This story originally appeared in i-D’s The New Wave Issue, no. 373, Fall/Winter 2023. Order your copy here.
When PinkPantheress gave her first ever interview in 2021 it was to i-D, under the watchful eye of her label, who were keen to keep details of the then-largely unknown 20-year-old under wraps. Two years, three Top 40 hits, an Ivor Novello nomination and a Barbie soundtrack cameo later, her days of hiding behind the anonymity of a TikTok page during lockdown are a distant memory.
The young woman behind the moniker is sitting before me now in a black knitted jumper and a pair of vintage jeans, despite the sweltering August heatwave. Fanning herself throughout our conversation, she exhibits a refreshing transparency and levelheadedness about her inimitable rise, as well as an endearing sense of humour about herself, her hearty laughter revealing a butterfly-shaped tooth gem. Like the late hyperpop icon Sophie, masked newcomer horsegiirL and former YouTube enigma The Weeknd, PinkPantheress became known for her sound before her face was fully revealed. That changed with a Heaven by Marc Jacobs campaign in 2022, but that early period of anonymity masked uncertainty.
She reveals she couldn’t bear the thought of people commenting on her appearance: “The first time I felt I looked good was this year,” she says. “I hate my forehead.” But combining her double life would take courage. “I didn’t want to feel like I am performing PinkPantheress, like Hannah Montana at night and a uni student in the day. I wanted the confidence to feel like her every day.”
Pink is still treading the familiar, clumsy path of young adulthood. “I’m not trying to date, even though I love dating,” she tells me. Smiling intermittently at her phone screen throughout our conversation, at one point she pauses altogether to send a selfie to a boy. We’ve all been there. However, her meteoric rise adds a new surreal layer. She tells me how she “nearly” featured on a Kendrick Lamar track but missed the studio session because she was at the cinema, and her date asked her to put her phone on silent. “Oh fuck, I can’t even think about it,” she says. “I was watching Nightcrawler with this guy.” We definitely haven’t all been there.
“British people are built differently — our culture, humour, music. We have a unique sound that can’t be replicated.” PinkPantheress
Previously, her tracks have relied on sampling (with scant regard for clearance), her saccharine vocals contrasting melancholic lyrics, resulting in an affect tinged by adolescent vulnerability. But her new album, Heaven Knows, is the antithesis to her former insular working style. “I had to level up, I couldn’t just use loops anymore. I had to get other people to come in,” she says. While the album doesn’t have “a message”, it was more about widening her talents sonically and lyrically. She’s drawn to music where artists don’t feel boxed in by having to tell the truth, fictionalising narratives to build immersive stories. “Unless you’ve gone through three world wars, or whatever, you’d run out of things to talk about,” she says. “Feel Complete” chronicles a fictional relationship with an alcoholic, and “Ophelia” is about being killed.
Her experimental phase also sees her step out of the homegrown garage, jungle, and indie sounds that she’s known for in favour of sunnier melodies — particularly on “Another Life”, a collaboration with Afrobeats chart- topper and fellow cover star Rema. She imagines her new songs being listened to in a car with the top down rather than in a grungy bedroom like her previous style. “It’s giving outside,” she says.
This sonic pivot is indicative of her life stage. Pink had a “hard time” at school as she was “annoying” and far too into Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the TV series Sherlock (“ugh, horrible”). She then moved to an all-girls school and fronted an emo and pop punk band for their school fête. At home, her Kenyan mother played Beenie Man, UB40 and Birmingham-based reggae band Musical Youth. She would flick through the music channels, from MTV to Kerrang, to access more contemporary sounds. Pink admits she mostly listens to “bullshit music” when she’s alone before strongly arguing that “Pillow Talk” by Zayn Malik is the best pop song of the last decade.
Throughout our conversation, it becomes clear that PinkPantheress is excited to assume form. Her mystique had previously been a crutch for a shy musician who wasn’t quite sure if there was an appetite for her point of view. She didn’t really believe that her friends’ positive responses were genuine, prompting her to drop her first release “Just a Waste”, an interpolation of Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, on TikTok. “There’s no one more truthful than anonymous strangers online. If they like it then could I make a career of it?” she asks. After amassing 2.6 million followers and over 24 million likes, it’s clear that there’s a whole generation of fans hungry for sad, nostalgic bangers. “The only thing I am sure about now is that I know what good music is.”
When Pink’s high BPM bops first caught i-D’s attention back in 2021, she was still studying for a degree at the University of Arts London, a backup to her musical dream. But her interest in the subject quickly waned. “I legit wasn’t going,” she explains. There were pros to her studies — the course gave her the skills to direct her own music videos, like “Just for Me”, but eventually class started to feel secondary to the social aspects of campus life. Despite being a fresher during lockdown, she still beams at memories of getting drunk in student accommodation, eventually graduating to Boxpark in Shoreditch when restrictions were lifted. Her days spent frolicking in converted shipping containers, however, were short-lived. It’s a cruel irony that, although her songs are perfect for the dancefloor, PinkPantheress’ meteoric rise means she gets recognised in clubs so much that going out isn’t an option for her any more.
“It is a lot,” she adds, “I can only imagine what it’s like for people who are bigger.” Splitting her time between London and LA, PinkPantheress is being careful about who she allows into her circle. She’s received invaluable mentorship and friendship from Steve Lacy, whose “introspection” has made him a valued source of advice. “I love artists who don’t see you as competition and don’t just think ‘how can I suck the blood out of you?’” she explains. “There’s a list of people whose vibe I just think is so off that I avoid.”
Her newfound self-assurance is a remarkable byproduct of her unique ascent. “The labels and higher-ups, I couldn’t really care less. I’m pretty confident and I think I’ve proved I work well by myself,” she says. Having tried and tested what her fans respond to for years online, PinkPantheress has built a sturdy awareness regarding what will resonate with them. “So many producers over there say they want to work with me but don’t really get what I’m trying to do. Unless you’re an industry puppet, you should be deciding what you want your product to sound like,” she says.
Growing up on a diet of emotive storytellers like Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lily Allen and Pink, she thinks American music feels worlds apart. “British people are built differently—our culture, humour, music. We have a unique sound. Just like American hip-hop can’t be replicated here, they can’t replicate the British contemporary sound of sadness.” This Great British tradition runs through her own music: only a Brit could start a song with ‘Did you ever want me? No worries if not’ like PinkPantheress does in “All My Friends Know”, the eighth track on her debut mixtape.
PinkPantheress is eager to cling to some sense of normality. Heaven Knows could make this a much bigger challenge. She’s yet to make her first splashy purchase. “The thing is, no matter how much people like me get, you don’t feel like you deserve the money. You’ll never get used to having it.” One thing she’d quite like is a Tesla. “[But] I’ve got to be frugal, it’s the African in me!” And for now, her closest circle remains school and uni friends, who aren’t allowed to bring up the fact she’s famous. Together, they visit escape rooms to feel the thrill of being trapped — perhaps because, like her lockdown debut, these are the conditions in which she produces her best work.
Credits
Photography Alasdair McLellan
Fashion Alice Goddard
Hair Cyndia Harvey at Art Partner using This Hair of Mine
Make-up Lauren Parsons at Art Partner
Nail Technician Jenny Longworth at Streeters using OPI
Photography Assistance Lex Kembery, Jess Pearson and Andrew Edwards
Fashion Assistance Eli Richards and Georgia Pellegrino
Hair Assistance Karen Bradshaw
Make-up Assistance Anastasia Hess
Production Partner Films
Casting Director Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING