Cover Griff performing at All Points East in London in August 2023 (Photo: Getty Images)
Griff performing at All Points East in London in August 2023 (Photo: Getty Images)
1 / 1
The Brit Awards winner, who’s set to perform at Hong Kong’s AIA Carnival, shares how some musicians are compromising on quality for ‘virality’ and what steps can be taken to make the music industry inclusive for female producers
English singer songwriter Sarah Faith Griffiths, who performs under the moniker Griff, has won the hearts of many—among them pop queen Taylor Swift—with her bedroom pop music and soulful lyrics.
The musician of Chinese and Jamaican heritage started out by releasing her music on social media platforms such as TikTok, and was then scouted by Warner Records. Since her debut single Mirror Talk in 2019, she has created many memorable pieces, including the soundtrack for Disney’s Christmas advert Love Is a Compass (2020) and Black Hole (2021), a song about heartbreak and healing.
In 2021, she won the Brit Awards for Rising Star—a prize by the British music industry’s trade association which recognises up-and-coming artists—and in 2022 she won the NME Award for Best Collaboration and NME Award Philip Hall Radar Award, given by British music magazine NME.
Her soaring new single, Vertigo, which completes her latest extended play (EP) Vertigo Vol 1 in 2023 and features piano by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, has earned praise from Swift, who commented on an Instagram story, “damn griff i love this one”.
Griff will be coming to Hong Kong for the first time to perform at Live at the Big Top, a new music series at the AIA Carnival in Central Harbourfront on January 24.
Ahead of her visit, Tatler catches up with the singer songwriter to discuss her inspiration, challenges and the representation of women in music.
What are you looking forward to the most on your first trip to Hong Kong?
My dad used to travel [to Hong Kong] a lot and always bring back gifts from [local] markets when I was a kid. I’ve got some distant family [in the city] as well. I’m also really excited to try the food—I’ve heard lots of great things about it.
What songs will you perform at your show?
All the big ones that I usually do [such as Black Hole and Astronaut]. I’m still figuring out the rest because I’m doing a festival and you don’t want to do too many slow songs. But we’ll see.
What were the songs inspired by?
I always write from an autobiographical sense. But at the same time, I always try and make sure that if I’m writing about heartbreak, it doesn’t have to be about romance, because we all experience heartbreak on so many other levels than just a [romantic] kind.
I wrote Astronaut by myself and it had a very different production style. When I played it for [Coldplay lead vocalist] Chris Martin, he put his own stamp on it, stripped it back and helped me finish it. He was a big inspiration to me at the time. We finished that record and made it sound like a ballad. It’s funny how different inspirations come at different times.
What was it like meeting Taylor Swift?
[We met at the Brit Awards ceremony in May 2021 and after the ceremony] we chilled in her dressing room for a while. She told me about what she was up to. At the time, she was re-recording Red, which was really cool. She has raised a whole new generation of pop writers and artists, so it was really cool to meet her and get her support.
How have you evolved since your debut in 2021?
When I first started, my songs were all bedroom beats that were super-homemade, and there will always be that feeling in my stuff. Because I was just starting out, there was a real beauty in how raw everything was. I didn’t overthink anything.
I’ve obviously grown up now and my music tastes have changed. I’ve also experienced what it is to do live music by performing and supporting so many big artists. That has impacted how I write songs and want things to feel a bit bigger and more euphoric.
What made you decide you’d like to become a singer-songwriter in the first place?
My dad was the musical one. He instilled a lot of that Jamaican world and its Black music, R&B and soul into me. [I became familiar with] Stevie Wonder, Mary J Blige and Bill Withers. And then I fell in love with pop music. As a girl, I loved euphoric love songs, and I fell in love with Taylor Swift and Alicia Keys.
I started teaching myself how to make beats when I was in my teens as a hobby. As a kid, I had so much time outside of school. I was lucky enough to get picked up by a few people who wanted to work with me.
How has pop music changed compared to when you were growing up?
There was such a craft to pop music when I was growing up, especially from 2010 to 2014. Now, the industry is definitely changing. There’s a lot more bedroom pop, which is amazing. But also, the rise of shortform content, and TikTok is raising artists who aren’t putting the craft of song-writing first. They are perhaps prioritising virality probably at the expense of the quality these days.
What challenges do pop singers face today?
You have to be some kind of social media person, which is scary and dystopian. You have to have a story, something to say or where you’ve come from. You’ve got to have a new angle and something fresh to add to pop music.
[With technological advancement,] now everyone in music is trying to catch up with shortform content. We’re seeing fewer big music videos because everyone just wants to watch lo-fi stuff. The best thing to do is just trying to keep up without [technology] taking over.
As a female music producer, do you feel like there is enough representation or opportunities for women in the UK music industry?
No, the latest statistic says there are two or three per cent of music producers are women, which is crazy. The industry still only looks at female talent as a product. When I was a songwriter, people saw me as an artist automatically, which was cool. But people still aren’t thinking that I can be a producer and can compete with the men in the industry. I don’t think we know how to support women behind the scenes, be it production, mixing or engineering.
How do you think this can change?
We need to talk about it and recognise it, which I think is happening. Gatekeepers like labels and publishers are the people who find and sign talents. It comes down to giving underprivileged people, which involves people of colour and women, the right opportunities.
Who do you want to work with the most in the future?
Blackpink. It would be so fun to be a fifth member for a day and learn a dance routine.
Topics
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
