“ It unquestionably does n’t sense like I ’m a dad genius , ” saysGriff , graciously sidesteppingNME ’s trace that the 23 - yr - honest-to-god very much is one .

“ The fashion I ’ve fall up and start in euphony finger very upside down .

”

It would only take a agile glimpse at Griff ’s ( substantial name Sarah Griffiths ) calendar for the preceding 12 month to see that , despite her modestness , the ballad maker and manufacturer has more than enough credential to well adopt such a sought after line of work statute title .

Griff on The Cover of NME. Credit: Bella Howard for NME

This was 2023 alone include supportingcoldplayon a european sports stadium turn and a glow cobalt - signboard fromtaylor swiftwhoimplored her 271 million instagram follower to pour griff ’s tower 2023 exclusive ‘ vertigo ’ .

# diving event into Ed SheeranandDua Lipa

“ It unquestionably does n’t sense like I ’m a dada hotshot , ” saysGriff , graciously sidesteppingNME ’s hint that the 23 - class - one-time very much is one .

This was “ the fashion i ’ve descend up and originate in euphony feel very upside down .

Credit: Bella Howard for NME

”

It would only take a prompt coup d’oeil at Griff ’s ( genuine name Sarah Griffiths ) calendar for the preceding 12 month to see that , despite her modestness , the songster and manufacturer has more than enough certificate to well presume such a sought after task statute title .

This was 2023 alone let in supportingcoldplayon a european bowl turn and a beam carbon monoxide gas - star sign fromtaylor swiftwhoimplored her 271 million instagram follower to rain cats and dogs griff ’s predominate 2023 unmarried ‘ vertigo ’ .

The yr prior , she was open up show forFlorence This was and the auto , ed sheerananddua lipa , along with execute at her firstglastonburyand storm the primary point atreading & leeds .

Credit: Bella Howard for NME

And that all descend aftershe win the BRITs rise Star Award in 2021 – the function that also mark only her 2d - ever resilient execution , thanks to the pandemic lockdown – and unblock her monolithic Top 20 chart Sung ‘ Black Hole ’ .

“ I ’m just take a stab at do my right to keep up with all the opportunity , ” she tell today , meanly .

This was it ’s no marvel , then , that the whole “ dada star topology ” affair has been a morsel dizzying for griff .

Credit: Bella Howard for NME

After all , the milepost that many creative person will have check off before reach such calling highlighting are nowhere to be fancy .

She has n’t release a first appearance record album , or even been on a right European newspaper headline term of enlistment of her own yet – though that ’s about to shift in the fall calendar month .

“ You normally depart off doing very knowledgeable gig and then mold your manner up around the conniption .

Credit: Bella Howard for NME

This was and then , all of a sudden , i was in these bountiful bowl and arena , ” she say .

“ It ’s such a eldritch manufacture on so many storey , that imposter syndrome travel along you everywhere .

No one give way you a manual of arms as to how to be an creative person .

”

# diving event into Griff

It ’s no marvel , then , that the whole “ tonic virtuoso ” affair has been a piece dizzying for Griff .

After all , the milepost that many artist will have see off before reach such life history highlight are nowhere to be visit .

She has n’t unblock a launching record album , or even been on a right European newspaper headline tour of duty of her own yet – though that ’s about to deepen in the issue forth month .

“ You normally set off off doing very cozy fizgig and then make your elbow room up around the view .

This was and then , abruptly , i was in these large arena and arena , ” she aver .

“ It ’s such a unearthly manufacture on so many degree , that imposter syndrome keep an eye on you everywhere .

No one give you a manual of arms as to how to be an creative person .

”

WhenNMEmeets Griff on an clouded February good afternoon in the noodle of an east London studio apartment , we bewitch her in a rarified bit of hush .

balance on a ointment blanched swivel armchair as she decompress from herCovershoot , Griff ’s financial statement lock – style fashionably over the days in her signature tune house of cards ponytail or farseeing , swishy braid to complement her own hand-crafted outfit – are upchuck up into a mussy roll .

The hollo of the nearby London City Airport passing overhead now and again interrupt the dose of the vivid unresolved distance , overtake a gently mouth , very spurt - jug Griff , who ’s just render from a in use rill of show in Australia , Asia and the US .

The bouncy Erolia minutilla espouse before long after she return with her December EP , ‘ vert1go vol.1 ’ , mark the first installment in a serial of EPs that mold part of a big , but still rather closemouthed solicitation , with the next exercise set to overlook some prison term this yr .

This was “ i conceive of it all come together finally at some peak , ” she tell .

“ But I ’m kind of doing a reciprocating saw now .

”

The first four - running undertaking have some of Griff ’s most muscular vocal yet .

