PinkPantheress

PinkPantheress is a London-based artist and producer with a wry and affable stream-of-consciousness lyrical style and a sample-heavy sound rooted in house, U.K. garage, and drum’n’bass as well as pop and alternative rock. Emerging in 2021, the self-described “new nostalgic” artist became a social media star when her truncated — most tracks never break the two-minute mark — and stylized singles “Passion,” “Pain,” and “Break It Off” became viral hits, garnering millions of streams. All three songs were included on her mixtape To Hell with It, which reached number 20 on the U.K. album chart and was met with widespread acclaim. In 2022, she released collaborations with artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Willow.
PinkPantheress was born in Bath, England, in 2001. She sang in a My Chemical Romance cover band as a teenager and cites Paramore, Lily Allen, Imogen Heap, and K-pop as some of her other inspirations. She started producing instrumentals for a friend and writing songs on her own while attending secondary school. Using GarageBand, she recorded her vocals while lying face down at night in her university hall. She began uploading snippets of her songs to social media at the end of 2020, and her tracks started going viral in early 2021.
PinkPantheress signed to Parlophone and Elektra Records, and her single “Break It Off,” based around Adam F’s 1995 drum’n’bass classic “Circles,” reached the U.K. singles chart as well as Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. Further charting singles included “Pain” (sampling the 2000 U.K. garage hit “Flowers” by Sweet Female Attitude) and the Mura Masa-produced “Just for Me.” PinkPantheress released her debut mixtape, the 18-minute To Hell with It, in October 2021. It received rave reviews and hit number 20 in the U.K., additionally charting at 73 on the Billboard 200 in America, where U.K. garage and drum’n’bass never reached the level of mainstream popularity as in the genres’ home country. A set of remixes followed in 2022, and PinkPantheress released singles with Mura Masa, Lil Uzi Vert, and Shygirl (“bbycakes”); Willow (“Where You Are”); and Sam Gellaitry (“Picture in My Mind”).~ James Christopher Monger & Paul Simpson