In Camera Roll, musicians offer InStyle an exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpse at a weekend in the life of an artist, from rehearsing for a major gig to choosing their favorite onstage look. Here, Griff takes us on the road with Sabrina Carpenter.
Four decades ago, as The New York Times recently highlighted, idols like Madonna, Whitney Houston, and Bruce Springsteen unknowingly created a blueprint for megawatt pop stardom: instantly-recognizable vocal inflections; beguiling, colorful visuals; unquestionable stage presence; and a daring personality complemented with quotable, headline-making one-liners. To “make it” is an artform. Lady Gaga, for instance, unabashedly spoke about actively studying the psychology of fame at the start of her career, long before putting the “rah, rah-ah-ah-ah” before “roma, roma-ma.” Gen Z’s beloved KATSEYE girl group was, quite literally, developed at a bootcamp with social media algorithms and virality in mind.
So, it’s not hyperbolic to see a future in which Griff (née Sarah Faith Griffiths) achieves global music industry dominance. At 23, the English singer-songwriter and recipient of the hella-prestigous 2021 BRITs Rising Star award has already opened for Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, and Coldplay, tapping the latter’s Chris Martin to lend his piano mastery to “Astronaut,” a stripped-back track off her 2024 debut studio album, Vertigo. In the past 12 months alone, the half-Jamaican, half-Chinese act—known for proudly making her own clothes and seamlessly oscillating between electronic, R&B, and pop sounds—headlined her own world tour and supported Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter on the road in front of hundreds of thousands of their screaming fans.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
For Griff, performing at ginormous arenas and stadiums has been surreal. “By the time I did Taylor, I’d already done Coldplay and Ed, but you still don’t get used to it. [It’s] insane and nerve-wracking. I hope it’s made me a better performer, and it’s a really massive training ground to have. It’s such an insane privilege,” she says, acknowledging how unique it is to enter a venue like London’s Wembley Stadium and think to yourself, Oh, I know my way around here. I’ve done this before. “Every time I do a support, I just walk away even more in love with the headliner because it is no small thing to build a career of that scale and go out every night to hear people sing your songs.”
Ahead, Griff reflects on her monumental 2024, her elegant-yet-experimental sense of fashion, and what it’s like to watch audiences sing “Tears for Fun” and “Miss Me Too” to her face.
There’s fantastic creative synergy between your songs, accompanying visuals, outfits, and live performances. How would you describe your Vertigo era?
It’s whimsical and cathartic and deeply heartbroken, but also euphoric. That kind of stretches across everything. When I was designing the tour visuals, I wanted the stage to almost feel the way I dress my body. I wanted it to look like these were offcuts of my own clothes, just completely dripped all over the stage. Everything was soft and heartbroken but hopeful and whimsical, I guess.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Deeply heartbroken and euphoric is so intense.
It’s so intense.
You’ve collaborated with so many major pop acts. What do you attribute to the way in which the music industry has welcomed you? And what is it like to have the support of Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter?
I would only ever know if I asked them. I’ve just been very, very lucky to have really, really famous people recognize my music. As soon as I got the Dua Lipa support, I was over the moon, and that was surreal, and then it felt like a domino effect. If I were to take a guess, the common thread between all of the acts I’ve been to tour with is that at the core of the artistry is the song and the songwriting. Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Chris Martin, Sabrina Carpenter—when you strip away the lights and the camera, they’re all souls that really appreciate the art of a song. Their careers wouldn’t exist without really good pop storytelling.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Tell me about your songwriting process.
Daily I’m trying to find lyrical inspiration, so my Notes page will be filled with words that don’t make sense, but it means that I’ve got a bank of things that when I sit down to write, I can be like, Oh, I wrote down a metaphor about a train or something. With this album, because I was touring so much, I would hide in Airbnbs between all of my weeks off of tour, take all of my keyboards and laptops and speakers and set up for a week to be alone with my thoughts. I almost couldn’t deal with the big-studio-pressure-environment of it all. Because I’ve grown up in that bedroom-production world, I feel the most comfortable and creative when I’m in a chill, domestic environment. Most of the time, I’ll sit at the piano and flesh out some kind of chorus and concept, then make the beat around it. Sometimes I’ll hear a tune and I’ll want to make some drums in a similar pattern. It changes, but it’s a very lonesome process.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
An artist’s songwriting process and the location where they jot down material so often informs their next body of work. I think of Lorde, for example, cozying up in a booth at Flame diner in midtown New York City before dropping Melodrama.