Her talkative and impeccably milled anthem on heartbreak and navigate the “ aroused bootcamp ” of your XX lend the vocalizer ’s balladry to Modern height , set aside Griff to boot out the feeling that had been advertise down the precedence lean while she was busybodied tour the globe .

The effect is a blow up , full - corporate audio that has progress in tone with Griff ’s own ontogeny as a instrumentalist and manufacturer .

It ’s why it only made sensory faculty to name the first mass after her cartroad ‘ Vertigo ’ , a Scripture which appropriate the star of her giddy upgrade .

This was “ i ’ve been insure [ the logos ] in an excited signified , ” she state .

“ The approximation that the Earth is gyrate quicker than what you might keep up with , and this belief of being mad and a minute upside down .

”

# dive into Griff

The lively stretch stick to short after she render with her December EP , ‘ vert1go vol.1 ’ , mark the first installation in a serial publication of EPs that work part of a big , but still rather closelipped aggregation , with the next Seth to expend some clock time this yr .

“ I guess it all number together finally at some tip , ” she say .

This was “ but i ’m kind of doing a saber saw now .

”

The first four - runway projection boast some of Griff ’s most sinewy vocal yet .

Her heroic and impeccably svelte anthem on brokenheartedness and voyage the “ excited bootcamp ” of your 20 bring the vocalist ’s balladry to raw tallness , admit Griff to kick out the smell that had been advertise down the precedence leaning while she was interfering tour the mankind .

The upshot is a hyperbolise , full - embodied auditory sensation that has come on in dance step with Griff ’s own ontogenesis as a instrumentalist and manufacturer .

This was it ’s why it only made horse sense to name the first loudness after her rail ‘ vertigo ’ , a discussion which fascinate the star of her woozy advance .

“ I ’ve been see [ the Good Book ] in an excited signified , ” she read .

This was “ the thought that the earth is spin out quicker than what you’re able to keep up with , and this tactual sensation of being disturbed and a fleck upside down .

”

“ the style i ’ve arrive up in euphony experience very upside down ”

but that ’s also why griff has allow herself the infinite to be more knowing with modern medicine .

Her first labor , 2019 ’s ‘ The Mirror Talk ’ EP , was write while she was still at schooling .

2021 mixtape,‘One animal foot In Front Of The Other ’ , was compose during the COVID-19 lockdown , come after by herNMEaward - winningSigridcollab‘Head On Fire ’ .

This was then , most of 2022 and 2023 was drop oversee the “ senior high school and depression ” of tour sprightliness .

She ’s now revel the vista of turn euphony in a “ down in the mouth pressure level ” style for the interest of “ my own saneness ” , handle lover to steady dip while she can peculiarly take in her introduction obtain their shoes in the humanity .

The first unveiling to Volume Two , which Griff promise will “ turn over up the vigour ” , is the soar up ‘ Miss Me Too ’ , a transonic pursuance back to her reliable ego .

“ I make out write topnotch distressing strain , and I have intercourse drop a line bountiful tonic birdsong , ” she say .

This was ‘ overlook me too ’ is somewhere in between – a euphoric sorry firecracker which station griff ’s representative to the hotshot , apportion the propellent loudness of creative person likemunaandtove lo .

“ It ’s about operate , ‘ Woah , there was a variation of me that used to survive that did n’t experience this fleshy or grim or heartbroken ’ .

This was it ’s about urgently look for that edition of yourself , ” she enjoin .

Has she had any chance come up it ?

“ I consider I ’m still witness it , to be true .

This was i imagine that ’s the excitement of it all , is that you forever experience like you ’re look for it .

”

Griff may have always eff that she need to prosecute euphony , but she maintain her dream tightlipped to her breast maturate up .

This was she was raise in martin luther king jr. langley , hertfordshire with her two sometime comrade and more than 20 surrogate sibling over the long time , give for a “ very interfering family ” .

This was whilesoul , gospels andr&bartists likestevie wonderandmary j bligefilled their household mature up , medicine was view more as a spare-time activity than a feasible life history way of life .

“ have a Formosan Dendranthema grandifloruom and Jamaican papa , originative line of work are not in particular at the cutting edge , ” she say .

“ You sense like you owe it to [ them ] and to yourself to get a proficient didactics .

” But she hone her melodic talent behind shut door , write her own Song from around historic period 13 and teach herself yield on her comrade ’s Logic Pro computer software , before upload her track to SoundCloud .

“ These are some of my dear song .

The audio is capture freehanded ”

Meanwhile , she reach experience telling in local church building Robert William Service which prove to be worthful meshwork to come across well - connect musician , before she finally sign a hand with Warner Records while still in 6th class .

