For two weeks, tap has been tinkering with a mix of his single “Last Night’s Mascara” like a pop-obsessed scientist searching for an impossible answer: How do you capture the boisterous energy of a stadium concert and drop it into a studio session? It’s Wednesday morning when we speak, two days before the song’s planned release, and the British singer-songwriter is still tweaking and tweaking the final version. She really wants to do it right, but she also doesn’t want to keep the thousands of people feverishly awaiting her arrival waiting any longer.

tap premiered a booming and passionate version of “Last Night’s Mascara” on stage at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis in October. It was his second night opening for Sabrina Carpenter at the short and sweet tour and wanted to try out the demo while having so many receptive pop fans in one place. “It was all just a little experiment that accidentally turned out well, but it was almost not ready for the actual reception,” says Griff. rolling stone on Zoom. She shared clips of the live performance on TikTok, with each new post garnering between 28,000 and 205,000 likes. “And then I literally thought, ‘Oh my God, no, it’s actually not ready.’”

“Last Night’s Mascara” reaches its explosive peak during the bridge, the part of the song that had fans begging for its release, where she cries: “Sunday morning, made me look crazy/I’m on my knees at the altar , dear. /Asking God to wash you from my soul.” The song began last year, shortly after Griff completed his masterful debut album. Vertigowhich arrived in July earlier this year. “I had the idea of ​​makeup being a metaphor for all your anxieties and worries, or a person who has completely hurt you,” she says. “It describes the period of time between a Friday or Saturday night and a Sunday, and the emotional calm of what can happen over the weekend.”

The final studio version is all punchy bass and cathartic pleas to get rid of complicated emotions, with a lyrical reference to Enya’s “Orinoco Flow.” While writing and producing the album, Griff was inspired by Whitney Houston and Robyn, but also by Banks’ dark, rhythmic sounds. Taking a break from her tinkering, Griff explains why she rescued “Last Night’s Mascara” from her pile of demos after being talked out of finishing it, how she made it across the finish line, and why dancing to Carpenter’s show with fans at the pit after. his performance seemed like a healthy homage to childhood.

Why did “Last Night’s Mascara” become something you wanted to share in an official capacity after putting it aside for so long?
It was a real struggle putting this album together because I completely lost confidence. I couldn’t see the forest from the trees in terms of what was good and what wasn’t. Maybe a year and a half ago, I was letting so much outside opinion from teams and everything shape what this debut album was going to be like for me. And that meant that many songs were overlooked and unfinished. It was a really sad process, to be honest. Honestly, I felt like I was going crazy for a lot of last year because I was like, “I’m pretty sure these songs are good.” There are so many good songs on here that for some reason I don’t get the affirmation, and it bothers me to let that affect my decisions, but I still do it.

On my headline tour in America, I did a bit in the middle where I went into the pit and sang with an acoustic guitar. I guess in a little homage to the jump track or the appetite for the surprise song, I thought, “I’ve got all these songs and I’ve got nothing to lose.” I just started playing them. I’ve done a lot of support shows so far and haven’t released any music. It was almost an experiment, wondering what a new song would sound like in a set, and just to see if there would be an appetite for it. I got the old stems and gave them to my band towards the end of my tour, and I said, “Do you think we could have this ready for Sabrina?” And so we did it.

It’s significant that this song went from being shelved because you didn’t feel supported in what it could be to being something that you were able to bring directly to the fans and receive so much enthusiasm.
It’s been the most empowering thing, if I’m totally honest. There have been times looking at members of my team now and saying, “Oh, what do you think of what’s going on with ‘Last Night’s Mascara?'” And they’re like, “Yeah, you know, I guess I didn’t.” “I really heard it that way when I first heard it.” It’s a bit of being able to get back to the relationship between me and my fans, and not allow that middleman to control and confuse that process.

