The Hertfordshire-born star Griff (real name Sarah Griffiths) only debuted in 2019 and now she may be set for a career to rival that of her fellow Rising Star Award winners.
With only her debut EP The Mirror Talk and a handful of singles in her discography, full of intimate electropop and synth-pop tunes, Griff is truly a Rising Star. Praised across the board by NME and Line of Best Fit for both her unique look and distinctive aesthetic, her upcoming mixtape One Foot in Front of The Other is sure to impress. The artist celebrated her BRIT win on Instagram, sharing a video of her blasting Whitney Houston, alone in a cornfield with a bottle of prosecco in hand.
Griff’s fellow nominees, newcomer rapper Pa Salieu and genre-bending British-Japanese star Rina Sawayama both praised Griff for her win on Friday. The latter has made headlines in her own right, as several weeks ago, Rina would not have been able to bag a nomination.
Sawayama was successful in lobbying the British Phonographic Industry (the group behind the BRITs and Mercury Prize Award) to alter their award eligibility rules, to allow immigrant artists like herself that have lived in the UK for the majority of their lives a chance to get nominated in British awards. Griff, an artist whose father was born in Jamaica and whose mother is a first-generation Chinese immigrant, was praised by Rina for her win and it would be great to see a collaboration in the future.
The rest of the 2021 BRIT Awards will be awarded on May 11th at the main BRITs ceremony – previously delayed due to coronavirus.