PinkPantheress reimagines garage music for a new generation
PinkPantheress agreed to an interview, but kept her camera off and chose not to share her name. The life of the internet's buzziest new artist has been shrouded in mystery, but in conversation she's cheeky and approachable. The 20-year-old from southeast England laughs through her phase of making K-Pop fan edits, name-drops formative artists with the abandon of someone who religiously makes Topsters, and describes the song "All My Friends Know" on her new mixtape as a "Drake type beat."
Her songs, which place her vocals on garage and drum and bass inflected beats, similarly toe a line between the familiar and mysterious. Press play on almost any of her TikTok viral songs, and iconic U.K. garage samples will start flying through your ears. Her catchy breakout hit "Pain" samples the 2000 garage hit "Flowers" by Sweet Female Attitude and Sunship. Another song "Break It Off" samples the drum and bass classic "Circles" by Adam F. She writes songs that submit to the norms of the attention economy â keep it short, keep it hooky â but this frame serves her music perfectly.
She also has plenty of support from the U.K. dance world. After garage saw its most popular years in the '90s and early 2000s, it went back underground, but is now having a small resurgence with artists like Bklava and AJ Tracey. "I think she's sick. I swear to god I think she's sick," says garage luminary DJ Q. "I think it only helps the scene, man, 'cause and then maybe discover artists or more tracks like it."