You also received comments from fans. Some thought that the excerpt from the studio version lacked the touch of the live version. How did you approach remodeling the demo from where you left it?
Songs always take on a different shape live. For me, the demo was always very dark and moody and driven by this subtle bass. It was almost a soundtrack to that period of coming home to waking up the next morning and that kind of distortion and darkness of everything. The demo version was much more in that mood, but then when I play live, I’m so alive that there was a new euphoria in the live version. I gave my band my session parts and Jamiel (Blake) played some live drums, and Jeff (James) embellished the pads a bit more.

We accidentally did something that felt much more euphoric and desperate in that video that people seem to really like. I was mixing the song and I thought, ‘Okay, let me post the actual demo (online).’ That was me alone running around Sabrina’s locker room bathrooms. And I thought, maybe I feel like something is missing. Then all the comments were like, “Girl, we need the live version.” Literally the last few days I’ve been going back and trying to inject the same soul.

The last time we spokeYou were talking about the dual role of being a performer and a producer and you said: “I almost wonder if I had to become an artist in order to also exist as a producer, because that means I can make the decisions and my chances of the songs coming out, getting to the rooms and actually see songs live in the world are older.” The way this song came about so spontaneously feels like a continuation of that.
Yes, I have been modifying everything. I love this one, because it’s really 100 percent me in the writing and producing. So it seems like it’s the purest way to make music, see if people like it and react to it. It’s almost like DJs or rappers. They would come straight out of the studio and try a song in a club and see how it felt. In a way, it feels like that process in a kind of pop version.

Does having a vault track generate this kind of reaction make you want to revisit other songs you may have put aside?
It makes me want to do more new things. I think it’s been a grieving process for a lot of these other songs. I think it’s about taking the kind of trust from this process and putting it back into the next record. I know that now I am going to return to the studio with much more authority and excitement. Before, I was very scared. Some days I would walk into the studio and say, “I don’t know what everyone wants from me.” I’ll always write a lot of songs, so I’m always used to the proportion of songs that don’t come out.

This being his first proper single since VertigoHow does “Last Night’s Mascara” fit into that chapter?
It is definitely a continuation of VertigoBut I’m not locking it up. It’s there. Again, it’s a bit of an experiment, so it’s not that defined in any kind of place. But I like the idea that people can discover “Last Night’s Mascara” and come back to the album and still love it the same way and hear the same emotions and feelings. I think I’m at a point now where there’s no pressure. The debut album, Suffocating Nube, is no longer available.

What headspace are you in heading out to tour the UK and Europe after being in the US for so long? First, you spearheaded your own career and then joined the short and sweet route.
The rooms I’m about to play in almost feel like I’m returning to my tribe a little bit. And this album is ready to be sung and enjoyed with my people, which is really cool. Honestly, I can never predict which songs will turn out best. Sometimes it’s a very old song and sometimes no one knows them. And I love that too, because it means that things are growing and that people are finding me and discovering me. I’m excited and nervous too, because even though the stadiums were big, I’m about to play in my biggest venue in London, Alexandra Palace, which is huge. They are like thousands and thousands. It feels challenging in a good way.

What was it like being on tour with Sabrina? There were a few nights after your performance when you were also dancing in the pit with the fans.
I loved watching the show every night. I have been a fan of Sabrina for a long time. But I would go on stage at the beginning of the set, people would come in unsure, and at the end, almost every night, everyone would turn on their lights without me asking them to. And then I felt like as each night went on, the set was going amazing and then I joined the audience. Then I would shout these songs with every girl in the room. Then he would see Sabrina and hang out.

It just felt like a really empowering and supportive experience. Empowerment and childhood seem like buzzwords, but it’s true. It’s very fun. I think it’s brought the fun back into music, for me, in a time when music can be so serious. It’s like, what’s the single? Is it artistic enough? The whole seriousness of it, I think the last few weeks have taken it all away. I go up, I have fun. I sing “Girls just want to have fun.” I try a new song. Then go and dance with all the girls in the room. It is the purest form of joy that music should bring to people.