When Griff released “Mirror Talk” in 2019—an empowerment anthem designed to get her, and us, to walk taller—it was immediately evident that UK music had a major new pop talent in its ranks. Since then, the accolades have barely stopped coming. 2020 served the singer—real name Sarah Griffiths—with a nomination for The Ivors’ Rising Star Award with Apple Music, followed by praise from Taylor Swift, one of Griff’s most-cited influences. And 2021 had barely got started by the time Griff looked set to own it, claiming a top-five position in the prestigious BBC Music Sound Of poll then winning the Rising Star BRIT Award, whose previous recipients include Adele, Sam Smith and Celeste. “It’s terrifying. Absolutely terrifying,” Griff told Apple Music in March 2021 of joining their midst. “I’ve looked at that list over and over again—that really makes it sink in about how much of a big deal this is.” Griff began to write music aged 10. Her first track back then came from exactly the same source she draws on now: her own experiences. “My first proper song was called ‘Target’, she says, “about mean girls at school and how they made me their target.” These days, influenced by artists including Swift, Lorde, HAIM, Cyndi Lauper and ABBA, Griff’s disarmingly honest pop covers yearning and heartbreak (“Black Hole”), loss (“Good Stuff”—a breathtaking ballad written about the experiences of growing up with foster children who would, inevitably, leave one day, but which doubles as a searing break-up track) and optimism (“Paradise”). Whatever she’s exploring, get ready to relate. “People say, ‘Oh my gosh, this helped me through my break-up,’” says Griff. “And it’s always a bittersweet, heartbreaking thing to know that was so many people are aching in the same way that I have. But also, it’s really beautiful to know that hopefully I put into words the feelings that people didn’t know they could describe.” Discover that powerful pop here—including tracks from Griff’s intimate Apple Music Home Session.