Literally! And she’s one of my absolute favorites.
What’s next for you sonically and where are you gathering inspiration from considering you’ve been on tour all year?
I haven’t stopped since the end of the pandemic, so I actually don’t really know what’s next. Whatever I do next, I’m going to need to actually stop and really gather my thoughts. I’m thinking about making the next record out here in the States to dedicate a big chunk of time to getting into the record. So much of Vertigo was so on the move and I think that contributed to the themes of vertigo and dizziness. The next body of work deserves a different headspace.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Who’s always on your playlist?
Oh, okay. Lorde is there. Taylor is there. Alicia Keys and Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder are there. HAIM will always be there.
Favorite Lorde record?
That’s so hard. I’m a Pure Heroin girly. “Tennis Court,” “White Teeth Teens,” and “Royals” are my top favorites.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Taste! The U.K. has birthed incredible musicians and former BRITs Rising Star award winners like Adele, Sam Smith, and Ellie Goulding. How does it feel to represent the U.K.?
I feel really proud to be from the U.K. The U.K. is known for some of the best music, in my opinion. U.K. artists don’t have all of the smoke and mirrors. When you think of Ed Sheeran, Adele, Amy Winehouse, the shoulders that breakthrough artists now get to stand on from the U.K. have a reputation of making emotional, real, soulful songs.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
How important is it for you to showcase your Chinese-Jamaican heritage in your music?
It feels like uncharted territory. The U.K. still hasn’t really broken anyone of color internationally on a real mega level, and definitely not of my heritage. Maybe Sade is the closest person I can think of. As a person of color, you are so hyper aware of how you’re being perceived all the time. I really felt the love during the North American leg of my tour, looking out into the audience and seeing my own heritage reflected in the people that are singing my songs back. I get countless messages thanking me for being in the pop space and representing Asian and Jamaican heritages. It’s always been a weird combo growing up in a tiny village. You don’t see Chinese and Jamaican heritage come together, so I’ve always felt a little bit on the outside. But it’s cool.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Your fans at your Terminal 5 show in New York City this past September were feral—I was there! It was interesting to see how cross-generational the audience was. How has your connection with your fans evolved while touring, and what do you see when you look out at the audience?
It suddenly feels really tangible. Most of my breakthrough, for lack of a better word, was in COVID, so even though I could see “Black Hole” doing well or I was doing a [The Late Show With] Stephen Colbert or something, it was all remote, so none of it felt real. This is the first time there are real people listening to my music live and they are feral, and it’s so fun because they’re screaming the lyrics in the exact way I would have screamed these songs by myself in a studio. It feels emotionally connecting to see the exact emotion I put in at the start of crafting a song then being continued and carried on in these rooms.
Courtesy of Griff / InStyle
Your style is so uniquely Griff. Define your aesthetic for me.
I’ve always loved clothes. I remember from the age of 16, I started to really dive into editorial worlds, like InStyle, and I would sit for hours and watch SHOWstudio and listen to them analyze all of the different runways of that month and stuff. I learned to sew at that age. I designed all of the tour outfits, so I’d describe my style as quite DIY. I love big silhouettes. So I’d describe my style as feminine but deconstructed.
Do you work with a stylist?
In the early days I didn’t and I was just walking up to shoots, sewing all my shit, and then I found an amazing stylist called Kamran [Rajput]. I think we did a Wonderland shoot and I was like, Okay, you actually seem to get what I’m trying to do here. And we’ve kind of been inseparable since. But yeah, we kind of inspire each other. We’re very much a partnership.
In your dreams, what designer or fashion house would dress you?
For a non-fashion house, Simone Rocha. She’s my favorite. For a big fashion house… who do I love at the moment? Sorry, it changes season to season. I would say Miu Miu at the moment.
