Blythe Pepino

Blythe Pepino
Born
Blythe Constance Rose Pepino

(1986-03-12) 12 March 1986
OriginHerefordshire
Genres
OccupationsMusician, activist
InstrumentVocalist
Years active2003–present
Member ofMesadorm
Formerly ofBiZali, Vaults

Blythe Constance Rose Pepino[1] (born 12 March 1986)[2] is an English musician. She featured on Sonny Fodera's "Mind Still", which charted at No. 68 on the UK singles chart, and has released albums as part of BiZali, its successor Mesadorm, and Vaults. Pepino also founded the #eachbodysready and BirthStrike campaigns and helped erect shelters at Calais Jungle.

Biography

Blythe Constance Rose Pepino was born on 12 March 1986 in Herefordshire, England.[1][2][3] She was named after Blythe Danner[4] and attended St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, Lugwardine and Hereford Sixth Form College, the latter between 2002 and 2004.[3] She and Aaron Zahl formed BiZali in autumn 2003 after being asked to sing at his brother's wedding;[5] by November 2006, the pair had enrolled at the University of Bristol and recruited two further members.[6] BiZali had released the album Dance Yourself Alone by November 2009; reviewing for Sound on Sound, Joe Inglis felt that there was "more than a touch of the Beth Gibbons" about Pepino, who "rarely turn[ed] the intensity dial down below 10".[7] The quartet subsequently formed the quintet Mesadorm[8] and released the albums Heterogaster in 2018 and Epicadus in 2019.[9]

Pepino formed Vaults in 2013 with Barney Freeman and Ben Vella[10] after meeting them through a mutual friend and asking her to provide vocals for their track "Vultures".[11] They released the track "One Last Night", which appeared on the soundtrack to Fifty Shades of Grey, and the track "One Day I'll Fly Away", which soundtracked the 2016 John Lewis Christmas advert.[10][12] The band's sound has been described as "very synthy",[13] art-pop,[14] and electronica.[10] They also released the EPs Vultures (2014) and Cry No More (2015)[15] and the album Caught in Still Life (2016); they split in May 2017.[16]

In 2015, after taking offense at posters by Protein World featuring a woman in a bikini asking "Are you beach body ready?", Pepino mounted the #eachbodysready vandalism campaign against the adverts.[17] She travelled with The Brighton Shelter Build Project to the Calais Jungle in January 2016; while there, she helped erect 13 flat-pack shelters, which each housed up to six refugees and survived until the camp was cleared in October.[12] That year, she was interviewed by The Independent about her polyamorous lifestyle;[18] at the time, she was in relationships with her partner, another couple, and another woman.[19] She was two years into a different relationship in March 2019.[2]

In late 2018, she was horrified by an Extinction Rebellion lecture[2] and began attending their demonstrations, during which she was arrested several times.[20] The following March, she co-founded BirthStrike and appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to explain herself. Group members vowed "not to bear children due to the severity of the ecological crisis and the current inaction of governing forces in the face if this existential threat" [sic].[21] Pepino has stated that her intention was to use her social privilege as a middle class white woman to affect change quickly[22] and that she suffered from "rape jokes, violent hatred and misogyny" as a result of the campaign.[23] After burning out and disbanding BirthStrike in summer 2021,[22] she released a solo recording in 2024 with Sonny Fodera's "Mind Still", which peaked at No. 68 on the UK singles chart.[24]

References

  1. 1 2 "Pepino Blythe Constance Rose". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hunt, Elle (12 March 2019). "BirthStrikers: meet the women who refuse to have children until climate change ends". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  3. 1 2 "John Lewis choose Herefordshire singer for its Christmas advert". Hereford Times. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  4. ↑ "Interview: Vaults". Lancaster Student Union. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  5. ↑ "Will BiZali be lucky in next round of TV show?". Worcester News. 30 October 2005. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  6. ↑ "Bizali joined by two new faces". Hereford Times. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  7. ↑ "Playback". www.soundonsound.com. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  8. ↑ "Mesadorm premiere: The Joy It Joins Us Up - The Skinny". www.theskinny.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  9. ↑ "Mesadorm album review: Epicadus - The Skinny". www.theskinny.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  10. 1 2 3 "Who are Vaults? And what do they have to do with John Lewis?". BBC News. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  11. ↑ "Vaults - Biography | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  12. 1 2 "Their music is heard on that John Lewis ad, but Vaults' best Christmas gift is Ben's recovery from cancer". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. 2 December 2016. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  13. ↑ Bartleet, Larry (10 November 2016). "Who Are Vaults, The Band On The 2016 John Lewis Christmas Advert?". NME. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  14. ↑ Murray, Robin (27 November 2017). "Mesadorm's 'Tell Me' Is A Poised, Dramatic Introduction". Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  15. ↑ "Who are Vaults, the band behind John Lewis' new Christmas ad?". www.musicweek.com. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  16. ↑ "Vaults (AKA the band behind last year's John Lewis ad song) are calling it quits". Digital Spy. 27 May 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  17. ↑ "'Beach ready?' posters 'adapted' by campaigners". BBC News. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  18. ↑ Smyth, David (25 November 2016). "Vaults: I hope people don't think badly of us for giving the ad a go". The Standard. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  19. ↑ "Polyamory: Vaults' lead singer Blythe Pepino and her partner reveal why monogamy wasn't doing it for them". The Independent. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  20. ↑ Geraghty, Hollie (8 May 2019). "Extinction Rebellion – "This is not the end"". NME. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  21. ↑ "Activists go on 'birth strike' over climate change". The Hill. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  22. 1 2 "'Too afraid to have kids' – how BirthStrike for Climate lost control of its political message". Yahoo News. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  23. ↑ "Birth Strikers: The Women Refusing To Have Children Because Of Climate Change". ELLE. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  24. ↑ "Mind Still". Official Charts. 30 May 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
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