Princess Bitch Energy (PBE) is a jazzy empowering anthem from Achanté, Spitty, and Siren Sav — three of Toronto’s upcoming South Asian and Black artists.
The trio met in the fall of 2022 at Beatcave, Canada’s largest songwriting camp that holds networking and mentorship events for creatives in Toronto and Vancouver.
“We took 70 creatives up north to a campground near Bruce Peninsula,” Beatcave co-founder Jerome Ferguson told Now Toronto. “In 48 hours, we had some people who hadn’t met before get together and make music.”
Sultry singer songwriter Achanté was the first to vibe out to the beat produced by Australian sound engineer Colin Ong. It was her first time attending one of the camps.
“This song is a confidence booster for someone like myself. It’s a hype song for women who work hard and own our power,” Achanté told Now Toronto.
It’s called beatcave for a reason, as artists spend three days in various “caves” or studio rooms to listen, record, and be as involved in the song development process as possible.
“Beatcave is always trying to elevate the Toronto community and build infrastructure to help artists,” Brampton Arts Ambassador and rapper Spitty.
After writing the hook during a water break, the singer walked over to the dining hall.
“Everyone was freestyling and that was the first time I heard Sav,” Achanté reminisced.
Achanté and Spitty already knew each other through fellow Toronto artist and producer Content, so the only thing left to do was message Hip Hop MC Siren Sav to record the song altogether.
Ong has produced songs for other local artists and groups in the city, such as Siddhartha, teté, bitter&broke, and InnerGenerational.
“I met Colin at Camp three in 2021 and we worked on songs that ended up in the Beat Cave album release at the end of the camp,” Spitty told Now Toronto.
Spitty has gone to all the songwriting camps since their inception in 2019. Beatcave Camp nine wrapped up last month while Camp 10 will begin in June.
“I went to the lake and sat down with the song,” Spitty said. “The best thing about camp is to go with your instinct and not overthink it.”
Achanté, Sav Siren, and Spitty scrambled together on the last day of camp to finish recording, and they were ecstatic when they found out their song was going to be released.
“Beat Cave probably has a lot of songs backed up on their catalog to release, but we were able to move up the date because we wanted to release it on International Women’s Day,” Spitty said.
As the community and popularity of Beatcave grows, so has the amount of participants in each of the camps.
“This time around we are going to have camp counselors to help construct songs and integrate more people in the song creation process, so people can voice their opinions,” Ferguson said.
After hearing all of the music the organization plans to release, digital distributor Believe Canada agreed to a deal with Beatcave in 2023.
“Camp is great but we love to see how artists work after camp and become business partners in a sense,” Ferguson said.
Achanté will be performing at Bar Cathedral in May and bringing her smooth electronica vibes to thousands at the Taste of India in Nathan Phillips Square in August.
Last weekend, Spitty opened for Pakistani Hip Hop duo Young Stunners, along with other local South Asian music artists: Shimmm, Seasha, Y2G, ProdbyMrii and Anas Ansari. Now he’s preparing for a collaborative album and DesiFest, Toronto’s largest South Asian summer music festival in June.
Siren Sav has been focusing on the release of her latest single “Year of the Savage” along with dropping freestyle flows on social media.
PBE is available to listen on all streamable platforms.
