Griff released her debut album as a trilogy, and the final installment, ‘Vertigo,’ is out. She stops by Billboard and shares how she got inspired to release her debut album in three parts, her experience on opening for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, and how she will be opening for Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n Sweet Tour. Griff also shares how she’s preparing for her first tour and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00The eight-year-old me that listened to Taylor and like was obsessed with Fearless
00:04is like so like dying inside that like the fact that that's happened is an achievement in itself.
00:10Hey it's Griff and you're watching Billboard News.
00:16Hey I'm Lindsay for Billboard News and we're here with the stellar singer-songwriter Griff.
00:19Thanks for having me.
00:20Yeah thanks for being here. So you have some super exciting tour announcements
00:23and then obviously your debut album that we've all been waiting for.
00:26So it was announced that you're opening for Sabrina Carpenter this fall.
00:30Congratulations on that one.
00:32So if you can remember how did you find out that this was happening?
00:35I was doing my first ever European tour and I just finished a show and I was getting on
00:40the tour bus and my tour manager called me and I had to step off and he was like so Sabrina
00:45Carpenter wants you to join her on tour which was obviously so surreal and it's such an honour
00:50that she would want to have me. I bumped into her for the first time at a Grammy party last
00:54time I was in LA and then I saw her last time she was in the UK for a festival so that was
00:59nice to like fully hang out and say hi but yeah I'm so excited.
01:02You are such a good addition to anybody's tour let me just tell you that.
01:06Have any like pre or post show rituals yet?
01:09My pre-show ritual usually involves like me figuring out what I'm going to wear,
01:13like trashing my dressing room full of clothes and makeup, warming up,
01:18praying with my team, feeling really really nervous and then going on and then after show
01:24it's usually just like a big sigh of relief that hopefully nothing went wrong
01:28and crack open a bottle of wine.
01:30It sounds perfect.
01:31Yeah.
01:31Usually like the second you step on stage do those nerves go away or does it take a song or two?
01:36No it definitely takes a song or two. Definitely always my first song is my
01:39most rocky song and then by the second I feel like I've got a grasp of what I'm doing.
01:44You and Sabrina have in common, she opened for Taylor,
01:47you are opening a date on Taylor's London trek which again congratulations on that.
01:51I'm obsessed with this story, it sounds like this opportunity first came about when you
01:55were at a Kendrick Lamar show so tell me a little bit more about how you actually ended
02:00up opening for Taylor.
02:01Yeah it was kind of crazy actually, it was around the time that she just announced like
02:05Eras actually. Kendrick was performing in London and I last minute decided to go with my brothers
02:10and we were sitting in this box and I kind of looked to my left and I'm like
02:15that's Taylor and I didn't really want to like try and like wave over like
02:20just in case everyone would be like usher away this crazy fan and so I just like went
02:24up the stairs to go to the toilet and I thought I'd just try and wave and see if I could catch
02:27her eye and then she like ran over and I gave me a hug and we chatted and then it was the
02:32first time she mentioned like maybe me joining her on tour which was crazy.
02:36I love her so much and I'm so happy she decided to come out and perform and open up this show.
02:42Will you please give it up because this is her hometown show.
02:45Griff was here tonight.
02:47You do so much you know you're songwriting, you're producing,
02:49you're doing all of the things behind the scenes.
02:51What is something that you've learned just from watching Taylor about
02:54kind of how to be a businesswoman in music?
02:58I think it's really clear that she just is at a point where she's just writing and doing
03:04things that she wants and for her and her fans it's like yeah completely about that relationship
03:09which is so cool and so hard to do at that scale and yeah I think it's evident that she's so in
03:14control of every aspect of her music and I'm always so inspired that like to be at that scale
03:20and be so close to the songwriting process still is like really what it's about for me.
03:25How do you feel like you prioritise that in your own career as you continue to get busier too?
03:29It was definitely like a reality shot coming out of like
03:32the pandemic and going on tour and being like oh I'm not like in the studio every day.
