Kenya Grace

Kenya Grace, a singer born in South Africa and later identified as British, attracted a broad listenership during the early 2020s through her polished blend of club-oriented pop and drum'n'bass. The 2023 release “Strangers” quickly turned viral, reached the summit of the U.K. singles chart, and placed her next to Kate Bush as the sole other British woman to score that achievement with a track she wrote, performed, and produced entirely on her own.

Although born in South Africa, Grace grew up in Southampton, England. Following her graduation from Guildford’s Academy of Contemporary Music she began issuing electronic pop singles in 2019, drawing from Banks, Flume, and Nao. Her 2022 relocation to North London coincided with a more concentrated creative period that yielded tracks such as “Orange” and the glistening “Venus,” a joint effort with Homebodi. By the middle of 2023 her refined electronic approach had drawn interest from Warner Bros.’ dance label Major Recordings. Working with traditional drum’n’bass techniques she issued “Meteor,” which soon registered on mainstream outlets. The follow-up, the self-contained “Strangers,” was recorded at home and released in July 2023; within three months it ascended to number one in the U.K. and registered across Europe. After issuing a “slower and sadder” remix of “Strangers,” she returned with the driving “Only in My Mind.”