Biig Piig premieres new single ‘Sunny’, European headline show (RCA)

Biig Piig is back today with new single ‘Sunny’ (her first since signing to RCA). The still-just-21-year-old has also confirmed details of an autumn European headline tour, which includes a London date at EartH on October 24th. All this follows widespread acclaim (and millions of streams) for Jess’ debut EPs – ‘Big Fan Of The Sesh, Vol.1’ and ‘A World Without Snooze, Vol.2’ – on top of sold-out shows at the likes of Village Underground. Volume 3 is expected later this year.

Warm, intimate and revelatory, ‘Sunny’ sees Biig Piig take her effortless way with late-night soul and smoky R&B out into the light. In its flashes of the balaeric and disco, ‘Sunny’ showcases a young talent buoyed by the confidence to explore new experiences; and in its trademark confessional lyrics – “love is testing / when it’s true” – ‘Sunny’ captures that quiet wisdom that is Biig Piig’s own.

Like most happy accidents, ‘Sunny’ arrived with Piig and producer Zach Nahome – she says – “just dancing about and having a laugh. I started thinking of Sade on the beat. And obviously I’m nowhere near Queen Sade but I wrote the chorus with her in mind, and it just kept flowing after that. I wanted to capture what it feels like when the sun’s out and you haven’t a worry at all, on the beach or the park just letting go from stress. Also I feel like I haven’t made a happy tune in ages so I’m well happy with the fact this one is just that.”

Big Piig is a singer, rapper and storyteller who draws on a unique and diverse upbringing. As a child she experienced a changing landscape of cultures, having been born in Ireland and moved to Spain (before relocating to London and working as a poker dealer). Jess first came to light as a founding member of Nine8 Collective alongside Lava La Rue, a London-based crew of 12 creatives who still collaborate and support each other through the arts. And from early tracks like ‘Vice City’ – as debuted on COLORS – to her two EPs thus far, Biig Piig’s slow-burning approach to fast-paced modern living has acquired her a passionate young following. Here are tender, affecting and often brutally frank vignettes on those first loves (and losses); of a generation navigating their way through contemporary city life; and in a sound that draws effortlessly from the worlds of hip-hop, jazz, poetry, soul and R&B, songs also about taking your future into your own hands.

It’s all there in the striking pseudonym of Biig Piig itself, which Jess arrived at after drunkenly reading the name off a pizza menu and relating to its acceptance that we are all, in a sense, a bit of a mess. On ‘Sunny’, Biig Piig delivers a low-key summer-banger that reminds you to enjoy those brighter moments while they last.