Mark Johns

Naomie Abergel, recording as Mark Johns, emerged as a left-field pop musician and became the first solo vocalist to sign with Skrillex’s OWSLA label. Born in Canada to Moroccan parents and raised in Singapore, she began uploading cover performances to SoundCloud while studying at college in Miami. Her earliest tracks, including phone-recorded takes on Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” and Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River,” were followed by additional covers made with rising producers such as Manila Killa and Sable. A sleek, booming reinterpretation of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Ni**as in Paris,” retitled “In Paris,” attracted Skrillex’s attention, leading him to relocate her to Los Angeles and later extend an OWSLA contract. Her first notable commercial release arrived in mid-2015 through the Glitch Mob collaboration “Better Hide, Better Run.” Early the next year she joined Lemaitre on “Stepping Stone” and made her OWSLA debut with “BTFU (Mommy Issues).” Abergel’s voice supplied the same breezy, melodious character across these projects, yet the relatively organic, low-key arrangement of “BTFU (Mommy Issues)” proved unexpected. The six-song Molino EP appeared later in 2016, with the single “Same Girl” arriving the following summer.