"If you need a co-sign to listen to me then I’m not for you. You need an independent brain to listen to me" GRMN says early on into the interview. The 27-year-old started making her own music a year ago but has the assuredness and lyrics that newcomers into the music industry seldom exude. As her the singer, Johnny the keyboardist and James their producer, their sound can’t be compared to anyone else and that’s exactly how they like it.
Breaking into the music industry is difficult enough, but with the pandemic bringing many challenges to the industry, it’s even harder. ‘The hardest thing is being heard’ GRMN says. She details how fighting against the algorithm, ‘which Babylon has created’, makes it harder to get your music to the masses. ‘Radio says you’ll get played once you have more streams, Spotify says you’ll get put on playlists once you’ll get radio play’. Despite this difficulty, GRMN isn’t worried about the trajectory of her career as she knows she’s making a sound that her intended audience want to hear.
Our conversation veers from music to the gentrification in her area. GRMN rides for Hackney like it has its own flag. In light of this, she’s seen the area transform for the worst for the people who have always lived there. ‘You want to live in Dalston for the Caribbean restaurants if you keep racking up the rent’ , perfectly summarising the cultural driving force behind gentrification and some of its economic effects.
GRMN’s music sounds familiar enough that you take a liken to it, but foreign enough so it doesn’t sound like another artist. It’s like a blend of all the genres you love but didn’t need you need to hear. As GRMN puts it in her own words ‘It’s supposed to feel like you had a bit of acid and smoked too many zoots’.