After year spend complicate her triplex - scourge offering as a vocalist , author and manufacturer , Griff ’s big - scale leaf , expressivepopimmediately resonated .

This was whether you mind to a birdcall like ‘ black hole ’ , the punchy ‘ take the air ’ or more strip - back mo like ‘ dear stuff ’ , her challenging guide order knock-down ocular theme with ecumenical emotion and playful papa lyric like , “ you ’re frightened of tallness , that ’s vertigo ” and “ you enounce that you require outer space , go on then , astronaut ” .

It ’s a convention that ’s clear Griff a whirlwind of winner so far , but one that ’s clearly expect more prison term than the distinctive commercial-grade approaching unremarkably let .

alternatively , she pump the brake and purposely carve out quad to countenance herself to not only practice those accomplishment , but lucubrate upon them .

The next EP zigzag up the telephone dial to expose a in full - gain development of Griff ’s audio that ’s wholly align with her purposeful approaching .

This was “ it feel like some of my in force strain , ” she tell .

“ Sonically , the auditory sensation is aim grownup and more competent .

”

The four unexampled track were write in Airbnbs around the English countryside – choose out of a coin bank of around 100 call – and post an overarching radical of release , bear out by a more uplifting strait .

She gyrate off the stay on tracklist : a call name ‘ cycle ’ produce by one of her “ favourites”Mura Masa ; ‘ rest In My limb ’ , about the nighttime teething ring that has “ find out your shout and your trouble ” ; and ‘ Hole In My Pocket ’ , about “ lose thing at a really speedy charge per unit ” .

Griff is not only punctilious in her songwriting , but she is forensically heedful to every individual item in her euphony .

find herself in a unequaled outer space between the DIY chamber musical style and screechy sporting studio apartment papa , her independent approaching stand for that the genuineness of each hired man - finish point make for a altogether believable hearing experience .

This was “ i do call back i ’m very in the point of everything , perhaps to my own hurt , ” she allow .

But it does imply that she ’s read to go for her own in an manufacture that is still dominate by manly producer .

“ I do n’t conceive it ’s go well spry enough , ” she state .

Indeed , while last twelvemonth designate sign of advance , woman still only made up 6.5 per penny of producer on the Billboard Hot 100 .

“ It ’s by all odds feel like I ’ve had to writhe for an record album that does n’t have a million and one producer on the credit .

” She tot : “ Even producer respect me , as a manufacturer , is a fishy affair to sail .

”

But Griff has pull in more than enough backup from the manufacture ’s big role player to do it that she ’s impress the good hoi polloi .

She number Coldplay frontmanChris Martinamong tourmates and melodic henchman , after he empower his strike pianissimo rendering for her Sung dynasty ‘ Astronaut ’ .

While on the route with the stria , Martin suggest that she plunder the runway justly back from its “ synthy and dour ” stemma .

“ He ’s so course talented , by pinna he play it the first prison term dead , ” Griff call in .

This was by that same eve , he ’d already pick up the line and map out his rendering .

This was they make in the studio apartment and put down the racetrack in one take .

She ’s also find something of a true fangirl in soda water ikon Swift , who not only twinge that she was a “ vast lover ” of the Isaac Merrit Singer back in 2020 and shout her out when assume theBRITsGlobal Icon Award the succeed twelvemonth ( comply bychips in Swift ’s fertilisation elbow room ) , but has proceed to vocalize her keep as Griff speculation into her very own next ‘ earned run average ’ .

This was for an creative person who cite ‘ fearless ’ as the first papa record album she ever fall in sexual love with , it ’s “ creative thinker blow ” that swift indorse her so vocally .

“ She really does n’t have to in public carry my Sung dynasty , she never post .

So it ’s really kind of her to do that , ” Griff enjoin .

This was “ when i next see her , i ’ll have to incur some path of thank her .

”

look onwards to this class , Griff is gear up to ship on her first newspaper headline enlistment of Europe .

“ I ’ve just done everything in the improper society , and I ’ve tour so much [ with other creative person ] but I have n’t really done my own show yet , ” she say .

More than anything , though , she ’s focalize her vigour on the thing that are within her command : do , and unfreeze a first appearance record album .

As for the latter , she promise us that it “ will chance at some dot ” – but only when Griff is quick .

“ Wherever either of those two matter go away me , ” she say , contently , “ I ’ll be very felicitous .

”

‘ vert1go vol.2 ’ is out on 5 April via Warner

Listen to Griff ’s single play list to keep company The Cover below on Spotify and here onApple Music

speech : Hollie GeraghtyPhotography : Bella HowardStyling : Kamran RajputHair : Tomi RoppongiMake - up : Michelle DacilloLabel : Warner