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Clairo

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Clairo
Clairo performing at Parkteatret in Oslo, December 2019
Clairo performing at Parkteatret in Oslo, December 2019
Background information
Birth nameClaire Elizabeth Cottrill
Also known asDJ Baby Benz
Born (1998-08-18) August 18, 1998 (age 26)[1]
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
OriginCarlisle, Massachusetts, U.S.
Genres
OccupationSinger-songwriter
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • keyboards
Years active2012–present
LabelsFader
Websiteclairo.com

Claire Elizabeth Cottrill (born August 18, 1998), known professionally as Clairo, is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Carlisle, Massachusetts, she began posting music on the internet at age 13.

Clairo rose to prominence following the viral success of the music video for her lo-fi single "Pretty Girl" in 2017. She subsequently signed a record deal with Fader Label, where she released her debut EP Diary 001 (2018). Her debut studio album Immunity (2019) received critical acclaim and spawned the singles "Bags" and "Sofia", the latter of which became her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Cottrill's second studio album, Sling, released in 2021.

Early life

Claire Cottrill was born in Atlanta, Georgia; however, she was raised in Carlisle, Massachusetts.[7] She is the daughter of marketing executive Geoff Cottrill.[8][9]

Career

2011–2017: Career beginnings

Cottrill began recording covers at the age of 13; she often performed covers at local businesses including Blue Dry Goods. During this time, MTV contacted her to record a song to be used as background music for one of their shows, but the song was never used.[10] Under the names Clairo and DJ Baby Benz, she began posting music to Bandcamp while attending Concord-Carlisle High School and went on to post covers and songs in addition to DJ mixes of rap music on SoundCloud.[10][11] She also maintained a YouTube channel where she would post covers and short films.[2]

"Pretty Girl" (2017)
Clairo's bedroom pop beginnings in "Pretty Girl" (2017).
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Clairo first drew wide attention in late 2017 when the video for her song "Pretty Girl" went viral on YouTube.[2] The song was recorded for an indie rock compilation benefiting the Transgender Law Center.[12] According to her, she recorded the track "using the resources around me which were pretty shitty. I used like a little keyboard that I had and I was really into ’80s pop music — my mom is obsessed with it — so it kind of inspired me to do something like that."[13] She attributed interest in the video to YouTube's algorithm system.[12] The video also became popular on vaporwave-centric Facebook groups.[13] "Pretty Girl" had amassed more than 15 million views on YouTube by 2018.[12] A piece written by Joe Coscarelli of The New York Times said that the work: "bridges both worlds, building on the coy, understated bedroom pop of 'Pretty Girl' and 'Flamin Hot Cheetos' toward sturdier numbers like '4EVER' and 'B.O.M.D.'".[12] Another video that was uploaded to YouTube a month earlier, "Flamin Hot Cheetos", garnered 3 million views by July 2018.[14] The success of "Pretty Girl" led to interest from major labels such as Capitol, RCA, and Columbia. Jon Cohen, co-founder of The Fader, signed Clairo to the magazine's associated record label with a 12-song record contract and introduced her to Pat Corcoran, manager of Chance the Rapper. She became a client of talent agency Haight Brand near the end of 2017.[12]

2018–present: Immunity and Sling

On May 25, 2018, Fader Label released Clairo's debut record, titled Diary 001.[15] In her review for Pitchfork, Fader contributor Sasha Geffen wrote that the EP ought to subside the "legions of naysayers who dismissed her as a one-hit fluke or an industry plant."[16] That same month, she announced a headlining tour throughout North America, opening for Dua Lipa.[17] Her July performance at the Bowery Ballroom in New York was a sold-out show.[14] In October 2018, she performed at Lollapalooza.[18] She performed at Coachella in 2019.[19]

Clairo at El Rey Theatre in April 2019
"Bags" (2019)
Clairo's advancement into indie pop in "Bags" (2019).
Problems playing this file? See media help.

