Album Review: Griff - 'Vertigo'
Griff has claimed 2024 as her year with the release of her debut album, Vertigo.
Since receiving the Brits Rising Star award way back in 2021, singer-songwriter Griff has quickly made her way through the ranks and now is a household name. In her much anticipated and stunning debut album, we get a real insight into who the real Griff is. We’ve known her from her previous chart-topping singles and from glimpses of her support slots for artists like Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay but this release is an insight into her intentions as an artist. Capturing the highs and lows of navigating the entertainment world after being propelled to such a high stage as well as discovering and exploring her potential as a songwriter, this is a sensational debut that sees Griff find some reassurance and clarity amidst a sea of self doubt and industry pressure.
The album opens with eponymous track, Vertigo. As it starts, Griff’s vocals are muffled and distorted, as though they are being sung through an old telephone or radio.
‘You're scared of heights, that's vertigo. You wanted lights, go see a show. You ran away, that's touch and go. You're scared of love, well, aren't we all? Well, aren't we all? Yeah, well, aren't we all?’
Starting a debut album this way is so interesting and reads almost like a soft launch before things really get started. There is a quiet assuredness to her tone - the distorted and fluffy vocals should not be mistaken for uncertainty as Griff knows exactly what she is doing. Vertigo is a track we know already too; hearing it here in this new setting allows the audience to recontexualise it as part of the album. She is welcoming us in slowly, ensuring that we take in every moment. We are starting a journey with a friend we have grown familiar with and before long, we are going to be thrown into something new. The track follows the aftermath of a breakup, exploring the vast array of emotions that come with the fallout. In her lyrics, it is clear that these feelings are overwhelming for Griff and at times she cannot differentiate between her anger, sadness, confusion and fear. She wrote the song in between touring, and explained her intentions channel her sense of disorientation, dizziness and vulnerability during such a busy time.
“I think I ended up writing about the word vertigo, more on an emotional level… like when you think about the world spinning really fast and always feeling about upside down. I think that's kind of the context that I used vertigo on this song."
Its particularly intriguing then that with all of this imagery, the song is written in the major key. Griff is demonstrating from the start of this album that she is seeking to subvert and surpass our expectations. We think we know what she is going to do, but in reality, we are being shown someone who is only just beginning to peel the layers back. Its a brilliant way to kick off the album and sets the pace for the rest of the adventure; we are going to be dizzied with melody and imagery as we are introduced to the real Griff; someone beyond the girl we have met before.
Things shift gears as the album moves into ‘Miss Me Too’. Griff’s vocals carry a forcefulness and maturity that wasn’t so noticeable before; she demonstrates that she has grown up and matured in her craft for Vertigo’s release. The production feels bigger than what we’ve heard before and theres a real sense of there being stakes that weren’t there before. The booming instrumental moments brilliantly contrast sections where Griff sings alone - the production of the track is simply cinematic and it doesn’t feel like you are doing the track justice by listening to it quietly through earphones. It is a song that demands not just to be heard, but to be danced to.
‘And what a time we had, I drank the drinks and shook the hands, and I believed the plan. But it broke my heart in a million ways, then I fell apart in a foreign place and all I wanna do is find a way back to you. 'Cause I'll miss me, I'll miss me too’
There’s so many ways to read into the lyrics of this song. Is it a goodbye to the girl before the accolade and recognition? Is it a commentary on how she has changed after a breakup? Is it pent up frustration and bittersweet memories of the person she was before she took on the stage name Griff? It could be all of these things, it could be none. What is clear is that the intention and emotions that fuel this track are multifaceted and recogniseable to many; we will likely all be crying in the back of the club dancing our nights away to this song all summer long.
