Empire music free
That was graceful” she informed us at one point, in her slightly husky but unmistakable teenage twang. Dressed – in a loose white A-line dress, frothy skirt and stompy black boots – to command attention, she swanned and spun around the stage as though it was her bedroom, riffing easily with the student-heavy, cheerfully hyperactive crowd. If she hadn’t told us, you would never have guessed. Last night’s sold-out Shepherd’s Bush Empire show was the final leg of her first tour and her first ever major London gig.
In 2021, she dropped her first album, One Foot In Front Of The Other, and then iced the cake with a Brit Rising Star Award. But in 2019, she released an EP, The Mirror Talk, got signed by Warner Records, wrote a song for Disney, and picked up her first Radio 1 play from Annie Mac, all while studying for A-levels. Two years ago, absolutely no one had heard of Griff (right now, she’s right on the cusp of breaking through to mainstream name recognition). If the lights, props, merry-go-round of instrument changes, dramatic live voice-overs, and ever-circling cameras told us anything, it was that this is someone preparing for pop stardom. But the performance values of last night’s gig suggested a calculating brain (in the best way) behind Griff’s signature mile-long ponytail. Most up-and-coming performers will channel a laid-back vibe for their early shows: stripped-back stage sets, just-me-my-guitar-and-the-mic-type affairs. The UK is, all of a sudden, brimming over with young, hugely talented female singer-songwriters of colour (think Arlo Parks and Joy Crookes), and Griff, the 20-year-old bedroom-pop sensation and Hertfordshire-born child of one Jamaican and one Chinese parent is no exception – or is she?