03:36So with this album I kind of just in between all my tours I'd book a random Airbnb and then take
03:41myself there like pack up my car with all my music equipment and then like convert like a
03:46living room or kitchen and try and make that like my studio space for a few days and I guess
03:50that was my way of just like I don't know quieting down the noise and just going away and writing and
03:55trying to write something that felt really true and honest and you know from the heart I don't know.
04:00I mean I think that's why your songs connect so much is because it is
04:03authentically you and then in turn it ends up being authentically a lot of us too.
04:09What did you hope to get from opening for Taylor?
04:11The eight-year-old me that listened to Taylor and like was obsessed with Fearless
04:15is like so like dying inside that like the fact that that's happened is an achievement in itself.
04:22Given like the how grand this tour is, is there anything that you've taken
04:28for your own headlining tour upcoming or learned from?
04:31Yes I am going to try and do a three-hour set.
04:34I'm joking that's crazy like the stamina and like the yeah the level of performance
04:38is so insane from that show.
04:40I would really hope like the way that Swifties are just like from start to finish
04:44like screaming these lyrics as if it's like their like therapy chants is like so amazing
04:51and emotional and I really hope that that same environment will be there for when I go on tour.
04:57So your own headlining tour kicks off in September.
05:00I hear time and time again that like preparing for tour is like an athlete preparing to compete.
05:05Are there things that you're trying to do right now just to kind of get
05:09everything across the board like mind, body, soul in the right space for that?
05:13Yeah I'm kind of figuring it out because it's kind of my first time doing a proper,
05:16proper full tour because I've spent so much time on support tours.
05:20So now it's like figuring out set lists, figuring out like how it's gonna look
05:26and then I kind of low-key need to get on the treadmill
05:30and like I need to basically next on my to-do list is to like get on the treadmill
05:34and then every day sing like Black Hole or Vertigo on a treadmill just so I can get used to it like
05:39because yeah I just like when I get on stage I just can't help but like spinning and jumping
05:44and like darting back and forth and then I get to the second song and I'm like I'm not ready for this.
05:48So yeah I guess I probably need to just get physically fit.
05:52The videos, I don't know if you've seen them of Miley Cyrus running and singing.
05:56Don't many people do it?
05:57Yeah it's like such a classic singer cliche.
06:00I can barely like walk uphill and talk so.
06:02I know same girl, I've got a lot of work to do between now and then.
06:05Well it'll be amazing, very excited to see the tour.
06:08You mentioned you know you have had some amazing support opportunities in the past
06:11like Dua Lipa Coldplay which I know that relationship has sustained.
06:16How do you think all of those moments got you ready for where you're at now?
06:20There's nothing quite like just being thrown out in front of like an arena or a stadium
06:25full of people that kind of just want to sing Don't Start Now or Yellow.
06:29Do you know what I mean?
06:29Like they don't really want to see you so I think it like makes you like a better performer.
06:34When you do it every single night I think I've just grown as a performer so
06:37um yeah it was like real boot camp I think for touring and how to perform.
06:41And so your headlining tour will be in support of your long-awaited debut album
06:45which we've been teasing out over three parts so the third part has arrived.
06:50Tell me about the strategy or the desire to release this in three parts.
06:55It got to a point where there was like 100 songs in my Dropbox folder
06:58and I was like okay I need to make sense of this and make a bit of a project
07:02and I think when I was listening to the music I realised that there was this real like emotional
07:05thread of like all these songs were desperately heartbroken and all these songs did feel like I
07:09had like emotional versigo writing them and I almost wanted to tell the story of like starting
07:14from a really low insular place and like end on part three where it feels way more euphoric and
07:20like even though these songs are like heartbreaking there is a sense of like
07:24yeah euphoria and like anthem to them so yeah that's kind of the journey we've been going on
07:30up until now.
07:30So they were all written around the same time?
