PinkPantheress Just Canceled Her Tour. Right Beforehand, She Gave This Interview.
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Before she became a powerhouse producer and singer-songwriter with 17.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, PinkPantheress was a teenage girl who dropped songs anonymously from her bedroom. Eventually, tracks like “Break It Off” and “Pain” took off on TikTok, she released one of the biggest songs of 2023 with Ice Spice, and she garnered an A-list fan club including Coldplay, Paramore, KAYTRANADA, and Camila Cabello in the process. Her fresh perspective and distinct samples put a new spin on the Y2K nostalgia we all know and love, which can be heard on her latest Selena-sampling single “Turn It Up.” She even joined Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS tour as the opener.
But then on Thursday, August 1, the genre-defying artist revealed she is pulling out of upcoming performances and appearances to prioritize her health. She shared an update with fans via her Instagram Stories, writing:
“It is with the heaviest heart that I sadly have to announce that I will not be able to continue with the rest of my live shows this year in order to focus on my physical health and overall well-being. It appears I have reached a wall which I am struggling to penetrate through. This will include my GUTS Tour, Field Day, Summer Sonic Form, III Points, and Australia/NZ appearances.
“I would like to thank all of you, as well as my touring team and Olivia for giving me the platform to perform some super fun shows. I’m sad to disappoint anyone and can only hope we will be in each other’s company once I return to health.”
Before this, PinkPantheress stopped by Cosmopolitan HQ to talk about artistry, TikTok fame, and discovering her identity through music.
Disclaimer: This interview took place in July 2024, before PinkPantheress’s cancellation announcement.
Niche samples and interpolations are a hallmark of your sound and production style. How do you track down the perfect song for a sample?
Most of the time I just really, really like a song; It’s stuff that catches my ear. If I hear something in an advert or a song in a club I didn’t know, I’d Shazam it. Then for weeks on end, I’ll be thinking about making something until I do.
I have to ask about the purse. I love your commitment to always having one on your shoulder when you’re onstage.
You know, I do it because it completes my outfit. That’s actually one of the main reasons, ’cause it makes my outfit look good. And you never know when you might need something that’s right there.
What do you keep in there?
What normal people keep in a purse.
Like Chapstick or a fan? I keep a fan with me at all times because I run hot.
I don’t know if I can use fans because of my hair—they’ll blow my fringe away. But I keep a lip balm for sure, as well as perfume and deodorant.
Love that. Would you say it’s your emotional support handbag? Will we see it again soon or is the purse a sign of a previous era for you now?
I wear it as a bit of a crutch when I feel nervous. I actually can’t explain why, I don’t know what it’s for. I think it’s the sensory thing of having something familiar by your side. When I play my headline shows, I don’t feel nervous enough to carry it all the time. I’ll keep it on me because I feel quite nervous performing to a crowd that might not know me well, like at a festival or something. To be fair, people were doing it before me, but more people are doing it now.
Speaking of performances, how do you curate your stage presence? Are these moments fans eat up, like the purse, a spur-of-the-moment thing or are they something you plan out more meticulously?
I feel like my stage presence got better over time because I’ve managed to discover who I am. Before, I wasn’t too sure about my identity. I’ve always dressed a little bit off-peak, but I never played into my identity because my brand really only got stronger in the last year whereas before, it was very much about the music. There wasn’t anything physical that anyone could pick up on and be like, “Oh, that’s PinkPantheress.” It was only a year ago that people started to recognize who I was and what I looked like.
That being said, it plays into my stage presence because I have a stronger sense of what the crowd expects from me. Not so much with the purse, but during certain songs, I’ll do a particular dance style that I’ve seen someone do when they did an impression of me. I’ve seen people do lots of impressions of me online, but I’m like, “What? Where do you get this from?”
The world was introduced to PinkPantheress when you anonymously released music from your bedroom, and eventually, you revealed yourself when you dropped your first mixtape, To Hell With It. How did you decide it was time to move away from anonymity in your career?
I figured that it wasn’t going to be a long, fruitful, or impactful career if I didn’t show my face. As much as my music can speak for itself, I thought about how I’d hate to be somewhere and have people talk about my music without knowing I was the person who made it. I felt like I needed to come out of my shell a little bit. Honestly, I didn’t think it was going to be successful.
I don’t think people gave a shit about how I looked when I first came out. I don’t think it necessarily made such a difference until last year when my brand got stronger and I changed my hair. Turning 22 made me realize that I was too young before to show enough of myself to be comfortable with.
