Pinkpantheress, whose real name is Vicky Beverly Walker, is a 20-year-old musician born in Bath in the U.K., who’s been making music for about four years. Pinkpantheress was born in Bath, England, in 2001. Her mother’s Kenyan and her name comes from a moment spent watching The Chase, after hearing the question, “What is a female panther called?” Although she is largely unknown, Pinkpantheress’ songs are ubiquitous around the world, and many people know the words of her lyrics. You can find more alternative artists on our blog!
In addition to singing in a My Chemical Romance cover band as a teenager, she cites Paramore, Lily Allen, Imogen Heap, and K-pop as influences. While attending secondary school, she began producing instrumentals for a friend and writing songs for herself. Using GarageBand, she recorded her vocals while lying face down at night in her university hall. After uploading snippets of her songs to social media at the end of 2020, her tracks went viral in early 2021. To date, she has received over 211.9 million streams on Spotify with her song Pain! With well over millions of streams on most of her releases, it is easy to see that she is a rising star.
It probably helps that her tracks are super short, like sketches or voice notes you’d send your friends – she’s been gaining a lot of attention in the vying economy of short-form video apps. A lot of new generation artists have gained critical exposure through TikTok, which has helped them launch their careers in music.
Pinkpantheress’ sad, wistful lyrics and her reworking of old samples into something completely new make her songs popular. Its authenticity and DIY nature remind me of artists such as Clairo, beabadoobee, and Rex Orange County. It’s introspective and intimate, and while Pinkpantheress might be elusive as a musician, it’s clear that she’s not putting up any walls with her songwriting. She’s putting out her innermost emotions and feelings for people to hear, which means that even if you don’t know who she is, you can relate to her thoughts and experiences. Seeing her explosive growth over the past few years has been exciting, and I look forward to seeing her succeed even more.
Want more from Pinkpantheress? Keep up with her music on Spotify!