07:34Yeah kind of I mean a bit like in different pockets over the last couple years really
07:38like in between touring some of the songs like Into the Walls and stuff is like two three years
07:42old and then some songs like Cycles or Tears for Fun are maybe only like a few months or a year
07:50old so yeah they've kind of been in different stages.
07:53How does this third component now sort of complete the story for you and complete the chapter like
07:58why were these songs the ones to come last?
08:00I almost wanted to tie the bow of this story of like having emotional vertigo and how heartache
08:05can feel like that was just like some real feel-good like anthemic euphoric pop really.
08:11Definitely for me as like a body of work I definitely look at all of 14 songs
08:17as like yeah I don't know my own emotional roller coaster within the last two years.
08:20That's what I love some of the songs like you don't even realize that
08:24they're sad because they're so up-tempo and then as you're singing along you're like
08:28wait why am I crying?
08:29Yeah exactly you do that very well.
08:32So Coldplay's Chris Martin like I said that relationship has sustained.
08:35He's on the song Astronaut which I love.
08:37How did that come to be?
08:39He's like one of a kind human.
08:41When I joined him on tour he was just asking me about new music
08:43and I know he was like I'd love to hear some new songs.
08:46I was like sure that'll never happen and then it did and we sat down and listened to basically
08:51this album in its early stages and he was giving me loads of amazing advice.
08:55With Astronaut I produced it up in like quite a big heavy like synth way and he was like
09:00you kind of need to just like strip that one back or like maybe put it on piano
09:05and then I decided to ask if he wouldn't mind helping me do that and he kindly said yes
09:10and so he yeah plays the pianos on the song which is so surreal.
09:13It was like the craziest thing being in the studio with him and
09:17have him finish the song yeah it's still kind of crazy to talk about.
09:20So another single I want to talk about is the latest one which is Anything.
09:23Why did that feel like the appropriate one to have out at time of release for the album?
09:28I've been building up to a bit more of like a like euphoric climax if you like yeah
09:35and I think Anything is that it's like a really desperate song about
09:40almost when you find love at like a young age and there's this like power imbalance and it's like
09:45do you realize that I would have done anything like if you told me to jump if you told me to
09:49go like underground like I really would have done anything and there's something so like
09:53innocent and desperate and like kind of also sad about that.
09:56Is there one song on this album that surprised you at the end that you've just been listening to
10:02kind of non-stop or do you walk away from your album?
10:04I think Tears for Fun and Hiding Alone to me are like my low-key like underdog favourites.
10:12Is there one song that you're most excited to perform live?
10:15I don't know I'm so excited for all of them I'm always excited to sing
10:18Let It Go because it's just fun singing that with a crowd
10:20and I think Tears for Fun will be a really fun one for an audience to sing along with.
10:25So as I mentioned you know you're not only a songwriter but you're producing your own work as
10:28well why from the start was that important for you to have your hands in all aspects?
