# Griff (singer)
**Griff** is the stage name of Sarah Faith Griffiths (born 2001), a British singer, songwriter, and producer from Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, whose blend of pop and R&B earned her the BRITs Rising Star award in 2021 and a debut album, *Vertigo*, in 2024.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/19/brit-awards-griff-wins-2021-rising-star-award) She writes, co-produces, and performs her own material, and built her early audience by releasing music online while still at school.[3](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-02/radar-artist-griff-is-bringing-songwriting-and-soul-to-british-pop-and-beyond/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Sarah Faith Griffiths, born 2001 in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416) |
| Label | Signed to Warner Records in 2019, during her final school exams[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) |
| Breakthrough single | "Good Stuff" (2020), a piano ballad that connected during the pandemic[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) |
| BRIT Award | Rising Star, 2021, ahead of Pa Salieu and Rina Sawayama[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/19/brit-awards-griff-wins-2021-rising-star-award) |
| Mixtape | *One Foot in Front of the Other* (June 18, 2021), reached No. 4 on the UK charts[3](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-02/radar-artist-griff-is-bringing-songwriting-and-soul-to-british-pop-and-beyond/) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/12/griff-music-interview-vertigo-taylor-swift-wembley) |
| Debut album | *Vertigo* (2024), Warner Music UK, preceded by the EPs *vert1go, Vol. 1* (2023) and *ver2igo, Vol. 2* (2024)[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) • [1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416) |
| Major supports | Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Taylor Swift's Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/12/griff-music-interview-vertigo-taylor-swift-wembley) |
## Early life and beginnings
Griff was born Sarah Faith Griffiths in 2001 in Kings Langley, a village just north of Watford, to a Chinese mother and a Jamaican father.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416) Her father introduced her to soul and R&B as a child, but it was listening to [Taylor Swift](https://www.edgepedia.org/taylor-swift)'s 2008 album *Fearless* that made songwriting feel accessible to her; she has said her earliest musical memory is playing an iPod loaded with the album on repeat.[5](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/12/griff-music-interview-vertigo-taylor-swift-wembley) • [4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) From the age of 11 she learned production on her older brother's Logic software, and her first releases came while she was still at school, with lyrics about self-love and overcoming anxiety.[6](https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/griff-on-the-rise) • [3](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-02/radar-artist-griff-is-bringing-songwriting-and-soul-to-british-pop-and-beyond/)
She kept her creative work private until after completing her A Levels, quietly signing with Warner in 2019 in the middle of her final exams.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416) • [4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) Her 2019 debut EP, *Mirror Talk*, featured "Paradise," the single that took her into the UK Top Ten for the first time.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416)
## Breakthrough and the BRIT Rising Star award
Griff broke out in 2020 with "Good Stuff," a piano ballad direct enough to reach fans at a time when Instagram was the only way to perform for them.[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) A series of hit singles followed, including the Honne collaboration "1,000,000 X Better" and the Zedd duet "Inside Out."[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416) In January 2021 she was nominated for an [Ivor Novello](https://www.edgepedia.org/ivor-novello) rising star award, performed a livestream from London's Tate Modern, and finished fifth on the BBC Sound of 2021 poll.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/15/griff-i-cant-think-of-anything-worse-than-being-like-everyone-else)
In March 2021 she won the BRITs Rising Star award, following [Celeste](https://www.edgepedia.org/celeste-singer), Sam Smith, and Adele.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/19/brit-awards-griff-wins-2021-rising-star-award) Because of the pandemic, her performance of "Black Hole" at the delayed ceremony in May 2021 was only the second live show she had ever played; the first had been for 200 people.[8](https://www.vogue.com/article/griff-brits-rising-star-award-interview) She wore a dress of her own design at the ceremony, cut up and re-pieced with an eyelet machine bought for 20 pounds on eBay.[8](https://www.vogue.com/article/griff-brits-rising-star-award-interview) • [9](https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/exclusive-first-look-at-spotify-radar-presents-griff) Backstage, Taylor Swift, that year's Global Icon winner, invited Griff and [Olivia Rodrigo](https://www.edgepedia.org/olivia-rodrigo) to share chips and take selfies in her dressing room.[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/)
## One Foot in Front of the Other
Her mixtape *One Foot in Front of the Other* was released on June 18, 2021, and reached No. 4 on the UK charts.[3](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-02/radar-artist-griff-is-bringing-songwriting-and-soul-to-british-pop-and-beyond/) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/12/griff-music-interview-vertigo-taylor-swift-wembley) Griff said she was proud that most of it was written and produced entirely by herself in her bedroom.[3](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-02/radar-artist-griff-is-bringing-songwriting-and-soul-to-british-pop-and-beyond/) The single "Black Hole" became a Top 20 hit and carried her to an appearance on *Late Night with Seth Meyers* in the United States.[10](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/griff-vertigo-album-review-radar-3773117) By mid-2021 her music had been streamed over 126 million times on Spotify.[3](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-02/radar-artist-griff-is-bringing-songwriting-and-soul-to-british-pop-and-beyond/)
