THE BACK STORY: The story goes that Biig Piig (real name: Jess Smyth) was first encouraged to pursue a music career after she performed a drunken freestyle at a friend’s house party back in 2015.
Fast forward a few years and the Irish-born, London-based songstress is now performing to audiences much larger than those found at house parties. One of 2019’s most-buzzed about new artists, Smyth (her ‘Biig Piig’ moniker was taken from a pizza menu) has been winning rave notices with her beguiling blend of jazz, hip-hop and neo-soul. London’s urban scene might be brimming with talented young singers, but none with quite the same unique approach of Smyth: with a languid style that’s half singing, half-rap, she delivers her observations of love, loss and twentysomething ennui with deep lyrical acuity.
A member of the West London creative collective NiNE8, Smyth is clearly determined to walk her own path. Having conceived a trilogy of EPs, she’s so far released two of them: last year’s Biig Fan of the Sesh, and the recent A World Without Snooze. We await the next chapter – and everything else she does – with baited breath.
FOR FANS OF: Nao, Erykah Badu, IAMDDB, Smerz.
KEY TRACK: ‘Perdida’ – Written in the aftermath of a break-up, this jazz-infused slow jam perfectly demonstrates her storytelling talents.
Cover photo Credit: Districtmagazine.ie
