July 2021 - Music

One Foot In Front of the Other - by GRIFF

Griff’s latest single, ‘One Foot in Front of the Other’, is a bit of an anomaly in the pop sphere. The delicious cut, stuffed with euphoric hooks and sparkling production, was solely performed, written and produced by the 20-year-old rising star. No co-writers or co-producers, the song was crafted in its entirely by the young talent. This ownership over her own work is evident in all of Griff’s creative output – she even made her own outfit for her BRIT Awards performance last month – and that continues throughout her excellent new mixtape ‘One Foot in Front of the Other’, where Griff only works with a handful of collaborators. A glittering collection of effervescent pop songs, it sees her couple radio-ready hooks with Griff’s direct lyricism: from killer singles (the other wordly ‘Blackhole’) to introspective slowburners (‘Earl Grey’), Griff has created her own world of pop supremacy, one in which she creates the rules and calls the shots. Over her debut mixtape’s seven songs she tackles fracturing relationships (‘Black Hole’), how one person can feel like home (‘Shade of Yellow’) and celebrates somebody who doesn’t know how great they really are (‘Walk’). The lyrics to each are honest and specific to Griff’s experiences, but offered in a way to encourage listeners to find their own resonance.

These observations are accompanied by vibrant instrumentals: ‘Walk’ channels ‘1989’-era Taylor Swift, ‘Heart of Gold’ couples woozy production with sharp percussion and the belting ‘Black Hole’ is in a bombastic league of its own – perhaps one of 2021’s best singles thus far.

Griff performed the latter at this year’s BRIT Awards ­– where she took home the trophy for Rising Star – and it was a standout moment of the bash. If the masterful performance tipped Griff as Britain’s next great pop star, then ‘One Foot in Front of the Other’ cements the accolade – Griff has got the golden touch right now.