Griff performs a one-of-a-kind show at Tate Modern, available to watch now
Griff
Live from Tate Modern
Watch the incredible live-set performance
“Multicultural, multi-hyphenated, and multi-talented…four walls can’t confine this utterly unique teenager.” Vogue“Griff looks every bit like pop’s bright new star…it is, quite frankly, all rather brilliant” – i-D“A fierce and distinctive talent…perfection” Sunday Times Breaking Act“Griff is the hottest new artist to come out of the UK since Dua Lipa.” V Mag“A phenomenon…the teenage boss about to take charge of pop” NME
Griff’s breakthrough 2020 continues this week with her one-of-a-kind performance at Tate Modern: the 19 year old’s second ever London show, and available to watch in full online now. This follows an extensive period of activity for Griff, her latest singles ‘Say It Again’ and ‘1,000,000 X Better’ with HONNE are out now, as well as a collaboration with Zedd (on his new single, ‘Inside Out’) plus much more from Griff expected soon…
Griff’s performance at Tate Modern framed the singer, producer, DIY fashion designer and future-pop-star as the world-class talent that she is. Dressed in Gucci, Griff’s dynamic set was filmed in one shot with all of the audio recorded live, featured a guest appearance from HONNE, and the performance documented by life-drawers she approached from 2BorNot2B: a BIPOC collective whose images were live-streamed and projected during the set. The vast brutalism of the Tate space proved to be the perfect playground for Griff’s rawly fantastical output to date – the central bed and curtain nodding towards both the traditions of life-drawing, but also the audience at home (not to mention the bedroom-pop star at the centre of it all).
Griff looks well on her way to becoming the next face of British Pop – and a next-generation type of pop star, at that. Born to Chinese and Jamaican parents just out of Watford, she began making music by borrowing her brother’s Logic: teaching herself how to produce songs in secret from her classmates (many of whom only found out what Griff was up to when they heard her on Annie Mac).
Indeed Griff’s is the type of curiosity and creativity that draws no boundaries between making beats, sewing your own clothes, or shooting a music video on your iPhone under lockdown. And whilst it’s easy to forget, Griff’s tender, vulnerable lyrics are a vivid reminder of how young she still is. Here are acutely observed tracks on friendship (‘1,000,000 X Better’), mental health (‘Say It Again’), those stinging formative breakups (‘Forgive Myself’) and the importance of family (see viral ballad ‘Good Stuff’, and its moving account of Griff’s family fostering kids).
In Griff’s hands, all these experiences are turned into something uniformly positive, and make her particular model of DIY pop feel as fitting for Griff’s legion of young admirers online as it is, right now, in the Tate Modern.
Watch the full performance of Griff live from Tate Modern now, designed and directed by Imogen and Riccardo at ISS Studio HERE
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Watch Griff live at Tate Modern here
Watch ‘1,000,000 X Better’ here
Watch ‘Say It Again’ here