Berenice Tracks That Shaped Our Sound

With her second course ready to hit the table, the Italian-born, London-based artist blends cinematic drama, classic rock nostalgia, and a dash of unexpected spice—perfect for Phoebe Bridgers fans who aren’t afraid to scream a little louder. From iconic stages like O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire to BBC airwaves, BERENICE is turning contradictions into anthems. Her latest track, Forgot To Love You, is proof—where love and forgetting collide, leaving scars that sing.As she carves her own lane in the alt-pop world, one thing’s clear: BERENICE isn’t just an artist to watch—she’s an artist you can’t ignore.

Radiohead – Paranoid Android

I first heard Paranoid Android when I was way too young to fully get what was going on, but I knew it was important. The way the song unravels in sections—calm, chaos, beauty, paranoia—was a huge influence on Forgot to Love You. It’s messy in the best way. Not every song needs to be verse-chorus-verse when you can just go somewhere else entirely. It gave me permission to let a song breathe and shapeshift instead of forcing it into a neat little box.

Bruce Springsteen – Lost in the Flood

I was raised on bread and Bruce. His songs weren’t just music in my house—they became stories, myths, entire lives lived in four-minute epics. Lost in the Flood is one of those songs where you can almost smell the rain on the pavement, hear the neon lights flickering above you, feel the cigarettes crushed under heavy boots and the way someone grips a steering wheel at midnight. It’s a a short film. Bruce completely molded the way I thought impeccable songwriting should be done, how every lyric should make you see something, not just hear it. He taught me that you don’t just write a song, you create a world inside it. Springsteen has this way of making every character feel like someone you once knew, or someone you might become. I carried that into Forgot to Love You, where every line is a snapshot of a relationship falling apart in slow motion.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Y Control

There was something about Karen O when I first saw her perform that made me rethink what it meant to be on stage. She’s got that I could burn this whole place down if I wanted to energy, but also this deep, aching vulnerability underneath. Y Control has this manic, unpredictable feel to it that shaped the way I wanted Forgot to Love You to move—it’s playful but dangerous, almost daring you to get too close. Yeah Yeah Yeahs were one of those bands that made me want to start performing in the first place, so this one had to be on the list.

The Rolling Stones – Midnight Rambler

In all honesty, I grew up on bread, Bruce and The Stones, and this was the song that made me get it. I remember sneaking into our computer room (yes, this was pre iPhone) to secretly open YouTube just to watch old clips of Jagger prowling the stage, harmonica in one hand, mic in the other, completely in control but looking like he might lose it at any second. I felt like I was being let in on something forbidden. The groove is hypnotic—it speeds up, slows down, taunts you. That tension, that looseness, is something I love, and had a big impact on the pacing of Forgot to Love You, for sure. It’s a song that breathes, speeds up when it needs to, lingers when it should. There’s something about The Stones at their messiest that’s so much cooler than when they’re polished. I love songs that feel like they could fall apart at any second but somehow don’t.

Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens – Gone

Charli and Chris did something so special with Gone—it’s both electronic and deeply emotional, cold but explosive. The contrast between detachment and rawness in the vocals really influenced the way I approached Forgot to Love You. I love deliveries that feel like they’re teetering on the edge of a breakdown, but still controlled enough to pull you in.

Bonus:

Portishead – The Rip

Portishead are masters of atmosphere, and The Rip is one of those songs that just haunts you. The way it builds from delicate to almost euphoric was something I wanted to capture in Forgot to Love You. Plus, Beth Gibbons can whisper and still hit harder than most people screaming.