INTERVIEW: Griff on her musical journey: "I want every girl to have the attitude that you can do it."

Interview: Jett Tattersall
18-year-old pop prodigy Griff is one of the most impressive new talents coming out the UK right now. Touted as one of the future superstars of the music industry, she taught herself to produce her own music while still at school, something her schoolmates were unaware of until they heard Annie Mac playing her song on BBC Radio 1.

She started releasing music last year after scoring a partnership with Warner Music and her first EP The Mirror Talk appeared in November 2019. With a truly diverse sonic landscape which is both unique and undefinable but also totally relatable, there are elements of electro, R&B, soul and classic pop in her music all tied together with her beautiful voice which draws you in and makes you feel directly connected to her. Her remarkable talent is attracting notice around the world, and she was recently nominated for the first ever Rising Star Ivor Novello Award following her heartfelt, electro-synth-pop single ‘Forgive Myself’ achieving over 2.5 million global streams.

Last month she released the single ‘Say It Again’, with her honest intimate lyricism, offers a window into issues facing Griff’s generation. “When I wrote 'Say It Again a lot of my girlfriends were going through mental health issues, and I felt so helpless,” she says. “So this song is basically my helpless self trying to reassure a friend who's going through a really difficult time."

Griff is an artist to keep a close eye on as her stunning musical journey begins. We recently spoke to her to learn more.

Hi Griff! How are things with you?
Things are…good! Over here in London things are picking up again. We're coming out of it a little bit. So it's fun to be back in the studio and be doing things again. So I'm good!

Thank you by the way for releasing music in such a bizarre year. Were you at ever hesitant about doing such?
Yeah, of course. I’m hesitant to release everything whether it's lockdown or not. I’m like ‘oh god, are people going to like it? Are they not?’ But you just kind of got to do it and I think, especially at this stage of my career, I need to keep putting things out for people to keep discovering me. The show must go on, you know?

You do release songs that go directly to the heart. And if there's ever a time that we needed it, it's this year. ‘Say It Again’ is just such a beautiful song. I had tears in my eyes while I was listening to it and it made the beautiful video all blurry. I had to go back and watch it all twice.
That’s so nice to hear. Thank you.

It is just a mantra of solidarity. You're clearly a girl's girl and I want to know where did this beautiful candy store of heart and mind come from?
Oh gosh, I don't know. I like writing honest songs about how I feel and all my different types of relationships, you know? I think as long as I'm being honest in that way, I think people tend to connect with it and find some kind of empowering uplifting message within it.

That's so uplifting. Obviously you're an incredible song writer and producer with one hell of an origin story. Can you just give us a little back story about how the music got from your bedroom to the worldwide stage and platform of our ears?
Totally. I was born and raised in church, so I think in that sense I was constantly surrounded by music every Sunday. I started learning piano from a very young age. Then my dad bought my brother [music software] Logic and I realised I could jump on there and write my own songs and record them. I started off when I was maybe 12 and wasn't any good, but I was just exploring the software and figuring out how I can write songs. I was doing that a lot when I was in school and was probably supposed to be doing my homework. Then I just started working with any producer that would work with me really. I was going into London meeting a new producer, doing sessions all the time just to try to figure out what this songwriting thing is. I think when you start to work with people that's how your name goes about a little bit more and hat's how I started getting a bit of interest. I was like ‘what the hell is a record label, what's a publishing deal?’ But these adults seem to be very interested in my music so I ended up signing my life away when I was like 17. I finished my A-levels and then last year I put out my first song ‘Mirror Talk’.

is it true that you kept it a secret from your friends and family about your secret pop star alias for a while?
Yeah, because it just felt too premature to talk about anything, you know? I never wanted to be that girl who's in school "‘oh sure she sings, she has a YouTube channel. Cute.’ I wanted people to really know that I was serious about it. So I didn't really talk about it. I thought it was just cooler to let people find out so I just kept it really really quiet. 

It's one hell of a surprise because most people's secret is pretty nasty. Yours is like ‘I'm a popstar!’.
By the way, I’m Hannah Montana!

In amongst all that, what was your ‘oh my god this shit just got real’ moment?
There's been a lot of moments like that. When I signed, I was like ‘snap now I’m being paid to write songs. This is tricky’. When I put out my first single, because you go from a song sitting on your laptop for years and you just listen to it on the bus or something to it now being on Spotify and watching the streams come in. And then is also started to feel really real when I did my first headline show in November in London and I started seeing people turn up that weren't my friends and family. I was like ‘oh gosh, it's happening’, but all in a good way. 

Strangers singing your lyrics back to you must be something else as well?
Yeah, it was a weird thing. It is just surreal. But very very fulfilling and exciting. 

