Griff Has Taylor Swift & Alicia Keys To Thank For Her Love Of Pop
She was a Fearless and “Superwoman” stan.
Sarah Griffiths, better known by her stage name, Griff, has been a Swiftie for as long as she can remember. “My older cousin gave me an iPod Nano with the Taylor Swift Fearless album, and that was all it had on it,” she tells Elite Daily. “I remember loving ‘White Horse,’ ‘Hey Stephen,’ and ‘Fifteen.’”
Swift’s second album was “monumental” in helping Griff discover her love of pop music, even at just 7 years old. She asked her parents if she could take piano lessons and started writing her own songs around age 12. “You have so much time as a kid, and that was my hobby,” she says. “I didn’t think it would ever be a job.”
Fast forward six years, and life looked very different. In 2019, Griff signed to Warner Records at the age of 18 and released her first single, “Mirror Talk,” hailed by Billboard as an “electrifying debut.” “I went to my prom, and then two weeks afterward released my first single and it got radio play in the U.K.,” she remembers of that “intimidating” time. She started pursuing music full-time after graduating from high school.
In 2021, Griff won the Brit Award for Rising Star, an honor previously bestowed on artists like Adele, Ellie Goulding, and Sam Smith. (She also met Swift at the same awards ceremony.) Since then, she’s opened for major acts like Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, and Coldplay, and she’s spent the past few months on a headlining tour across the U.K. and Europe, with additional stops in New York City, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Hong Kong.
As every musical Swiftie dreams of, Griff has even gotten the stamp of approval from the Eras Tour icon. In 2021, Swift shared Griff’s song “Shade Of Yellow” on her Instagram story, and in 2023, she did the same for the single “Vertigo,” encouraging her fans to listen. Both of those experiences were “surreal” for Griff as she immediately watched her streams and follower count go up.
That was a really nice gift from Taylor ... She’s also my No. 1 in terms of who’s inspired me.
“It feels like she pops up out of the blue, decides to post, and then I have no way of saying, ‘Thank you, oh my God, hi!’” Griff says. “That was a really nice gift from Taylor, and I’m really grateful to her. She’s also my No. 1 in terms of who’s inspired me.”
The 23-year-old singer is now entering the second act of her current era, dropping a new batch of songs on April 5. Ver2igo vol. 2 is a continuation of December’s vert1go vol. 1 — though the two EPs are sonically different, she sees them as part of the same story. “vert1go vol. 1 was very moody and insular and lonely,” Griff says. “For vol. 2, even though the songs are still desperately heartbreaking, to me there's a feeling of euphoria.”
In honor of her own musical evolution, Griff tells Elite Daily about the artists who inspired her from childhood until now.
HAIM
A 12-year-old Griff learned about a band of sisters called HAIM when they were named BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of 2013 — an annual poll of U.K. music insiders predicting which artists will be the “sound of” the upcoming year. “It was quite a formative time when I was in school,” Griff recalls, and she started listening to their debut album on repeat.
“It’s so rare to see girls at the forefront of musicianship, and that’s what I found really cool,” she says. “You can't beat the chemistry of three sisters. It creates a whole new power in the records and on stage.”
Griff saw the band live at the All Points East festival in London in 2023, an experience she remembers as being unbelievable in the best way. “There's such a strength to their music and their live show,” she says. “I just want to be the fourth sister.”
Alicia Keys
Griff credits Alicia Keys with providing a “template” as she was learning to write songs. “When I was getting into music, my parents bought me a chord book, and it had the song ‘Superwoman’ on it,” she says. “I remember falling in love.” She also couldn’t get enough of “No One” and “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart.”
Aside from admiring her artistry, Griff also looked up to Keys as a mixed-race woman in pop music. “There wasn’t, and still isn’t, that much representation in pop music,” she says. “That’s definitely what drew me to her.”
Enya
During her songwriting process for vert1go vol. 1 and 2, Griff listened to Enya on repeat. Her music is “magical,” the "Miss Me Too" singer says. “Anytime I put it on, I feel transported into a more ethereal, beautiful version of my own world.” Griff loves the vocal stacking, strings, and unique orchestral elements Enya is known for.
“It’s such a unique feeling that I would love to be able to put in a bottle and put in some of my songs,” she says. “Everything feels a little less heavy, and you’re kind of levitating into a new world.”
