Sophie Griffiths chats to Australia’s newest indie-pop queen about her rise to fame, her music and her cute queer love story
BY SOPHIE GRIFFITHS, IMAGES BY REUBEN MOORE
Melbourne-based singer, producer and multi-talented performer G Flip (Georgia Flipo) has finally released her long-awaited album, About Us, into the world. It comes after a whirlwind year for G, who is at last living her front-woman dreams, following a previous career as a drummer.
Since she shared her viral hit single, About You, to triple j Unearthed, G has toured the world multiple times, sold out three Australian headline tours, taken home the AIR Award for Breakthrough Independent Artist of the Year and racked up over 50 million streams.
I catch up with her just a week after her album’s dropped. It’s early on a Monday morning for me, but she’s just finished having dinner with her family at home in Australia – how wholesome.
DIVA: Can you tell us a bit about you and your music?
G FLIP: I’ve always been a drummer. I did my BA in music at uni and I majored in drums. I was always playing in heaps of bands, travelling the world as a drummer, doing the occasional backing vocals, but every band just never quite made it. Secretly, I would always write songs in my bedroom on guitar and piano, but I’d never do anything with them. After my last band finished up towards the end of 2016, I decided I’d spend the whole of 2017 working on my solo project. Then I uploaded a song onto the internet and by that night I had become a full-time musician.
How would you describe your sound?
It’s so hard to put a label on it. It’s in the pop world, because the melodies are quite catchy. When I play live, it’s almost indie rock. We all play live drums and live instruments, me and my two best mates onstage. It’s in the indie-pop, indie-rock, bedroom-pop world.
What’s the message you’d like the listeners to get from your music?
There isn’t intentionally a direct message. I feel like this is such a relationship and break-up album. I’m so glad I get messages from so many people who are in a long distance relationship or a toxic relationship, or a relationship that’s just ended. I think all these songs relate heavily to that. When I’ve gone through a break-up, I like listening to break-up songs to get it out and have a cry.
You’re known for your drums. Was it your own decision to start playing them or was that something your family encouraged?
My older cousin played drums. As a small five-year-old, I’d watch him play at family gatherings and I always took a liking to it. I feel like if I was an instrument, it would be drums. I’m quite loud and energetic. I’ve always gravitated towards them. My uncle saw that and for my ninth birthday he bought me a little blue drum kit. I’m someone who always cries, no matter what emotion I’m feeling. I was so happy. It was the coolest thing ever, but I didn’t want to cry in front of everyone so I went to the toilet and cried because I was that happy. That was where I got my first drums.
You write a lot about your girlfriend. How did you guys meet?
Me and my partner have been on and off for nearly five years now. When I met her, I was actually touring as a drummer in Singapore and she was working in Singapore at a theme park. What’s funny is we actually lived five minutes down the road from each other, but had no idea. When we did meet, we liked each other instantly and from that day it was pretty electric. Then we started dating, but doing long distance when you’re in your early 20s is really rough, so we’d have fights then we’d break up and make up. We’d always find our way back to each other.
At the end of 2017, when I’d written the majority of the album, I hadn’t seen her in a year, but she came and rocked up at my door. We’ve always been very dramatic like that. She asked to hear the music and I was very hesitant, because all of the songs are about us. We had a few wines and I finally let her hear them. The album brought us back together in a weird way.
Your lyrics are really honest. Do you ever get scared that you’re sharing too much?
I never get scared that I’ll say too much. I just ask my girlfriend if it’s okay, because our relationship is all out in the open and I don’t shy away from the details of our relationship. She’s so cool and she supports me, which is great. I always overshare, even when I don’t need to.
Do you have a strong queer fanbase?
I definitely do. I get so many messages from the LGBTQI youth who relate to my music so much, because I use female pronouns and talk about same-sex relationships. I normally see people with rainbow flags in the audience and they send me letters and gifts. It’s so nice getting messages from young adolescents who are going through that stage in life where they’re dealing with coming to terms with their sexuality. Just hearing what they have to say is so beautiful. I actually never wrote songs with the intention of helping people. I just wrote songs about what was going on in my life, but having that impact and knowing how important my music is to people is so lovely.
Make sure you check out G Flip’s stunning album, About Us. It’s full of queer anthems and a whole lotta girl drama – what more could you want?
This article first appeared in the November 2019 issue of DIVA – grab your digital copy right here!
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