PinkPantheress has blown up on TikTok and reached the Billboard Hot 100. But who is she?
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Taking a glance at the recent Billboard Hot 100, the single “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” is dominating the charts, currently giving Miley Cyrus, SZA and many other megastars a run for their money. This begs the question: who is the voice behind the original version of this catchy track?
Booming New York rapper Ice Spice appears on the sequel of the original “Boy’s a liar,” released in 2022 by popular English artist PinkPantheress, who is transitioning into a huge international artist. Although she first blew up through some of her songs’ success on TikTok, her continuous success is proving to the industry she is well beyond a TikTok artist and has an immense amount of unique abilities.
PinkPantheress’ high, reverb sound matched over sparkly house beats sets her apart from the pack. She is even creating songs with electronic legends, such as Skrillex. Appearances with other genre staples has only pushed her career further, yet a lot of music has yet to answer the question: Who is PinkPantheress?
The development of a star
The 21-year-old artist from Bath, England first began releasing her mainstream singles in 2021. Her unique samples and production methods caught the eyes and ears of millions of listeners. Her name is derived from the popular animated franchise, “The Pink Panther.”
PinkPantheress is currently signed to Parlophone, a major UK based label through Warner Music Group, and Elektra Records. But, she has yet to move her talents to the United States, despite recent collaborations with U.S. musicians.
Posting a snippet of her song “Just a waste” on her TikTok account in 2020, she gained an immense amount of social media attention, with the clip receiving over 500,000 likes and even more views. This would become an outlet for her to grow in popularity. This is a common theme nowadays, with others like Yeat and Lil Nas X using the short video-making app to rise towards stardom.
As 2021 began, so did the launch of PinkPantheress’ career, as she released two breakout singles in January titled “Pain” and “Attracted to you.” Both songs encapsulate the garage and house beats that have grown in notoriety and popularity across the industry.
Despite not having many lyrics, “Pain” dives into the relationship with an ex-boyfriend and states that “I know I shouldn’t be watching ’cause every time I feel the pain,” reliving the experience of waiting for her former lover.
The upbeat house-esque instrumental pairs extremely well with her beautiful vocals and flow, a huge reason for why her talent is being recognized.
Another 2021 single, “Break it off,” also took the up-and-coming singer to new heights, as she credits the song as her big step to prominence. In an interview, she said she believes that the song was her “breakthrough track,” with it being “the first time my name was being chucked around a fair bit.”
Sampling the 1997 song “Circles” by Adam F, we hear a very similar tune compared to “Pain,” as she belts a lot more lyrics discussing how she is so used to keeping her emotions undercover — “but I’m so used to saying, ‘I’m fine.’”
Across 2021, she continued to grow as an artist, sharing her extraordinary style with the world. Eventually, she compiled her viral releases into an October mixtape titled “to hell with it,” piecing together her vast flair for house music.
“to hell with it” and other projects
Her debut mixtape “to hell with it” ran 10 songs and had only an 18 minute run time. It was a short but creative body of work that allowed PinkPantheress to expand her creativity beyond viral TikTok hits.
Along with “Break it Off,” “Pain” and “Passion,” more new tracks “I must apologise” and “Just for me” have racked up a combined 187 million streams on Spotify, expanding her catalog even more. This gave listeners a lot more to work with when digesting her experimental melodies.
Throughout the project, she explores the garage/house beat theme, incorporating lots of kicks, snares and occasional sound effects that mesh it all together.
The mixtape was re-released in January 2022, chalked full of different remixes while also holding the original tracks on a separate disc, as we see a lot in two-sided or double albums.
PinkPantheress also gathered collaborations with Lil Uzi Vert, WILLOW, Baby Keem and other members of the industry scattered across 2022 joined by solo performances. “Do you miss me?”and “Boy’s a liar” highlighted her three song EP “Take me home” which came out in December.
Her soft, mellow vocals on “killstreaks” by Baby Keem, also featuring Don Toliver, enhances the emotions and experience when traveling across the track, hypnotizing the audience with her lyrics, “take a look and ride with me, crash my car and ride with me.”
Between her feature and solo hype, PinkPantheress shoots into this year with 25 million monthly listeners on Spotify. She also is seeing a consistent rise in streaming numbers, thanks to her recent remix of “Boy’s a liar” with Ice Spice.
Positioned for a Billboard number one spot, “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” brings out the best from the two up-and-coming artists, and is a versatile look at the opposite genres of music and lyricism intertwined into a chart topper. With 70 million streams already, this could be the largest song for PinkPantheress’ discography so far, and is already poised to pass up the original version in numbers.
What’s Next for PinkPantheress?
PinkPantheress’ distinctive, hypnotic rhythm is a breath of fresh air in the music industry. It’s evident as to why the English singer’s potential is soaring through the roof.
With so little material out compared to other artists, her success shows that the solo tracks and small EPs are getting the job done for streams and rising popularity. She’ breaking through as a current international star.
As for future projects, it is difficult to tell at the moment where she will go, but building off of the hype that “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” delivered, new tracks could further propel excitement throughout her fan base.
For garage, house and overall music fans, PinkPantheress is a name that will be followed for years and years to come around the music industry.