In ‘19th Hour’ we get to see just how accomplished a vocalist Griff is. The track opens with angelic backing vocals soaring effortlessly to A5 only to drop two octaves for the first verse. Her range is indisputable; she sings with such feeling no matter where in her register the melody lays. While the lyrics and verses in this track are certainly great, what stands out are the moments where Griff sings without words. The motif she sang in the opening line are the foundations upon which the entire song is built : Cascading harmonies, interwoven rhythms and lines and simple vowel sounds beg the question of whether instrumentals are really necessary when you can sing like this. This is continued in tracks like ‘Anything’ and ‘Pillow in My Arms’ which also see Griff say so much with just how she sings. Harmony is used so expertly throughout and the symphony of voices coming together continues the grandiose and cinematic threads we were introduced to right at the start, something only elevated by the powerful and commanding instrumentals. It's so good to see this on a debut record as it signals to the listener that Griff knows exactly who she is. Her lyrics, melodies and artistry are all fantastic but at the root of all things, she is a young woman with a voice - that is all she needs.
‘Astronaut’ is an especially magical moment, not only because it is a collaboration track with Coldplay’s Chris Martin but also because of what it is trying to say. This is another track we knew before coming into this album however hearing it here brings on so many new interpretations and meanings. An exploration and deep dive into what it means to let go, this track is emotional, personal and a wonderful insight into Griff’s abilities as a songwriter. Using the metaphor of space and an astronaut, Griff tells a story of a partner who wants their own space and talks about her struggle as she sees someone she loves get further and further out of her grasp. It is as much about reckoning with your own isolation and detachment as it is about wishing for someone to come back and realise the weight of what they have lost but ultimately the track captures the inner conflict of letting go. It is both a reluctant permission for someone who wants to leave and a sad acknowledgement that ultimately, they can and will go regardless of that permission. Looking at it with the context of the album as a whole, the track reads at times as Griff letting aspects of herself and her past go in order to progress as the artist she is now. She is saying goodbye to something she once was, and through granting that space and time, she can rediscover who it is she wants to be.
Perhaps the most poignant and powerful song on the album is ‘Everlasting’. It sees Griff, a young woman of Chinese and Jamaican descent and daughter of immigrants to the UK, looking back to everyone who came before her. She has fears that she will fail her ancestors, making the same mistakes they did and rendering their efforts and endeavors pointless. Possibly the most introspective track on the album, Griff is grappling with a pressure to do her family and herself proud.
‘I get scared that we’ll end up like them, and now we’re looking forward in silence. The truth is I don’t know if I can or believe in the everlasting. Sure I want to and I will keep wishing, and crossing every part of my fingers, but who am I to think that I’m different?’
Soundbytes of spoken word give the track a very diaristic quality; Griff is as much talking to us as she is herself in this moment. The amount of certainty she has built up over the course of the album is for the first time wavering and she is admitting her own fears of letting everyone down. An incredibly vulnerable insight, it is a sensational way to begin to close the album.
‘Where Did You Go’, the track which does end everything, is almost entirely created with just a voice. It is her voice, but different. This is not only because of the augmentation, but also from the journey we have all been on together through the album. At times, the voice does not even sound like Griff; it has been distorted to a point where it is nearly unrecognizable before it returns to her cadence and tone. Its a powerful message about what it means to Griff to claim her own voice and artistry whilst also recognising and being proud of the fact that she is made up of everything that has come before. The track reads impossibly both as a goodbye and a hello and therefore is the only way she could have ended the album. The final line is sensational and encompasses everything she has been trying to convey:
‘I think we both know that I’m not yours anymore, oh no I’m not yours anymore. Oh somewhere deep I go, do you even want to know, are you sure you wanna know?’
With that line, we can understand everything. Griff acknowledges that in completing and releasing her debut, it no longer is only hers. She is letting it go, inviting the rest of the world to take care. She tells us that she is off to pastures new and whilst warning us that it's going to be somewhere deep and introspective, she gently invites us along.
What then can possibly come next? Griff has already announced some small shows at local record stores at the end of this month to celebrate the album's release but has been incredibly candid and low key in terms of things we can expect to see going forward. Only joking, that isn’t fooling anybody and she naturally is going on a world tour. Given live performances we have seen from her in the past and the way so many of the album tracks demand to be performed live, this will be one not to miss.
Words by Kirsty Thomson
