Avenue Beat Saves 2020 (Or At Least Makes It Suck Less)

If you have sung along to “F2020” on the radio or used it in a TikTok, you can thank dynamic trio Avenue Beat. The three pop queens Sam Backoff, Savana Santos, and Sami Bearden were able to take bedroom pop to a whole new level considering nobody could well…leave their bedrooms. In a time of social and physical isolation, the girls refused to sugarcoat how we were all feeling. We talked with Sam, Savana, and Sami about how they met, how much of a queen Kacey Musgraves is (because duh), and as the resident queens of hating 2020, told us how they’re feeling about 2021.

Can you tell us a little more about each of your backgrounds in music and when you realized you wanted to make music together?

Sam: We all grew up in the same hometown of Quincy, IL and Savana and I have been friends since we were babies! Savana and I invited Sami over for a sleepover and we all just started making YouTube videos for fun and it never really stopped!

What is your favorite memory related to music? 

I think our favorite memory was last year when we met Brandi Carlisle. The love of our lives. We were starstruck.

How did F2020 come to be? What were your reactions to F2020 taking off on TikTok?

“F2020” honestly came out of how horrible this year has been for us personally and generally for the world. Our first ever single had just been pulled from Country radio and we were low key spiraling. When Sami’s cat died it was the icing on top of the cake and we just had to vent about it so Savana hopped on the mic and freestyled the first verse and chorus of “F2020.”

We were in true disbelief when it started popping off on TikTok. We had been getting an average of 6000 views per video before that so when we woke up the next morning to 4 million views it was freaking surreal to say the least.

You can only listen to one album for the rest of your life. What would it be? 

If we could only listen to one album for the rest of our lives it would have to be Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves. QUEEN.

Who are your musical inspirations? 

Kacey Musgraves.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time when you’re not making music? 

Playing video games and taking long naps.

If you had to choose a song to describe your lives, what would they be? 

“Teenage Dirtbag”

Who is your dream collaboration? 

Kacey Musgraves and Harry Styles together, collectively.

You guys have illustrated 2020 in an honest way that everyone can relate to. What are your hopes for 2021?

We are going in with zero expectations as to not be disappointed with whatever the outcome actually is, ha.

Photo Credit Delaney Royer
Written By Aris Pangan @arisjpangan