British singer-songwriter Griff talks about her music journey

At 23, Griff, lives the life many young artists aspire for.

Christened as Sarah Faith Griffiths, Griff is a British singer-songwriter.

Her first single “Mirror Talk” was released in July 2019, followed by another track “Didn’t Break It Enough” the next month.

This marked the beginning of a consistent pattern of releasing new music, earning Griff a nomination for the Ivor Novello Rising Star Award from the prestigious Ivors Academy in 2020, culminating in her winning the Brit Award for Rising Star on March 19, 2021.

Griff’s debut album, Vertigo, was released to positive reviews in July of this year.

The singles from the album—”Vertigo,” “Miss Me Too,” “Anything,” and “Astronaut,” featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin—have further solidified Griff’s reputation as a talented songwriter and singer.

To top it off, when Griff isn’t writing, recording, or performing from city to city, she’s busy opening for established artists on tour, namely, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and Taylor Swift.

Griff is now gearing up to open for American singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet tour of the U.S. later this year.

GRIFF ON SONGWRITING AS A FORM OF EXPRESSION

But before joining Sabrina’s tour, Griff made a recent stop in the Philippines for a pair of shows, including a performance at Warner Music’s We Play Here, which kicked off on August 23 at the University of the Philippines, Diliman in Quezon City.

Joining Griff on the bill that day were local acts Sugarcane, PLAYERTWO, Paul Pablo, Letters from June, Kahel, Arthur Miguel, Dilaw, and Stell.

“I love songwriting. I never thought I would be an artist, I thought I’d be a songwriter,” Griff told the media at a press conference while waiting for her set.

She added, “It feels very natural to be in the studio and to write very honestly.

“I think all of my favorite songs are the ones that feel so personal and so true to the story, so I find it natural to just pour out my heart in the studio.

“Then it’s only when it comes to releasing it that I go, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe this is too much, or maybe it is too personal.’

“But I think every time you have that feeling, every time I’m a bit hesitant, I think it’s a good thing and it shows that maybe it’s important enough and personal enough that maybe someone else needs to hear.”

As a music fan, she fondly recalled poring over the details of her favorite tracks, eager to learn more about the songs and their authors.

Griff, who lacked formal music training and developed her skills online, explained: “As soon as I hear a song I like, I would Google the credits because I want to know who’s written the song.

“So I feel like I’m so much more in love with songwriters and songwriting as a craft.

“I grew up loving Sia and Timbaland, and all of these artists that are more about the making of the song instead of just presenting it as a final package, if that makes sense.”

Is there any song she wished she had written?

There are certainly too many to mention. However, off the top of her head, she shared with PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal): “I wish I wrote ‘Chandelier’ by Sia, ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ by Whitney Houston, and “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” by Celine Dion.”

GRIFF ON RETREATING TO SONGS AND MELODIES

Griff’s experiences growing up played a pivotal role in shaping her inclination toward music and songwriting as a form of expression.

She was born and raised in England to a Jamaican father and a Chinese mother.

Though Griff has always lived in England, like many children of immigrant parents, she occasionally felt like an outsider in her own country.

“I think it kind of meant that growing up, you live a very isolated life,” reflected Griff.

“A lot of mixed race kids I think would say that sometimes you don’t feel Asian enough to be Asian, you don’t feel black enough to be black.

“I definitely didn’t feel white growing up in a very white middle-class area.

“So I think it just influenced my music. I think it’s the reason why I love music and why I turned to music.

“Because where you don’t belong, I felt like I could maybe belong in music and create my own safe space.”

However, Griff mentioned that her lineage plays little role in shaping the kind of music she creates.

“You are who you are and your heritage is just your heritage. You don’t really think about how it influences you,” she reasoned.

Her style tells a different story, though. Griff noted that her hairdo is, in a way, a tribute to her Jamaican roots.

“I think an amazing thing about growing up being half Jamaican, I think so many girls with Afro hair, we have strange relationships with our Afro hair because we don’t see it in the media,” said the singer-songwriter.

“It’s not like a beauty standard, right? And I think as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that Afro hair is so fun because you can do so much sculptural stuff to it.

“And that’s why I can do the big bubble braid, or I can have this big spiral because you can almost be so much more creative with my hair texture.

“So, yeah, it’s almost like a bit of an extension of my heritage, I think, when I play with my hair.”

GETTING LOVE FROM RESPECTED ARTISTS

Despite her impressive achievements, Griff said she’s still finding her footing in a music industry that has undergone tremendous changes in recent years.

There are moments of self-doubt and a feeling that she doesn’t deserve the attention she’s receiving.

As Griff mentioned, “I think the confidence comes and goes. Like some days I still write songs and I feel like some days you feel like the worst songwriter in the world, and some days you feel like the best songwriter in the world.

“I don’t think you ever feel like you’ve got it. It just like comes and goes. You know, it’s like with anything.

“But I just keep doing it. And I think I find confidence in just songs that I like.”

Griff prefers not to share songs she’s working on with friends and family, explaining, “I don’t want to know what others think of it sometimes.”

Touring as the opening act for artists she admires has greatly boosted her confidence as an artist.

It also provides her with a front-row seat to observe how tours operate—from the grueling preparations and the frantic pace before and during the show to enjoying the performances up close.

“I’ve been very lucky enough to do a lot of support tours over the last couple of years,” she smiled.

“I think my approach is always just like, the audience is there to see the main act and I’m just there to like, have fun, get people dancing, get people excited.

“So I just try my best to keep the energy high and watch the amazing main act.”

Being chosen as an opening act can happen in various ways:

a. The record label selects the artist—whose music somehow fits with the style of the main act—from its roster to use the shows as a platform to promote a potential rising star.

b. The headlining act, wielding significant influence over the tour, personally handpicks the artist they admire or wish to support.

In Griff’s case, her music has the approval of the artists she has opened for.

When she opened for Coldplay in Coimbra in Portugal from May 17 to 21, 2022, for their Music of the Spheres World Tour, she had the opportunity to play some of the songs she was writing to the band’s singer Chris Martin.

“I played Chris Martin a lot of the songs on the album [which turned out to be Vertigo],” recalled Griff.

“He was like, with “Astronaut,” you should slow it down and you should stroke it back.

“So it feels very surreal that Chris Martin agreed to finish it with me and play the piano on it. So I think that’s a really special song.”

Regarding endorsements, none could have been more significant than Taylor Swift’s promotion of Griff’s single “Vertigo” on Instagram Stories. On September 4, 2023, Taylor posted (published as is): “damn griff i love this one.”

Griff opened for Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium in London on June 22, 2024, during the UK leg of The Eras Tour.

Griff said about the love she’s getting from the big acts: “When you kind of work by yourself, you’re a solo artist, it’s so easy to have moments where you’re like, ‘Should I be doing this? Is this any good?’

“There’s so much self-doubt that comes in every single day that having artists like Taylor Swift or Dua Lipa [who] want to take me on tour, it’s a nice, quiet affirmation I guess that maybe I might be doing something right.”