Bishop Briggs

With Bishop Briggs, the rawer the emotion, the more worthy it is of a heart-pounding anthem. Born Sarah Grace McLaughlin in London in 1992, the dark-pop singer/songwriter got her first taste of music’s transformative power seeing her dad perform at a karaoke bar in Japan. As a kid, she soaked up cultures, moving between Tokyo, Hong Kong, and eventually Los Angeles, where she honed her smoky, soulful vocals on stages under a name that referenced her parents’ hometown of Bishopbriggs, Scotland. Growing up in megacities would have a strong influence on McLaughlin’s music, not necessarily in style but in ambition, heard on her 2015 debut single “Wild Horses,” a smoldering acoustic track injected with a heavy trip-hop groove. The song landed in an Acura commercial, scoring McLaughlin quick, widespread exposure. Still, she took her time crafting her 2018 debut album, Church of Scars, which came stacked with moody torch songs, including gothic-soul stompers “River” and “White Flag.” But it was a difficult breakup that inspired the singer to go bold and bare all—down to the shaving of her head—as documented on 2020’s Champion with triumphant stadium rockers like “Jekyll & Hide” and the title track. “My goal for everything with this music is to not hide,” she told Apple Music. “I just want to feel empowered to be a woman ... to be a human being.”