Griff Meets World
Earlier this year, 18 year old singer Griff made her debut with the single, “Mirror Talk”. The stripped-back track was written and co-produced by Griff, who juggled her school exams with songwriting. With more killer music set to be released in the near future and a Brit award under her belt, now feels like the perfect time to dig in with the singer on what’s next.
MTV: Tell us a little bit about who you are and where you’re from…
Griff: I’m a new artist, [just] tryna make some cool, interesting music. I grew up in a very quintessential village outside of London and over the past two years I've been juggling A-levels [school exams] and songwriting and now that I'm done with school, I'm hoping people like my music enough to do this as a career. So please like my music.
Describe your sound in three words…
That's too tricky.
Who inspired you to start a career in music?
No one person did. Probably a good mix of parents funding music lessons, my friends and team’s encouragement; my own delusion.
Who are your biggest musical influences?
That changes all the time. I grew up on a lot of gospel, soul and Christian music. Like Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, Mary J Blige, Stevie Wonder. But the first music I listened to by choice was Taylor Swift's album, Fearless. Not that you can really hear any of the above in my music, but yeah.
Tell us about the writing and recording process for your new single/album…
Some of the songs I've written and produced alone. The process when I'm by myself is: attempt to make some kind of loop that sounds good, think of a concept, get some melodies going, and over days and weeks, piece it together when I have time. And then there are songs [that] I have written with other amazing songwriters. [It’s a] similar process, except someone else is producing and the whole process is a bit quicker.
What can we expect from your live shows?
I don't even know what to expect from my live shows.
What has been your biggest career highlight so far?
My last A-level exam. I guess that was when I was able to fully begin this artist thing.
What’s on your playlists that people wouldn’t expect?
Is “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music shocking? Not really. Sorry, I'm quite predictable.
This article originally appeared on MTV.co.uk – it has been edited for local eyes. Listen to Griff’s latest single, “Mirror Talk”, now.
