Birdy

Possessing a nimble vocal instrument that could deliver both delicate and forceful interpretations, Birdy achieved early popularity with her light, introspective pop across Australia and multiple European territories. After issuing her first major-label recording in 2011, she entered the U.K. Top Ten with the 2013 album Fire Within and followed it with Beautiful Lies three years later. Young Heart, her fourth collection, appeared in 2021, after which she supplied the track “Quietly Yours” for the 2022 Netflix version of Jane Austen’s Persuasion; her fifth album, Portraits, surfaced the next year.

Jasmine van den Bogaerde came into the world in 1996 in Lymington, Hampshire, already displaying unusual musical promise. The daughter of a writer and a concert pianist, she started writing original material at seven and soon began sharing her songs and performances online. At fourteen she secured a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell.

In the first months of 2011 she put out her debut single, a version of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love,” under the name Birdy. The track climbed to number 17 on the British singles chart. Her self-titled debut album, issued that November on Atlantic Records, enjoyed strong sales especially in Australia, Belgium, Holland, and France, where it reached the top spot while landing at number 17 in the U.K. The record consisted largely of spare reinterpretations of songs by indie acts such as the Postal Service and Fleet Foxes, transformed by Bogaerde’s haunting delivery and minimal arrangements. During 2012 she joined Mumford & Sons on the soundtrack for Pixar’s Brave and placed the original composition “Just a Game” on the soundtrack for The Hunger Games.

Unlike the cover-focused first album, Fire Within presented eleven new songs when it arrived in 2013. Co-writers included Ryan Tedder, known for work with Beyoncé and Leona Lewis, Dan Wilson, who had collaborated with Adele and Taylor Swift, and Mumford & Sons pianist Ben Lovett. The set rose to number eight at home and marked her strongest American showing at the time, peaking at number 24 on the Billboard 200. Several contributions to the soundtrack for The Fault in Our Stars followed in 2014.

Her third album, Beautiful Lies, entered the British charts at number four in 2016. Among its producers and co-writers were Jim Abbiss, previously linked with Adele and Arctic Monkeys, Steve Mac, who had worked with Ed Sheeran and Demi Lovato, and RØMANS, associated with John Legend and Mary J. Blige. That same year Bogaerde also released three instrumental digital projects and collaborated with Passenger on “Beautiful Birds” as well as with Sigma on the number-one dance single “Find Me.”

Before completing her fourth studio album she issued the four-track EP Piano Sketches in 2020. The following April she unveiled the pared-down Young Heart, recorded after a period spent in India and California. The songs evoked a reflective 1970s singer/songwriter mood shaped by Joni Mitchell’s Blue and were produced by Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian, both known for their work with Kacey Musgraves. Lead singles included “Second Hand News” and “Surrender.” Further releases followed, among them the 2021 duet “Open Hearts” with Haevn and “Quietly Yours,” featured on the Netflix adaptation of Persuasion. The dramatic, Kate Bush-inspired single “Raincatchers” emerged in 2023 and later appeared on Portraits, an album that incorporated bright synth textures into her characteristically airy sound.