Griff (singer)

Griff was born on 21 January 2001 as Sarah Faith Griffiths,[2] in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire.[3] Her father Mark is the son of Jamaican immigrants who were part of the "Windrush generation", and her mother Kim is a first-generation migrant whose family moved to England amid the Vietnam War.[4] Griff has stated that she feels "more in touch with my Chinese side".[3] Griff's parents foster children and her experiences with the children were reflected in her song "Good Stuff".[5]

Griff stated that her earliest memory of loving music was being gifted an iPod Shuffle with the Taylor Swift album Fearless (2008) downloaded to it,[6] when she was around the age of eight.[7] She then taught herself to record and produce music on her older brother's laptop, and used tutorials on YouTube to inform her on techniques.[3] While attending St Clement Danes School, Griff kept her musical life private, due to not knowing if her musical career would be successful, stating: "no one likes that person at school who talks about how they want to sing".[3][4] After finishing her A Levels, she told teachers that she was taking a gap year, rather than informing them on her music ventures.[3] On using the stage name Griff, she stated: "Sarah Griffiths isn't that glamorous, I sound like I have a mortgage and 4 kids, it's very corporate".[7]

Griff's family are evangelical Christians and attended a central London branch of Hillsong Church. Of her own faith, Griff has said: "I guess if you grow up with Christian parents, you get to a point where you ask: “Okay, do I actually believe or am I just going through the motions?” And from a young age I felt like it was something I actually do believe and so it’s always been something that I’ve owned."[4]

On 4 July 2019, it was announced that Griff had been signed to Warner Records.[8] On the same day, she released her debut single "Mirror Talk", accompanied by a music video. Annie Mac featured the song on BBC Radio 1 under the New Name playlist.[9] She stated that the writing process for the song took an hour.[3] Griff described the release as a career highlight, since it was released immediately after she had finished her A Level exams.[6] Billboard described the song as an "electrifying debut", and praised her "powerful voice and vulnerable lyrics".[8] The next month, Griff released her follow-up single, "Didn't Break It Enough",[10] accompanied by a music video in which the clothing worn was made by Griff herself.[11][12] She released the single "Paradise" in October 2019,[13] which was followed by the release of her debut extended play, The Mirror Talk, on 15 November 2019.[14] In December 2019, Griff released a cover of the Bangles' 1989 song "Eternal Flame".[15]

On 7 February 2020, Griff released the single "Good Stuff". Despite people thinking the song is about a romantic breakup, she clarified that the subject of the song is about missing children that her family fostered, since they felt like siblings.[16] In March 2020, a song titled "I Love You's", that Griff co-wrote, was released by American singer Hailee Steinfeld.[17] This was followed by "Forgive Myself", a song released by Griff on 29 May 2020,[18] described by NME as an "anthem".[19] In July 2020, Griff was nominated by The Ivors Academy for an Ivor Novello Rising Star Award,[20] and later that month, she released the song "Say It Again".[21] In October 2020, she was part of two collaborative songs; "1,000,000 X Better" with English band Honne,[22] and "Inside Out", a song with German DJ Zedd.[23][24] In January 2021, she released "Black Hole", which NME described as a "dark pop anthem".[25] On 19 March 2021, Griff won the Brit Award for Rising Star and performed "Black Hole" at the 2021 ceremony.[26] Later that day, she announced details of her debut mixtape, One Foot in Front of the Other, which was released on 18 June 2021.[27] Two months later, Griff followed up the mixtape with single "One Night".[28] In October 2021, she embarked on a tour across the United Kingdom in support of her mixtape.[29] She later did European and North American tour dates.[30]

In November 2021, Dua Lipa announced Griff as one of her three supporting acts for the European dates of the Future Nostalgia Tour in 2022.[31] In August 2023, after a break from music whilst on the Future Nostalgia Tour, Griff released the single "Vertigo".[32] The song was promoted by Taylor Swift on Instagram, who said she "loved" the song.[33] She released an EP to support the single, Vert1go Vol. 1, in October 2023.[34]