Cathartic, Heart-Breaking & Euphoric: Griff discusses her upcoming debut album, ‘Vertigo’
The 23-year-old British popstar Griff has made quite a name for herself in the last 5 years. With over 3 million monthly Spotify listeners and an NME ‘Radar Award’ in 2022, it won’t be long until her name is in lights all across the world.
On April 25th, the breakout star and fashion designer announced the release of her debut album, Vertigo.
Already one of the most anticipated pop albums of the summer, you can see Griff’s Instagram post about it here:
Having released her debut single, Eternal Flame in 2019, Griff’s success has soared ever since. Deservedly, she won the BRITs ‘Rising Star’ Award in 2021 and this is only the start of her accolades…
The popstar has opened shows for household names including Florence and the Machine, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and - mostly recently - Taylor Swift. Just this week, Griff was even announced as an opener for Sabrina Carpenter’s US Short and Sweet Tour:
Everyone’s favourite icon Taylor Swift herself gushed about her during London Night Two of The Eras Tour, after Griff performed as a one-night-only opener:
“You started off getting to see an artist who I am such a huge fan of. This girl, she is so creative on every single level, she is in complete control of everything that goes into her writing, her producing - she even makes her own outfits for stage. I love her so much, and I am so happy that she decided to come out and perform and open up this show.”
You can watch the full speech below:
In fact, during her 20-minute set on The Eras Tour, Griff sung her newest single, Anything for the first time live!
Released the day prior on June 21st, Anything has quickly become one of our all-time favourite songs by Griff, and we highly recommend you check it out:
Anything is the last single to be released before Vertigo comes out in full, but fans don’t have long to wait for their new favourite album…
Because yesterday, Griff announced that Vertigo will be released a week early!
Instead of gracing our Spotify accounts on July 19th, Vertigo will now drop at midnight on July 12th.
Many songs from the album were originally released as a series of two EP’s, so fans are already familiar with many of them - however, there are plenty of highly-anticipated, brand-new tracks to listen out for!
If you haven’t already, you can listen to vert1go vol.1 and ver2igo vol.2 here on Spotify:
One of our favourite things about Griff is that she stays connected to her fans, and the community of people who love her music is extremely supportive of her projects. So, in celebration of the release of Vertigo, Griff had something special planned:
We attended the Griffies HQ Zoom, a fan-led Zoom meeting where Griff talked about all things music, with a Q&A giving exclusive insights on her upcoming album, Vertigo.
Over a hundred fans joined the Zoom with questions for the popstar about everything from the creative process to costuming, setlists and pre-show rituals. In case you missed it, we’ve recollected the highlights:
What songs did you most enjoy writing from Vertigo?
“I really enjoyed writing Vertigo, Hiding Alone and Tears for Fun. [They’re all] anthemic feel-good songs.” Griff admitted that “Walk on Apple Music and on Spotify are different versions because I couldn’t decide what key I wanted it in. I will tweak and tweak, but I think when you’re creative, you just cant let go of stuff.”
In what three words would you describe your new album?
“Cathartic. Heart-Breaking. Euphoric. The overall theme is emotional vertigo - and obviously vertigo is a physical condition, but I wanted to name it after all of the feelings of despair that are like vertigo.”
Of course, the venn diagram of Swifties and Griffies is a circle, so many fans had Taylor-themed questions for the popstar:
What is your dream surprise song mashup at The Eras Tour?
“There’s quite a few on the Fearless (Taylor’s Version) album that I like, so: Hey Stephen, The Best Day, Our Song, That’s The Way I Loved You - that whole world of songs. Also, Tim Mcgraw, Safe and Sound or The Last Great American Dynasty.”
If you could get Taylor to do a mashup with any one of your songs, what would it be?
“It has to be the one she’s spoken about - Shade of Yellow and Vertigo. I kinda would gag to see Head on Fire with her whole reputation choreo moment or Hole In My Pocket within an acoustic set.”
Griff prasied a chat suggestion of her single Head On Fire with Taylor’s song Bad Blood, adding that “Clean and Vertigo would be amazing. They were both written in the same house - Imogen Heap’s Round House - so that would be magical.”
Discussing Griff’s discography, fans asked…
Are there any of your songs that are in your personal ‘top 10’ that you think are underrated?
“I feel like you guys give a lot of love to them all…but I will always love a song called Sound of Your Voice, which is a really old one. More recently, Into the Walls for me is a little bit of an underdog. Also, Moments, which is the first song I ever fully wrote and produced.”
What inspired you to follow a career in music production?
“To be honest, I never thought I would have a career in it! I was just doing it because I enjoyed it. […] Writing songs is my favourite part of this job, and the lyrics wouldn’t be exactly what they are if I didn’t produce them by myself - sometimes when I work with other people, the songs have a little less of ‘me’ in them.”
On a similar note, fans asked: How do you face criticism and insecurity surrounding your work?
“Not very well if I’m totally honest. I found this album process difficult because these songs are very personal. The only people that speak into my soul are my manager Dillion and whoever I made the song with. I used to open it up to more people and I would just get my head scrambled, so I don’t play [my music] to a lot of people. On a more optimistic level, you’ve got to remind yourself that you’re good and trust your intuition.”
Do you prefer slower or more upbeat songs?
“I kind of can’t pick - One minute I’m releasing a ballad, the next I’m releasing songs like Miss Me Too. I always find it more natural to write sad songs because I write at the piano. I’m much more drawn to writing slow songs then adding beat to the production so they sound like dancey songs, too.”
Fittingly, the Zoom call then had it’s own dance break as Griff played fans a snippet of Tears For Fun, a track from her upcoming album.
We can certainly say that it’s a sad-girl anthem, with an insane beat drop and satisfying production. Though excited by the unreleased track, fans still had a few questions left:
What is your biggest dream as an artist?
“That’s really changed over the years” Griff said, talking about ever-growing venues, crowds and how “You get addicted to the scale of it. […] I try not to think about that too much because it becomes about the accolade of it and not the enjoyment of it.” Instead, Griff told that her biggest dream is to “Write classics that people love to play generations on.”
What is your dream venue to play anywhere in the world?
“I think maybe because I didn’t grow up going to any concerts, Wembley Stadium is a bit of a dream so that’s really cool that it’s happening. Though, I’ve always dreamt of being able to do a tour that isn’t actually in venues, that’s [instead] in niche places - like one stop, I’m on a rooftop, the next I’m in a forest.”
What would your dream show involve?
“An orchestra would be pretty amazing - or loads of dancers and a set design with crazy changes!”
Luckily for fans, Griff has already announced the WORLD TOUR of her debut album, Vertigo:
Tickets are still available online, and we cannot recommend seeing Griff enough! Once you’ve heard her live, you’ll understand why some people are just born to be on stage.
As always, you can find Griff’s music on Spotify below:
VoiceNoted would also like to extend a special thanks to Callum Anderson, the digital creator behind @griffieshq for hosting the Griffies HQ Zoom. And of course, to Griff and her stylist Cam for answering everyone’s questions!
If you want to be a part of the GriffiesHQ Discord and see live updates on Griff’s music, you can join here…
And check out Griff’s music on our newest Spotify playlist, ‘Top Picks’ 06/24:
