Griff - One Foot in Front of the Other – we’ve heard nothing yet

The Guardian 0

(Warner)
The Brits show-stealing 20-year-old has earworms and wise words to burn on this tantalising mini-album

The rise of Griff feels like a silver lining around the thundercloud that was 2020. While all around the 20-year-old pop powerhouse careers stalled, tours evaporated and sound engineers peed in bottles while driving delivery vans, this singer went from buzzy obscurity in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, locked down with her family and foster siblings, to a Top 20 hit and a Brits rising star award.

Along the way, there have been fistfuls of great, under-the-radar tunes, Taylor Swift endorsements and an ever-growing bubble ponytail, Griff’s visual signature, a sculptural riff on Ariana Grande’s own swishy hair extension. There was also a Disney Christmas ad, of which the best that can be said is that it was a Trojan horse, delivering Griff’s elastic, emotive voice into greater public consciousness. As @wiffygriffy, this holder of a textiles A-level, AKA Sarah Griffiths, does good work on TikTok, posing craft challenges.

You can hear Griff’s Taylor Swift fandom often here, but that is no criticism