Figuring out who you are is a never-ending journey, especially as an artist. What’s been the biggest change in your artistry and identity since you decided to be public-facing?
The biggest challenge I still face is the assumptions people make about me. Because of the music I make, I feel like people aren’t quite prepared to give me as much leeway as an electronic artist because I’m Black. Without fail, the thing I hear the most is, “Oh my goodness, she’s the person who made this song?” It’s because of bewilderment, like, people can’t believe it. They’re shocked because they probably haven’t seen a Black woman do this. They don’t give me the same time of day or the same support. I mean, Beyoncé made Renaissance and that was a huge step for the Black community within the genre. There are a lot of things that are different for me as a Black woman making electronic music than for a lot of white women making it.
Which is so frustrating, because you put so much time and work into this art.
Right. It was a lot easier for me to be anonymous because there weren’t as many assumptions and people were just listening to the music. But because of how I look, they assume stuff about my music and probably don’t listen to it as much or take it seriously. Not even because of anything other than how I dress or the way I carry my purse, stuff like that. People think it’s a shtick, so they’re like, “Oh, she can’t be that serious.”
We both know it’s that serious, and another thing that plays into it is your social media presence. So many artists have found success thanks to TikTok virality and even landed on the charts because of the app. How do you think TikTok has played into your own career rise, if at all?
I mean, It was the only tool I had in my arsenal to get me to a position where I could then springboard off of the fans I gained from it.
Are there any misconceptions people have about that trajectory?
When people are too exposed to the same artists on an app like that, it’s easy for them to assume negative things. I suppose the same app that you found that “Oh, no, no, no, no, no” sound on is the same app that birthed one of my songs, and it’s easy to lump them in together as the same bullshit. I’ve never blamed anyone for thinking that way because it would be the safest thing to assume that I was a more shallow “TikTok artist.” That’s why I spend so much time actively researching music I should make for future endeavors because it’s one thing being on an app like that, but it’s another thing to try and make forward-thinking music.
Do you find you’re trying to get away from that narrative?
I just want people to take me seriously. That’s purely it. Aside from my image, I want people to take my music seriously. I don’t think there’s anything stopping anyone from looking into my discography and figuring out that it’s not all, like, stupid brain-rot music. It just hurts, when me and my team do a lot to try and think forwardly and I have people being very dismissive toward it. I’m in a very weird position where I don’t blame them, but I want them to take me seriously. So it’s a real cycle. The more I release, I’m sure I’ll gain respect at some point—even if it’s in six years. I have to remind myself that I’ve been here for three years, so I just need to be patient.
Well, you joined Olivia Rodrigo on part of the GUTS World Tour, which seems like a sign you won’t have to wait much longer. Did y’all talk or link up ahead of the shows?
We went for dinner a while ago to reconnect before the shows. She asked me a few times how I felt and I was very honest, like, “I’m very nervous. These are the biggest shows I’ve ever done as an opener, for sure.”
What have you been most excited to experience with her and that audience?
I’ve done festivals and stuff, but I feel like this is different because this is a curated crowd of her fans. There are elements of a crossover between her fans and mine, just given that we’re similar ages and we’re both girls. I’ve seen a few people say they would come to these shows to see me, but it’s actually quite a separate world that we belong to musically. I felt like people would show up for me, but I wasn’t expecting them to, so anything was a bonus, to be honest.
It’s been really interesting to see people have expectations about me when they hear my artist name or they’ve seen stuff about me. But if you’re not a listener, I feel like it can be confusing as to what you can expect. I was intrigued to see if it was a positive reaction or if people were over it. I’m not appealing to everybody, so it was really interesting to see the response, which has been super lovely.
Speaking of receiving support from other artists like Olivia, you recently appeared on Camila Cabello and KAYTRANADA’s latest albums. How did these opportunities come about? Did you know them before, or was it a situation where they called you up as fans?
For the Camila one, they kind of asked me to listen to it and then I gave my opinion. Then her team said, “Okay, could you try coming into the studio and writing?” I did write a few and ended up recording some demos and they used my vocals for the “Pink, XOXO” interlude. So yeah, that was cool. Then for KAYTRANADA, that’s just my GOAT, so I obviously had to do it. We’re friends, so it was just a mutual, like, “Oh, would you like to be on my album?”
What’s next for PinkPantheress?
I always think about this and, you know, I think it’s expanding and growing. That’s really it. Everything is a learning experience and I want to genuinely expand in my life and my artistry.
Parts of this interview have been edited and condensed for clarity.
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