Griff unveils startling debut single, ‘Mirror Talk’ (Warner Records)
Griff releases debut single, ‘Mirror Talk’
Watch the video now
“Griff looks every bit like pop’s bright new star…it is, quite frankly, all rather brilliant” – i-DGriff has today released her incredible debut single, ‘Mirror Talk’, which is available now on Warner Records and received its first play as Annie Mac’s ‘New Name’ on Radio 1. ‘Mirror Talk’ takes those inner conflicts of young adulthood (the insecurities, but also the fearlessness) and reflects them right back over sparse electronic beats, influences of soul and R&B, and Griff’s phenomenal vocal.
If the face-off of ‘Mirror Talk’ feels awkwardly familiar to most, the arrival of a new artist like Griff encapsulates all there is to still be excited about for her generation: at just 18 years old, here is a multi-faceted new talent – singer, songwriter, producer, instrumentalist – who crafts rawly empowered pop with a global reach, and a homespun touch. Born to Chinese and Jamaican parents just outside of Watford – alongside two brothers and the family’s foster children – Griff grew up knowing that she stood out. She first became exposed to music through church, and then by borrowing her brother’s Logic, when she started to write and record her own songs. Over the last few years, all Griff’s spare time outside the punishing schedule of completing school has been spent buried in her room, creating sounds. “I don’t know what other kids did,” Griff says now. “You get home after school, try to write a song in six hours and before you know it it’s bedtime”. Watch the video for ‘Mirror Talk’.
On her very first release, Griff is quickly learning how to take all that she is and turn it into a source of inspiration. Directed by Sylvie Weber (the xx, Gus Daperton), the ‘Mirror Talk’ video further showcases Griff’s shrewd visual eye, from the heart-sink feeling of your phone buzzing next to your bed to that instantly-iconic ponytail. And whilst juggling music and education may have almost crushed her – it’s a secret Griff has kept from her classmates up until now – even an A-Level in Textiles has turned out to have had its creative uses: Griff started making clothes from a bunch of fabric scraps she stole from school, and made the top she wears on the ‘Mirror Talk’ cover.
Having finished her studies this summer, Griff’s candid way with the thrilling highs and occasionally-melodramatic lows of modern teenage life will be brought together in her debut EP, due later this year. Listen to ‘Mirror Talk’ and all that comes flooding back, and in Griff, UK pop’s great new hope is staring back at you.