IN CONVERSATION WITH BETHLEHEM

interview by THORE DAMWERTH

Canadian-Ethiopian artist Bethlehem is stepping into a new era. Formerly known as Venetta, the multidisciplinary artist, producer, and DJ now re-emerges under her own name, and a new sonic dimension, with her debut EP, Obsessions & Confessions, arriving December 5 via her freshly launched imprint, Violation Records. Written, composed, and produced entirely by her, the project signals a rebirth: the end of Venetta and the rise of Bethlehem, Doom Pop’s magnetic anti-hero.

Having built a global cult following through visceral DJ sets from Vancouver to Berghain and Boiler Room, Bethlehem’s shift toward songwriting is both a confession and an act of defiance. Her music fuses industrial abrasion with pop’s addictive pulse – chaos rendered with precision, gloss smeared with grit. On Obsessions & Confessions, she turns inward, exposing the extremes that have always fueled her work: control and surrender, destruction and beauty, doom and desire.

Here, Bethlehem invites us into that world: raw, unfiltered, and finally, fully hers.

Obsessions & Confessions is your first project written, composed, and produced entirely by you. What did claiming that full creative control unlock for you personally and artistically?

I started working on this E.P. two and a half years ago. I’m my own band – writing, producing, composing, everything straight from my bed. I’ve been writing songs since I was a kid, but this is the first time I’ve ever shared them like this. I’ve always had creative control, that part’s easy. What’s hard is letting go. I’m a hoarder. Every year I’d tell myself this is the one, and then just stockpile more demos, more half-finished ideas. I didn’t want to end up like She by Shereé. This E.P. is me finally breaking the loop. No more second-guessing. I just made what I wanted to hear. It’s chaotic, it’s personal, it’s finally out.

Tell me, what are you confessing on this record, and what are you obsessing over?

Confessing my obsessions. Denial is boring

Venetta was an international underground force, from Panorama Bar to De School. What pushed you to let go of that alias and step into Bethlehem?

DJing for a long time was a massive hyperfixation. I got really into it, digging, ripping, researching label histories obsessively. I just needed to know everything about dance music. Every scene, every microgenre etc. Full music nerd behavior. But then the pandemic hit and suddenly I had nothing to do but write. I was already making these clubby, loop-y tracks, but I wanted to push it. What happens if I take those instincts and actually write songs? Like full verse–chorus–bridge situations pulling from everything I love outside the club; pop, industrial, etc. ​​So Bethlehem was just the inevitable consequence of genre eclipse and a more personal expression of self. Bethlehem is also literally my name so it felt obvious. Like, why not let the music carry my name now that it’s carrying more of me?

You call your sound Doom Pop. A term both seductive and destructive. How did you arrive at this aesthetic, and what does doom mean to you in pop?

Doom Pop comes from the collision of everything I’m drawn to like moods, extremes, noise etc. For me, it’s pop pushed to its breaking point. I’ve always loved doom, the weight, tension, and that slow-burn feeling so certain elements sometimes naturally trickle into my production, even when I’m not thinking about it. It’s less about heaviness, but more an atmosphere that bleeds in. Often I’ll be working on a track and think, this needs a little doom on the synth, or these drums need to feel more scorched, even if it makes zero sense with what’s going on in the track. I think that’s why it ends up sounding doomed. It’s still pop… just doomed.

The first single and video you released from the album, Rev Up, feels stripped down visually but maximal in energy, almost like a self-contained ignition. What story were you telling through that concept?

Rev Up was really just about motion. I wanted it to feel like a buildup that never fully pays off:  claustrophobic, but kind of beautiful too. The mirrors were about recursion, like everything reflecting back on itself. It’s not a linear story but more like an energy loop where I’m chasing myself, again and again, just like the track does. Working with Viktor (Naumovski) was fab – he has his own mad vision, and somehow it syncs perfectly with mine. I’ll throw out one weird word and he’s already five steps ahead, extrapolating ideas I didn’t even know I was hinting at. It’s freaky, but kind of perfect. 

Today you dropped the video for Click Code Vice, directed by Claine ‘Gorgoth’ Lamb, diving into the visceral and extreme. What drew you to that collaboration, and how does it expand the world of Obsessions & Confessions?

Click Code Vice already sounds unstable, like it’s lunging at you, so I wanted the video to do the same. To physically come at you the way the song does when it hits your ears. Claine and I went to school together. They’re a brilliant musician, and their work always feels alive and a little possessed, and I trust that kind of intensity. Each track on Obsessions & Confessions lives in its own little universe. This one just happens to be the most unhinged.

Visually, your work often rejects excess while still feeling opulent, a kind of anti-spectacle. How do you think about image and design in your music world-building?

It’s funny when people say my work rejects excess – I find it excessive. I’m just maximal by default. My sessions are always overloaded. Too many sounds, too many lyrics, too many ideas. It’s chaos, and then I have to fight myself to let anything go. Visuals come after the song. A motif just shows up in my head once the track’s done – like with Rev Up, I immediately saw mirrors. With Click Code Vice, it was this manic, frantic movement in a desert. I think more in concepts than aesthetic, I treat light and space the way I treat sound. I think in EQ curves, balance, and distortion. Like how a shot can clip. I like when things feel over-processed, almost like the image is breaking a little. I’m intense by nature, I need things to feel just on the edge of too much. I’m a visual artist too, and I studied film – so music videos are how I storyboard my little psychic worlds. One day I’ll make movies, but for now music’s the fastest way to get the images out of my head. It’s all part of the same universe-building disorder.

You’ve built a reputation for sets that are as emotional as they are physical – full-body experiences. How are you imagining your live shows evolving as Bethlehem in 2026?

I never plan much when I DJ, I just play what I feel. Sometimes it moves people, and that always means a lot. Maybe I get possessed. Who knows. I’m hoping that same energy shows up when I perform this new material live. I haven’t done it yet, so I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I’m just gonna get on stage and hope something takes over. I’m debuting it at a few Obsessions & Confessions release shows this winter – Vancouver, New York, and the EU – after the EP drops December 5th.

VIDEO CREDITS:

direction, cinematography, and editing CLAINE ‘GORGOTH’ LAMB
makeup KENDAHL ‘LAHBRA’ JUNG
hair AMELIE SEGUR
production assistant SUKI SU