Chrissi
"Songwriting has always been something that I've just been able to do, and I've been encouraged since I was young. My nan believes in handprints and how they tell your future and shit. When I was born, they said I had a fork on my hand meaning I'm going to be famous (otherwise she'd have made me stick to my brades). But it didn't feel like I was forced to do music - it just felt like it was home.
I was born in England, and my family's from Trinidad. Everyone was slowly moving here; we lived in a massive house in Romford with 13 people, all my cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles (Christmas was a fucking motive)! We were surrounded by a lot of soca; my parents live for Carnival, so they listened to that and nothing else. But when I went to school, I went from being a little Trini girl to the only black girl in a massive school in Essex where all they do is listen to house and garage. Those genres became my life. Then for college, I went to a school in East London, where they'd listen to neo-soul and R&B - fucking Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, all these people I'd never heard of! So now, I'm straddling all these genres whilst trying to find my own sound. But you don't realise your sound is just a compilation of everything you've ever heard, along with everything you've ever loved, along with whatever you like to strum on guitar.
Living in a house with so many people there's going to be altercations, arguments and all of that shit. When all the bacchanal was going on downstairs, me and my brother would be upstairs with the guitar we had in the house just chatting absolute shit over a baseline - it was hilarious. But that's how we started playing together. I even taught myself how to play; I was in a music lesson, my friend played a song that she wrote on guitar. I thought, ‘I could probably write better if I knew how to play.' I turned to my other mate and told her I was gonna learn, and she kind of laughed me off. Two weeks now - I have a guitar at home but it's bruk up, a seven-year-old, right-handed guitar with two strings on it (I'm left-handed as well). I'm there learning the chords by trying to imagine what they would sound like if I could actually strum the strings, but I guess it worked out ok.
The way I got into music professionally is pretty funny. I do loads of live shows, and around two years ago I went to a night at Pop Brixton. The guy who ran the night is a terrifying guy - in the industry he's g'd up, like he's hard. I walked in with my little guitar, and I was so scared. My friend came in and convinced him to give me a chance. Two two's now - we get to one point in the show where he's just jamming, and he shouts at me, "have you got anything you can spit to this?" I can't see because I didn't have my glasses on. I stepped up there the first time without my guitar, I'm fucking terrified, hands shaking! But after I sang, everyone was screaming and going crazy. I ended up finding my manager there, and it was one of the best nights of my life.
With my music, I love so many genres, but the closest place I can put my sound is a blend of R&B, pop and alternative. I'm inspired by so many people from Joy Crookes, all the way to the 1975, One Direction, Tame Impala and SZA. My lyrics are so frank because I'm a really open and loving person, I like to give that part of myself away easily. Rather than needing people to earn my trust, I go into everything with complete trust; I'm just quite a glass half full kind of person.
It's partially because of how much I've grown. Most recently, knowing my worth has been a big.I big achievement. I'm in my 20s and I'm working with the fittest producers in the world - I've got nothing to be upset about. But I still am ready to share all of my feelings. Nowadays, you're either an artist that sings about heartbreaks and stuff like that, or you're an artist that sings about being a bad bitch all the time. But I like to have the whole arc, the "should I get lipo or should I go psycho" dilemmas, right down to crying and completely breaking down. My songs are in very different places, but they find a home together - it all represents who I am.”