Now my favourite track you released late last year is ‘Paradise’. Your vocals are off the charts and the choice of minimal production with your supporting melody, the melody just keeps the beat like a dysfunctional metronome throughout the whole track. It's so incredible. What was the story behind that one and why the choice of such a minimal melody and production to it?
I'm glad that you like ‘Paradise’, that's actually one of my oldest songs. I remember it was one of my first co-writing sessions with a guy called Danny from this group called The Six. I went into the session and I was like ‘i don't really want to talk about a romantic relationship’ because i was only like 15 or 16 and I didn't really have anything to say in terms of romantic relationships. So we ended up singing about that paradise concept, which is a bit abstract and you can interpret to whatever suits you. Danny, the producer just did this minimal pluck thing and it just stuck. Everyone seemed to love it. We did a few versions after that to see how it would work and I think everyone just wanted to go back to the demo. It kind of shaped the rest of the sound as well in terms of just like keeping all the production quite minimal as well. 

Another of your beautiful minimal production tracks is ‘Good Stuff’, again another round house kick to the heart but it came twice over because first of all, we're all singing about this solid break up ballad and then we learn it is written for the foster kids who shared a home with you growing up.
Yeah, I’ve had a lot of comments on Instagram being like ‘oh, give it a rest. It's just a heartbreak song.’ But I had the line ‘you left me with the good stuff’ written down when I went in to write the song. That was a thought on just how my family foster and how kids come to live with us for years and then when they move on, we never really see them. I think when anyone leaves your life you always annoyingly remember the best memories even though it makes it a lot harder to move on.

It's incredible. Again, there was that choice to go, ‘do you know what? This track is just voice rather than sound.’ You do have such an amazing vocal range. Have you always sung?
Yeah, from what I remember I've always done singing. I think my mum told me I wasn't that good when I was a kid but maybe I just started getting good at some point!

Not all artists experiment so much within the range of a track like you do with your voice, you go across the board. Is that something intentional or is that just something that comes naturally within the way you sing?
I think it just comes naturally, you know? I just really like melodies and pop songs. So wherever that takes me when I'm writing a song is kind of where it goes. I just do what makes me feel good and what I really love.

Who were your musical sheros growing up?
I love that term, I've never heard it! The first one I'm going to have to say is Taylor Swift. She was the first album that I ever listened to when I was 8 years old. I think it was the first real discovery of pop songs. Even though it was country, it was these major chords and major melodies and really cool story telling. Who else? Lorde. Big hero because when she came out, she came out with a similar minimal sounding production but really mature and cool lyrics. So, she's one. Who else was a shero? Right now I really love Haim, that's kind of three in one.

I want to go back to ‘Mirror Talk’, your debut single. This is actually very much like Miss Swift. It's got such a relatable lyrical style exploring the themes that people of your generation can relate to. For a very long time, even if you had a young artist such as yourself, their songs were being written by older people, so there was a connection missing within the music. Whereas now you guys are writing and producing and creating such amazing things. Was this relatable story telling something that you felt was missing from the music you were listening to, Swift aside?
Whatever I write, I try to write things that feel like they're missing in a way. I think with pop music there's so much of the same stuff that it only makes sense if I'm going to do my own stuff for it to fill a gap and to be in its own lane. Definitely with ‘Mirror Talk’, it's similar to what I said with ‘Paradise’. I was just hearing so many love songs and break up songs, which I love so much, but it felt cool to sing about something else and to talk about your own internal battles and thought processes and put that into the song.

We're more than just a broken heart. That’s so true. Now we often hear from artists talking about the unattainability of pop stars growing up. They didn't see anyone that looked like them or they were singing about things they couldn't relate to. But again, you champion the loner, the outcast, the secret in all of us. In doing so, do you yet feel like you’re becoming the musical role model that may have been missing in your youth?
Oh woah. No. Absolutely not. I think I'm just doing what feels right and what I really enjoy doing. Do I feel like a role model? No. Not at all. But maybe I am, I don't know. Hopefully young girls are listening to my music and really connecting. I hope in a way that I'm a role model, but I don't feel that kind of weight or that privilege.

I think that makes you a role model because if you set out to do it it comes out contrived. You just mentioned the girls, how important is it within your own career trajectory to support young women and women in general in the industry?
It's so important. Especially as the thing everyone says to me is ‘you're a girl and you produce’. I'm always like is that even a big deal? But I think it is a big deal because you don't see that. I want to find more ways to just encourage girls to do it all. I want every girl to have the attitude that you can do it. No one really knows what they're doing, so you just got to go for it and be good at it. When you realise that no one knows what you're doing, suddenly you are qualified to do everything and it's great.

You're a designer, a creator, a producer, and even a music video director. This is incredible. What are the ladders and snakes of having that much creative control? 
Snakes...being a control freak isn't fun because you do feel like you're spreading yourself thin. Also, having creative control, it doesn't feel enjoyable. I feel scared every time I make anything. I'm like ‘it's not good enough, it needs to be better’. In that sense, it's a lot of pressure. But then, I do love it. It enables everything that I do to feel like it's 100% me and 100% coming from me. It's a dynamic. It’s good and there's bad. 

Lastly before I leave you, what is on the horizon for you, Griff?
We actually have a lot to do before the end of the year. I’ve got the next song. Most of my releases to the end of the year are collaborations, which is fun. One is with a big dance song and another one is with a cool band that I'm a big big fan of. So I'll leave it there and let your minds wander. 

‘Say It Again’ by Griff is out now via Warner Music. You can download and stream here.

To keep up with all things Griff you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.