Hey U X

Benee told Billboard that she would be releasing an album in 2020,[2] before formally announcing the release of Hey U X on 15 October 2020.[3][4] She had revealed prior to this that it would differ musically from her existing repertoire,[5][6] telling Uproxx:[7]

I think with this album, I haven’t really held back on experimenting with genres and even lyrics. Maybe I would have been more hesitant to do some of the things that I’ve done on this album in my previous bodies of work. [...] I feel like some people who like my other stuff are going to hate this because it’s pretty different. But I had a lot of fun making it. [...] I like the idea of blending genres and I don't like the idea of kind of pinpointing. I would call [my music] a crispy apple because I try to make a fresh sound. So it’s a fresh, crispy, apple.

On the namesake, she told The New Zealand Herald, "'Hey u x' was something that was something that I thought was cute. I feel like there's never a word that sums up the whole thing… I try to just find something that's completely relevant."[8] The album track "All the Time" features Raglan-based musician Muroki who became the first signee to Benee's record label, Olive, which she established in early October 2020.[9][10] Shortly after the announcement of Olive, Benee embarked on a national headlining arena tour of New Zealand after the country had reported no cases of COVID-19.[11] She performed eight shows across four cities, with the final show at Spark Arena selling out all 12,000 seats and becoming the first sold-out concert at the venue to be livestreamed to ticketholders.[12][13][14]

Benee revealed to Uproxx that the album "infus[es] elements of 'hardcore' electronic [music] with trap-style beats".[7]

"Night Garden" featuring British musician Bakar and American producer Kenny Beats was released on 15 July 2020 as the album's official lead single.[15][16] "Snail" was released on 10 August 2020 and served the album's second single.[17] Both "Night Garden" and "Snail" received music videos to support their release.[18][19] "Plain" was released on 27 October 2020 as the third single, but did not receive a music video to support its release.[20] "Kool" was released as the fourth single from the album, along with a music video.[21][22][23]

Hey U X also includes the song "Supalonely" featuring Gus Dapperton, which served as the third single from the 2019 EP Stella & Steve, and achieved mainstream international success following its popularization on the social media platform TikTok in early 2020.[24]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.6/10[25]
Metacritic	78/100[26]
Review scores
Source	Rating
DIY	[27]
Financial Times	[28]
Gigwise	7.0/10[29]
The Independent	[30]
The Line of Best Fit	8.0/10[31]
musicOMH	[32]
NME	[1]
The Observer	[33]
Pitchfork	6.4/10[34]

Hey U X received mostly positive reviews.[35] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received an average score of 78 based on 10 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[26] Radio New Zealand ranked the album at number 16 on their list of the 20 best albums of 2020.[36]