After sharing her debut EP, ‘heading into blue’ and selling out multiple dates debut UK/EU tour in April, Manchester-based Bria Keely, better known as better joy, has today shared a cover version of legendary 90s favourite “You Get What You Give” by The New Radicals. The cover version is performed by better joy with her band and produced by multi-Grammy winning producer Robbie Nelson (Beck, Rolling Stones, Gregory Porter, Hozier) at Soundhouse Studio in Liverpool.
The cover was a sing-along classic for fans attending better joy’s live shows during her EP tour; selling out hometown Manchester’s Night & Day (after an upgrade), Southampton’s The Joiners, London’s Old Blue Last and Bristol’s Louisiana. Since then, better joy has announced a support tour with Amy Macdonald; with two long stints across the UK in November 2025 and Europe in February 2026.
Bria comments on why she decided to cover the 90s New Radicals classic: “There are a few core songs from my childhood that my fam and I would always belt out and lose our heads to and this was one of them! It’s such an uplifting song that you can’t help but get in the groove with it. So we gave it a go for the headline shows and it went down a treat!”.
Debut EP ‘heading into blue’ released in March 2025, produced by Mike Hedges (The Cure, U2, Manic Street Preachers) and the 6-track collection features previous singles “waiting on time”, “carnival”, “what a day” and “quiet time”, as well as two brand-new tracks, the brooding “couldn’t run forever” and the stripped-back “can I land the plane?”. A frank and deeply personal set of songs that focus on themes of self-love and self-belief, the EP is Bria’s true self-expression of herself, with the title ‘heading into blue’ referencing the colour blue being the exact shade of self-expression. As the first full-length project, it is both a perfect introduction to better joy’s alt-pop sound and an exciting taster of more to come. Thoughtful lead-track “couldn’t run forever” balances both lightness & darkness in true better joy style, as a melodic and upbeat pop song, backed by a gritty edge with fuzzy guitars and reflective, wide-open lyrics.
Bria says, “At its core, “couldn’t run forever” is about running away from things and the notion that you can’t run away from those things forever. I find it fascinating that tiny decisions can steer your life in weird and wonderful ways, but also sometimes there’s that feeling of well “what if” it went that other way? And sometimes these feelings are hard to run away from. In the same breath, I do believe life steers you in ways that are meant for you which is also something you shouldn’t be running from. It’s one big contradiction!”
Fresh off the back of a support tour with Hard Fi at the end of last year, better joy embarked on a debut headline UK tour in March/April 2025. Next up for better joy: some live festivals this Summer and a support tour with Amy Macdonald later this year (UK) and 2026 (Europe).
Upcoming live dates:
SUMMER FESTIVALS:
Saturday 14th June - Golden Touch Festival, Portsmouth
Saturday 26th July - Together Again, Chester
Sunday 27th July - Truck Festival, Oxfordshire
Saturday 2nd August - Multitude Festival, Milton Keynes
Sunday 3rd August - Y Not Festival, Derbyshire
Saturday 13th September - Sonic Boom Festival, Burton-on-Trent
Saturday 27th September - The Gathering Sounds, Stockton-on-Tees
OTHER HEADLINE SHOWS:
Saturday 15th November - Coventry (Loud in Libraries)
Sunday 16th November - Blackpool (Loud in Libraries)
AMY MACDONALD SUPPORT TOUR:
Thursday 20th November - Eventim Apollo, London
Friday 21st November - The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Saturday 22nd November - City Hall, Sheffield
Monday 24th November - O2 City Hall, Newcastle
Tuesday 25th November - Forum, Tunbridge Wells
Wednesday 26th November - Guildhall, Portsmouth
Thursday 27th November - Arena, Swansea
Friday 27th November - Forum, Bath
Sunday 30th November - Olympia, Dublin [SOLD OUT]
Monday 1st December - Telegraph, Belfast
Wednesday 3rd December - Corn Exchange, Cambridge
Thursday 4th December - Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
Friday 5th December - O2 Apollo, Manchester
Friday 12th December - Hydro Arena, Glasgow [SOLD OUT]