On May 24, 2019, Clairo released a new single, "Bags", and announced her debut album Immunity[20] which was released on August 2, 2019.[21] She would further release two more singles from the album "Closer to You" and "Sofia."[22][23] Following the album's commercial success, Apple Music named Clairo an Up Next artist in August 2019.[24] Clairo made her television debut performing "I Wouldn’t Ask You" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September 2019,[25] before performing "Bags" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show a few days later.[26] In December 2019, Clairo won Pop Artist of the Year at the 2019 Boston Music Awards for the second consecutive year, as well as Album of the Year for Immunity. "Bags" was included in over 15 critics' lists ranking the year's top songs including Pitchfork's and Paste's lists of best songs of the decade.[27][28] Immunity was included in over 10 critics' end of year lists, including The Guardian, Pitchfork, Billboard and Los Angeles Times. As of 2019, Clairo was managed by Mike Ahern and Jimmy Bui.[29]

In April 2020, Clairo revealed that she had begun working on her second album via a tweet of a screenshot of a playlist titled ‘Album 2 (demos so far)’.[30] On October of that same year, Clairo formed a new band called Shelly with indie-pop artist Claud and their two friends from Syracuse University, Josh Mehling and Noa Frances Getzug. The group released two songs, "Steeeam" and "Natural", on October 30, 2020.[31] On June 11, 2021, Clairo released "Blouse", the first single from her second record, Sling, which was announced that same day.[32][33] The album was released on July 16, 2021.[34]

Artistry

Clairo recalled that the Shins' Wincing the Night Away was "the first album I really completely geeked out over" crediting it as her inspiration to make music.[35] Based on the fact that many around her told her that a career in music was unlikely she did not consider it a likely prospect and musically "kind of did whatever I wanted".[35]

Personal life

In 2017, Cottrill began attending Syracuse University.[10]

Cottrill was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 17.[8] Cottrill came out as bisexual to her fans via Twitter in May 2018.[36][37] In an interview, she explained that making friends in college is what helped her to come out as they were openly gay and she was inspired by "their confidence and their willingness to be exposed."[38]

Following the success of "Pretty Girl", a number of social media users (specifically on discussion website Reddit) began claiming that Clairo was an "industry plant" who gained success through her father's nepotism.[8][14] She denied the claims, referring to them as sexist.[12] Writers for The Guardian and The Ringer also stated that her father's connections facilitated her record contract signing.[39][14]

Discography

Main article: Clairo discography

Awards and nominations

Year Organization Award Work Result Ref.
2018 Boston Music Awards Artist of the Year Clairo Nominated [40][41]
Pop Artist of the Year Won
Album/EP of the Year Diary 001 Nominated
2019 Artist of the Year Clairo Nominated [42][43]
Pop Artist of the Year Won
Album of the Year Immunity Won
Song of the Year "Bags" Nominated
BBC! Hottest Record of the Year Fifth [44]
2020 NME Awards Best Song in the World Nominated [45]
Best New Act in the World Clairo Won