10:35Yeah I mean at the start I didn't realize it was such like a crazy thing that yeah you know
10:39I don't know I was I just taught myself how to make beats because it was like a pastime
10:43and a hobby and it was only when I started like going in the industry more that everyone
10:47was so shocked that I was like a female producer in a way but it just made sense because it's like
10:53creative industries especially the music industry it's so hard to get into and you don't I don't
10:58know how to like ask for it all like wait on a producer to make a track I was like well I just
11:02want to write a song so I'm going to try and figure it out I don't know I just love it I
11:05love making things it's like my favourite thing to write a song and to produce a song so for me it
11:10just it doesn't feel right almost to give that part of me up you know I love spending hours
11:16listening to a snare or a synth or tweaking the chords like it just gets me going have you noticed
11:22you know since you started even till now that changing it all that it's becoming more common
11:28that everyone can produce if they want to it's baby steps like it's still I can't remember the
11:33latest step but I think it we're still at what like I think it's two or three percent music
11:37producers are female which is crazy um it's definitely something we're talking about more
11:41I mean it was so cool seeing like Pink Panther S win producer of the year for the women of music
11:45event it's cool that that's like an award now we're like drawing more attention to it so it's
11:49still wildly imbalanced and when girls go into sessions and go into rooms it's still so assumed
11:54that like the person behind the desk is a guy and I guess it's just like about talking about it more
11:59and doing it more and um encouraging more like young female talent in the industry to just like
12:05don't wait on a dude to do what you need to do you know yeah that applies to life yeah exactly
12:11just across the board yeah just get it done girls we've got this in addition everything I've said
12:14that you do for yourself you have written hits for other people you've worked with Taylor Steinfeld
12:18Petrus what's the main difference that you find when you're writing for yourself versus with the
12:23intention of it being for someone else I say writing for myself is so much more I'm so much
12:27more in my head like there's so much more overthinking that happens I think I love
12:31collaborating with people and I love doing sessions and I love writing and so I'm so up for
12:35like if a song wants to go just like in a different direction and not for me and when it comes to my
12:40project I think I'm just a bit more like personal with it and it's it is like such a I mean everyone
12:46says this album's so personal to me but like it like really is that even with the collaboration
12:51process I think I find it easier to write songs for myself when I'm just it's just me and I'm
12:55making the beat and I'm writing the song or I let in like one friend or something but generally yeah
13:00I think that's the big distinction that like for my process there's maybe less collaboration in
13:05that sense are there people down the road that you would love to collaborate with do you have
13:09that bucket list somewhere in mind I'm kind of down to work with like so many people I feel like
13:14obviously it'd be amazing to work with Jack Hansen off because right his track record is just insane
13:20James Blake I think is an amazing producer or like Labyrinth there's an amazing producer that
13:25I would love to work with so yeah I don't know I guess I've got a long list I'm down to work with
13:28everyone you've had this album for so long already how do you find yourself staying connected to
13:33these songs as I'm sure part of you is also ready to move on from them it's not that hard for me
13:38I'm very connected to these songs like if I could I would still be tweaking the mixes and the
13:42productions like 10 years on I also think like the beauty of like making this album has been
13:46like yeah I started with like such a big volume of ideas and songs like a hundred ideas and like
13:51picking the songs that would make it on the album it was it was about the ones that moved me the
13:54most and it was about the ones that like after you know hours and days of like working on the
14:01production I still wasn't sick of the sentiment and the chorus still moved me and so I'm pretty
14:07sure that like this selection of songs are like songs that I feel really connected to regardless
14:12of how long I've had them or when they were written have you had any inkling in the back
14:16of your mind of adding some of the ones that didn't make it down the road yeah I don't know
14:20I've like on socials like been like oh maybe I'll just throw them all up on SoundCloud one day or
14:24like do something like that so I'm sure some of them will see the light of day or they won't I
14:30don't know maybe I'll go back on them and be like these are terrible I'm not putting these out at
14:34all it's nice that if you ever need you have this collection to fall onto exactly yeah and because
14:39of you know we've talked about so many exciting things Sabrina tour, Taylor tour, your tour
14:43album looking ahead is there just one thing or one experience that you're most excited for down the
14:48road I don't know there's a lot to get done this year touring wise so but I'm really excited to
14:53just do it I feel like I've been waiting for this moment for a really long time I'm just really
14:57excited to sing these songs with like an audience that bought tickets to my show yeah like I know
15:04it's like a bit cliche and simple but again when you've had songs sitting on your laptop for so
15:08long hearing them in a room with people singing along like takes on a whole new life and to meet
15:15some of these fans probably for the first time yeah exactly because I think I also really got
15:19started in the pandemic yeah um where I couldn't do any shows and I couldn't tangibly meet an
15:24audience and then I spent so long doing support that actually the feeling of like people showing
15:30up to my shows is still like a completely new concept to me I will be in attendance I cannot
15:34wait yes please come and congrats again on everything I'm just so excited for you thank
15:38you so much for having me yeah thanks for coming back