Clairo—aka 20-year-old Claire Cottrill multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer crashed onto our radars with her self-produced debut Pretty Girl. The 2017 video for her lo-fi track “Pretty Girl” which she made on MacBook’s Photobooth, reached over 36 million views on YouTube. When she released the video, she was just a freshman at Syracuse University, and she already had record labels fighting to sign her.
After signing with Fader, social media users were quick to pelt her with the “industry plant” title because her father knew The Fader’s co-founder whose label eventually signed her. Clairo always admitted that her father’s connection helped her and never really placed herself in the DIY box, but found herself, at a very young age, already having to justify her credibility as an artist.
Despite the criticism, she quickly found a fanbase with young millennials and Gen Z. She released her debut EP, diary 001, in 2018, collaborated with artists like Cuco, Rejjie Snow, SG Lewis and Wallows and she’s now opening for Khalid on his American arena tour. Clairo planned to make her second EP, diary 002, with Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend), but those sessions turned into a full album—her 2019 debut LP Immunity—which she co-produced with Rostam.
After years of releasing demos on SoundCloud and Bandcamp, including songs under the name DJ Baby Benz, Clairo has dabbled in everything from pop and rap to R&B and indie. One sonic trajectory is clear—her music has increasingly shifted away from hazy sketches and bloomed into hi-fi recordings. Immunity retains her past dreaminess via noodling synths, but her vocals are now at the front of the mix. She might not have fashioned herself as much of a singer before, but her silky voice is the lifeblood of this album.
About Author
