For two weeks, Griff has been messing around with a mix of her single “Last Night’s Mascara” like a pop-obsessed scientist searching for an impossible answer: How do you capture the bustling energy of an arena concert and drop it into a studio session? It’s Wednesday morning when we speak, two days before the song is scheduled to be released, and the British singer-songwriter is still tweaking and tinkering with the final version. She really wants to get it right — but she also doesn’t want to keep the thousands of people feverishly awaiting its arrival waiting any longer.
Griff premiered a booming, impassioned version of “Last Night’s Mascara” on stage at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis back in October. It was her second night opening for Sabrina Carpenter on the Short n’ Sweet tour and she wanted to test the demo out on while she had so many receptive pop fans in one place. “It was all just a bit of an experiment that kind of accidentally went well, but I almost wasn’t ready for the actual reception of it,” Griff tells Rolling Stone over 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 was literally like, ‘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 got fans begging for its release — where she cries: “Sunday morning, got me looking crazy/I’m on my knees at the altar, baby/Asking God to wash you from my soul.” The song began last year, not long after Griff completed her masterful debut album Vertigo, which arrived in July earlier this year. “I had the idea of makeup being a metaphor for all of your anxieties and worries, or a person that’s completely hurt you,” she says. “It’s describing the time period between a Friday or a Saturday night to a Sunday, and the emotional lull of what can happen in your weekend.”
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The final studio version is all thudding bass and cathartic pleas to be rid of complicated emotions, with a lyrical reference to Enya’s “Orinoco Flow.” While writing and producing the record, Griff drew inspiration from Whitney Houston and Robyn, but also from the dark, rhythmic sounds of Banks. Taking a break from her tinkering, Griff explains why she rescued “Last Night’s Mascara” from her pile of demos after being discouraged from finishing it, how she got it across the finish line, and why dancing to Carpenter’s show with fans in the pit after her set felt like a wholesome homage to girlhood.
Why did “Last Night’s Mascara” become something that you wanted to share in an official capacity after setting it to the side for so long?
It was a real struggle putting this album together because I just 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 outward opinion from teams and everything shape what this debut album was gonna look like for me. And it did mean that so 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’s so many good songs here that, for some reason, I’m not getting the affirmation on it — and I’m annoyed that I’m letting that affect my decisions, but I am, still.
On my headline tour in America, I did a bit in the middle where I would go into the pit and sing on an acoustic guitar. I guess in a bit of homage to the vault track or surprise song kind of appetite, I was like, “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 music. It was almost a bit of an experiment to be like, I wonder 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 for it, and gave it to my band towards the end of my tour, and was like, “Do you think we could get this ready for Sabrina?” And so we did.
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It feels significant that this song went from being shelved because you weren’t feeling supported in what it could be to being something that you were able to take directly to the fans and receive this much enthusiasm around.
It’s been the most empowering thing, if I’m totally honest. There have been moments seeing members of my team now and being like, “Oh, what do you think of what’s happening with ‘Last Night’s Mascara?’” And they’re like, “Yeah, you know, I guess I didn’t really hear it that way when I first heard it.” It’s a nice bit of power going back to the relationship between me and my fans, and not letting that middleman gatekeep and confuse that process.
You were taking feedback from the fans, too. Some thought the studio version snippet was missing the kick of the live version. How did you approach re-shaping the demo from where you left it?
Songs always take on a different form live. The demo, to me, was always really dark and moody and driven by this subby bass. It was almost soundtracking that period of going home to waking up the next morning and that kind of distortion and darkness of it all. The demo form was a lot more in that mood, but then when I perform live, I’m so alive that there was a new euphoria in the live version. I gave my band the parts from my session and Jamiel [Blake] would play some live drums, and Jeff [James] would kind of embellish a bit more on pads.
Accidentally, we made something that felt a lot more euphoric and desperate in that one video that people seem to really like. I was getting the song mixed and I was like, ‘Okay, let me drop the actual demo [online].” That was me just running around the toilets in the Sabrina dressing rooms. And I was like, maybe it does feel like it’s missing something. Then all the comments were like, “Girl, we need the live version.” So literally, the last few days, I’ve been going back and trying to inject the same soul.
Last time we spoke, you were talking about the dual role of being the performer and the producer and said, “I almost wonder whether I had to become an artist in order to also exist as a female producer, because it means that I can call the shots and my chances of songs coming out, getting into rooms, and actually seeing songs live in the world are higher.” The way this song came together so spontaneously feels like a continuation of that.
Yeah, I’ve been tweaking the whole thing. I love this one, because this one really is just 100 percent me on the writing and on the production. So it does feel like it’s the most pure form of making music, seeing if people like it, and reacting to it. It’s almost like DJs or rappers. They would come straight out the studio and test a song in a club and see how it feels. In a way, it feels like that process in a kind of pop version.
Does having a vault track get this kind of reaction make you want to revisit other songs you might have pushed aside?
It makes me want to do more new stuff. I think it’s been such a grieving process for so many of these other songs. I think it’s taking the kind of confidence from this process and putting it back into whatever the next record is going to be. I know I’m going to walk back into the studio now with a lot more authority and excitement. Before, I was just so scared. I’d walk into the studio some days and just be like, “I don’t know where everyone wants from me.” I will always write loads of songs, so I’m always used to the ratio of songs that don’t come out.
With this being your first proper single since Vertigo, how does “Last Night’s Mascara” fit into that chapter?
It’s definitely a continuation of Vertigo, but I’m not boxing it in. It’s kind of just there. Again, it’s a bit of an experiment, so it’s not that defined in any kind of spot. But I like the idea that people could discover “Last Night’s Mascara” and go back to the album and still love it in the same way and hear the same emotions and feelings. I think now I’m just in a spot where the pressure’s off. The debut album suffocating cloud is gone now.
What headspace are you in heading into your U.K. and Europe tour after being in America for so long? First, you were on your own headlining run and then you joined the Short n’ Sweet tour.
The rooms that I’m about to play almost feel like I’m coming back 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 what songs will go down best. Sometimes it is a really old song, and sometimes no one knows the old songs. And I love that too, because it means that things are growing, and it means that people are finding me and discovering me. I’m excited and nervous too, because even though the arenas were big, I’m about to play my biggest room in London, Alexandra Palace, which is massive. It’s like thousands and thousands. It feels challenging in a good way.
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What was it like being on tour with Sabrina? There were a few nights after your set where you were dancing in the pit with fans, too.
I loved watching the show every night. I’ve been a fan of Sabrina for time. But I would step onto the stage at the start of the set, people were just coming in not too sure, and by the end — nearly every night — everyone was raising their lights without me asking. And then it just felt like as each night progressed, the set would go amazing and then I joined the audience. Then I’d yell these songs with however many girls that are in the room. Then I’d see Sabrina and hang out.
It just felt like a real solidifying, empowering experience. Empowering and girlhood feel like buzzwords, but it’s true. It’s so fun. I think it’s brought the fun back into music, for me, in a time where music can be so serious. It’s like, what’s the single? Is it artsy enough? All of the seriousness of it, I think the last few weeks have taken that all out. I go up, I have fun. I sing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” I try out a new song. Then go and dance with all the girls in the room. It’s the purest form of joy that music should bring to people.