When concerts became possible again, she supported [Dua Lipa](https://www.edgepedia.org/dua-lipa), Coldplay, and [Ed Sheeran](https://www.edgepedia.org/ed-sheeran), largely skipping mid-tier venues on the way to stadium stages.[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/)
## Vertigo
*Vertigo*, her debut album, arrived in 2024 on Warner Music UK, three years after the mixtape.[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) It was assembled from two preview EPs, *vert1go, Vol. 1* (2023), which carried the moody title-track single "Vertigo," and *ver2igo, Vol. 2* (2024), which featured "Into the Walls."[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416) Griff wrote much of it in Airbnbs across Europe while her head was, in her words, "completely frazzled" from the post-pandemic touring rush.[11](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/griff-vertigo-review-the-true-arrival-of-a-superb-new-pop-star-41313/)
While the mixtape was almost entirely self-produced, on *Vertigo* she welcomed collaborators into her circle: [Mura Masa](https://www.edgepedia.org/mura-masa)'s influence is audible on "Cycles," and Congee, also known as Sam Tsang, has co-writing credits on several songs, though Griff still steers the production.[11](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/griff-vertigo-review-the-true-arrival-of-a-superb-new-pop-star-41313/) In June 2024 she supported Taylor Swift at [Wembley Stadium](https://www.edgepedia.org/wembley-stadium) before a crowd of 89,000, and Swift paused her own set to call Griff "so creative on every single level."[5](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/12/griff-music-interview-vertigo-taylor-swift-wembley)
Reception was divided. Rolling Stone UK called it "the true arrival of a superb new pop star" and highlighted "Miss Me Too" as its ecstatic centrepiece.[11](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/griff-vertigo-review-the-true-arrival-of-a-superb-new-pop-star-41313/) Pitchfork's review found the album well-studied but derivative, hearing Swift's sound, [London Grammar](https://www.edgepedia.org/london-grammar), Robyn, MUNA, and the 1975 in its songs, and judged that it lacked much sense of Griff herself.[4](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/) The Skinny described it as proficient pop polished to the point of sterility.[12](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo)
## Artistry and influences
Griff describes her music as "pop, optimistic, honest and heart-wrenching," and she writes and self-produces most of her own work.[13](https://los40.com/2024/12/02/griff-llega-a-espana-con-su-gira-world-vertigo-tour-2024-y-nos-habla-de-taylor-swift-y-sabrina-carpenter-las-expectativas-del-pop-femenino-son-mucho-mas-altas/) Her influences span Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Lorde, and Robyn, and critics have placed her sound between soulful songwriting and bedroom pop with sparse electronic production and R&B-inflected vocals.[3](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-02/radar-artist-griff-is-bringing-songwriting-and-soul-to-british-pop-and-beyond/) • [6](https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/griff-on-the-rise) Beyond music she designs most of her own outfits and has directed her own videos.[9](https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/exclusive-first-look-at-spotify-radar-presents-griff) • [6](https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/griff-on-the-rise) In 2026 her song "In the Name of Healing" appeared in the Prime Original movie *Your Fault: London*.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416)
## References
1. [Griff Biography, AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine)](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/griff-mn0003961416)
2. [Brit awards: Griff wins 2021 Rising Star award, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/19/brit-awards-griff-wins-2021-rising-star-award)
3. [RADAR Artist Griff Is Bringing Songwriting and Soul to British Pop and Beyond, Spotify Newsroom](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-02/radar-artist-griff-is-bringing-songwriting-and-soul-to-british-pop-and-beyond/)
4. [Griff: Vertigo Album Review, Pitchfork (Laura Snapes)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo/)
5. [Griff on shyness, stardom and supporting Taylor Swift, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/12/griff-music-interview-vertigo-taylor-swift-wembley)
6. [Griff is on the rise, The Line of Best Fit](https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/griff-on-the-rise)
7. [Griff: I can't think of anything worse than being like everyone else, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/15/griff-i-cant-think-of-anything-worse-than-being-like-everyone-else)
8. [Griff on New Music, Making Her Own Clothes, and Her Epic Brits Performance, Vogue](https://www.vogue.com/article/griff-brits-rising-star-award-interview)
9. [Your Exclusive First Look At Griff's New Mini-Doc For Spotify, Bustle](https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/exclusive-first-look-at-spotify-radar-presents-griff)
10. [Griff – 'Vertigo' review, NME](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/griff-vertigo-album-review-radar-3773117)
11. [Griff 'Vertigo' review: The true arrival of a superb new pop star, Rolling Stone UK](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/griff-vertigo-review-the-true-arrival-of-a-superb-new-pop-star-41313/)
12. [Griff album review: vertigo, The Skinny](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/reviews/albums/griff-vertigo)
13. [Griff llega a España con su gira World Vertigo Tour 2024, LOS40](https://los40.com/2024/12/02/griff-llega-a-espana-con-su-gira-world-vertigo-tour-2024-y-nos-habla-de-taylor-swift-y-sabrina-carpenter-las-expectativas-del-pop-femenino-son-mucho-mas-altas/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Indie and alternative pop, 2010s to present › Bedroom pop and lo-fi artists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license