References

  1. ^ Ting, Jasmine (August 18, 2019). "Clairo Gets a Sesame Street Surprise from Khalid". Paper. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Moore, Jacob (September 29, 2017). "Meet Clairo, the Lo-Fi Bedroom Singer/Songwriter Who Went Viral By Being Herself". Complex.
  3. ^ a b c St. Asaph, Katherine (August 2, 2019). "Clairo Immunity". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Droke, Carolyn (February 17, 2020). "Clairo's New Lo-Fi Demo Calls Back To Her Early Days As A Musician". Uproxx. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  5. ^ Caramanica, Jon (March 7, 2018). "The New Indie Pop: Off-Kilter, Handmade, Whimsical and Emotional". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Empire, Kitty (December 7, 2019). "Clairo review – a quiet phenomenon". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  7. ^ Ignacio, Joseph. "Clairo completes "Immunity" tour by conquering Boston". The Raider Times. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  8. ^ a b c Cliff, Aimee (November 27, 2018). "Clairo IRL". Dazed Digital.
  9. ^ Dawson, Brit (August 16, 2019). "Six things that inspired Clairo's debut album Immunity". Dazed. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  10. ^ a b c Moreland, Quinn (January 16, 2018). Meet Clairo, the YouTube Star Turning Teenage Awkwardness Into Viral Gold, Pitchfork
  11. ^ Alumni Writers (April 14, 2014). "WIQH Brings Musical Talent from CCHS!". CCHS Voice. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Coscarelli, Joe (May 23, 2018). "Clairo's 'Pretty Girl' Went Viral. Then She Had to Prove Herself". New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  13. ^ a b Tanzer, Myles (October 19, 2017). "Clairo on "Pretty Girl" and making chill pop songs for the whole internet to enjoy". The Fader.
  14. ^ a b c d Zoladz, Lindsay (July 25, 2018). "The Curious Case of Clairo". The Ringer. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  15. ^ "Clairo Announces Debut EP, Shares New Song: Listen". Pitchfork. April 27, 2018.
  16. ^ Geffen, Sasha (May 21, 2018). "Diary 001 EP". Pitchfork.
  17. ^ Kim, Michelle. "Clairo Announces Tour". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  18. ^ Legaspi, Althea; Klinkenberg, Brendan (August 4, 2018). "Lollapalooza 2018: Tyler the Creator, Bruno Mars, Lizzo Highlight Day Two". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  19. ^ The Boston Globe (January 4, 2019). "Meet Clairo, the Carlisle native who's playing Coachella". The Boston Globe.
  20. ^ "Clairo Announces Debut Album Immunity, Shares New Song "Bags": Listen". Pitchfork.
  21. ^ Sophie Caraan (August 2, 2019). "Clairo Shares Highly-Anticipated Debut Album 'Immunity'". Hypebeast.
  22. ^ SHAAD D'SOUZA. "Clairo drops new track "Sofia"". The Fader. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  23. ^ Moreland, Quinn. "Clairo Has Something to Prove". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  24. ^ Iasimone, Ashley (August 21, 2019). "Clairo Named Apple Music's 'Up Next' Artist". Billboard. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  25. ^ Schatz, Lake (September 6, 2019). "Clairo performs "I Wouldn't Ask" with children's choir on Kimmel: Watch". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  26. ^ Minsker, Evan (September 17, 2019). "Watch Clairo Perform "Bags" on Ellen". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  27. ^ "The 200 Best Songs of the 2010s". Pitchfork. October 7, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  28. ^ Todd, Harry (October 21, 2019). "The 100 Best Songs of the 2010s". Paste. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  29. ^ Kaplan, Llana (June 28, 2019). "Why Clairo Passed on Major Label Offers and Built Her Own Team".
  30. ^ "Clairo reveals she's returned to work on her new album". NME. April 13, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  31. ^ "Clairo forms new band Shelly, shares debut songs "Steeeam" and "Natural": Stream". Consequence of Sound. October 30, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  32. ^ Bloom, Madison. "Clairo Announces New Album Sling, Shares New Song "Blouse"". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  33. ^ Martoccio, Angie (June 11, 2021). "Clairo Drops Crushing Ballad 'Blouse' With Backing Vocals by Lorde". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  34. ^ Daly, Rhian (July 16, 2021). "Clairo: "I was too scared to think domesticity could be something I crave"". Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  35. ^ a b Wang, Steffannee. "Clairo would like to leave her bedroom now, please". The Fader. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  36. ^ Bennett, Willa (May 27, 2019). "Clairo Opens Up About Coming Out And Coming Into Her Own". them. Condé Nast. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  37. ^ Claire Cottrill [@clairo] (May 29, 2018). "B.O.M.D. is also G.O.M.D. for ur information" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  38. ^ Nast, Condé. "Clairo Opens Up About Coming Out And Coming Into Her Own". them. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  39. ^ Empire, Kitty (December 7, 2019). "Clairo review – a quiet phenomenon". The Guardian.
  40. ^ "2018 Nominees". Boston Music Awards. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  41. ^ Marotta`, Michael (December 13, 2018). "Here are the winners from the 2018 Boston Music Awards". Vanyaland. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  42. ^ "2019 Nominees". Boston Music Awards. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  43. ^ "2019 Winners". Boston Music Awards. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  44. ^ BBC Radio 1 [@BBCR1] (December 19, 2019). "At No. 5 in this year's Hottest Record of the Year vote is @clairo with Bags. "Clairo really broke through this year with her debut album Immunity. Bags is the song that really caught everyone's attention. We're delighted for her, and delighted for her fans" - @AnnieMac" (Tweet) – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  45. ^ Rowley, Glenn (February 13, 2020). "2020 NME Awards Winners: The Complete List". Billboard. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
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