There is a poem scratched onto the walls of my throat. No one has heard it, but it is there.
— Kai Cheng Thom
BISHOP BRIGGS
Sarah Grace McLaughlin, better known as Bishop Briggs, is a 28-year-old singer and songwriter from London. At the age of 4, her family moved to Tokyo — and Bishop performed for the first time in a karaoke bar, starting to write her own music several years later. She lived in Hong Kong from the ages of 10 to 18, but attended university in Los Angeles. In 2016, Bishop released River, which soon became a commercial success as it reached Top 3 on Billboard. She later performed River on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and sang at Coachella in 2017. She released her latest album, Champion, in 2019.
FAOUZIA
At the mere age of 20, Faouzia Ouihya has captivated over a million fans on her YouTube channel. Born in Casablanca, she moved with her family to Montreal when she was a year old — though the family eventually settled in Manitoba, Canada. She began playing the piano at the age of 6, learning to play the guitar and violin soon after. In 2017, she earned a spot at the International Songwriting Competition with her song My Heart’s Grave. A year later, David Guetta featured her within his song Battle, praising her unique voice and powerful vibrato. Faouzia currently studies computer engineering and speaks Arabic, English, and French — and released her first EP in early August.
BANKS
Banks, born as Jillian Rose Banks, is a 32-year-old singer and poet from California. She began writing songs at the age of 14, teaching herself piano to distract from the divorce of her parents. She struggled with stage fright for years — initially performing with her back to the audience — before attending USC to earn a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. After releasing her first EP in 2013, Banks was featured as the artist of the week in Vogue and rose to fame as she continued to perform new music. In the midst of releasing her debut album, Goddess, she toured with The Weeknd twice as his opening act. Her most recent album, III, was released in 2019.
SKOTT
Pauline Skott is a 27-year-old singer from Dalarna. Growing up in a forest commune, she was surrounded by folk musicians and unique customs — and she first learned how to play the violin at a young age. Skott’s friends introduced her to video games when she was 14, encouraging her love of music after discovering she composed imaginary soundtracks for fun. Several years later, she chose to pursue singing and songwriting by enrolling in a music school. After attending it for two years, Skott interned in Stockholm and quickly signed with Song Music. Through 2016 and 2017, she released several singles and collaborated with other musicians, and eventually released her debut EP in 2018. In 2019, Skott announced her own independent record label, Dollar Menu. She released her first album, Always Live Forever Always, in 2020.
FKA TWIGS
Tahliah Debrett Barnett, better known as FKA Twigs, is a 32-year-old musician from Gloucestershire. From a young age, she undertook opera and ballet lessons, growing up with her mother and stepfather in the county she described as “kind of in the middle of nowhere”. At the age of 16, FKA Twigs began making music in youth clubs, and moved to London a year later to pursue a career as a dancer. While working with local producers to discover her own sound, she worked as a hostess in a gentleman’s club. Twigs self-released her first EP in 2012 and was featured within The Guardian a year later. After releasing her second EP, she was chosen by Spotify for their Spotlight On 2014 list. In 2018, Twigs appeared on ASAP Rocky’s album titled Testing, and acted in the 2019 film Honey Boy. She released her latest album, Magdalene, in 2019.
Comments