As G Flip, Melbourne’s Georgia Flipo makes emotive, anthemic synth pop. After gaining attention with their 2018 debut single, “About You,” they polished their sound on the following year’s full-length About Us, an ARIA-nominated Top Ten hit in their native Australia.
Flipo grew up in a music-loving family: their father introduced them to the Clash and Green Day, while their mother passed on her affection for pop and R&B. Flipo began playing drums at age nine, when their uncle gave them a kit as a present. A few years later, they learned piano and guitar and played with bands ranging from metal to reggae acts. They idolized their high school drum teacher, Jenny Rose Morrish, whose support and instruction helped Flipo get into Box Hill Institute, where they majored in drums and earned a Bachelor of Music. When Morrish died from cancer at age 31 in 2015, Flipo made it their goal to fulfill their teacher’s dream of touring America. They became the drummer and backing vocalist for the band EMPRA and eventually toured the States with them.
When EMPRA disbanded in late 2016, Flipo dedicated themself to making their own music. They spent much of 2017 working on their production and vocal skills with online tutorials. They also built an audiovisual screen for their kick drum head that they named the Je Re Mo in honor of Morrish. When they weren’t working on their music, Flipo gave drum and guitar lessons to schoolchildren in their studio space.
Early in 2018, G Flip signed with the Future Classic label; that February, they released their debut single, “About You.” The track earned widespread acclaim as well as chart and streaming success, and Flipo made their live debut a few months later at SXSW. To make their debut album, they collaborated with Scissor Sisters’ Scott “Babydaddy” Hoffman, Melbourne-based producer/songwriter Joel Quartermain, and producer Ariel Rechtshaid. The ARIA-nominated About Us — which was inspired by the on-again, off-again relationship Flipo was in during G Flip’s early days — appeared in August 2019 and featured the Australian Top Ten single “Drink Too Much.” They soon began writing for a follow-up, releasing “Hyperfine,” “You & I,” and “I’d Rather Go to Bed” in 2020. A collaboration with UPSAHL, “Scream,” arrived in 2021. ~ Heather Phares