged from years of songwriting, theatre work, and perfecting her sound as a session singer and pianist. She has released an EP Ripe Fruit and the concept album DARK NATURE, from which ‘The Rose’ music video has won:

Best in Creative AI - Australian XR Festival Awards 2023
Best Horror Music Video - Tabloid Witch Awards
Best Film (Experimental) - Canberra Short Film Festival
Best Animation - Experimental, Dance & Music Film Festival 2023

Michaela has released albums with art-pop band Theghostorchestra, she was the main vocalist on the feature film Slipstream and once taught Gina McKee to play the piano for BBC drama Mothertime.

Born in Antwerp, and raised in a rambling house in Yorkshire, Michaela was the daughter of travelling folk musicians. Her father David F Betts was a singer/songwriter and TV composer while her Swedish mother’s stepdad was the writer Bengt Nerman, and his father the journalist Ture Nerman, a famous Swedish socialist who met Lenin in 1917. 

The isolation and freedom of living in the middle of nowhere shaped Michaela and her writing growing up. The harshness and beauty of nature, and resisting but needing change, are recurring themes. In 2020 she took up Transcendental Meditation which had a huge impact on her state of mind and outlook.

Michaela lives with her partner and children in a rented farm workers cottage in Surrey. She records in a converted shipping container in the garden. ‘The house is small, so the container was brought down from Norfolk on a truck, and hoisted over the fence,’ she says. ‘My partner kitted it out with a live room and recording studio. We’re not the kind of people to have extravagant holidays, instead we spend what money we have on studio gear!’

New tracks tagged #Dark disney