Gianna Brielle "Gigi" Perez (born February 4, 2000), also known as simply Gigi, is an American singer-songwriter. Born in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

and raised in Florida, she went viral on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

for her songs "Celene" and "Sometimes (Backwood)" and spent a period signed to

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

, on which she released the 2023 EP ''How to Catch a Falling Knife''. After leaving the label, she released " Sailor Song", which peaked at number 22 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Sailor Song" topped the charts in Ireland, Latvia, and the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in various countries, including New Zealand and Norway. She has also supported artists such as

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

Noah Cyrus Noah Lindsey Cyrus (born January 8, 2000) is an American singer and actress. As a child actress, she voiced the titular character in the English dub of the film ''Ponyo'' (2008), and appeared in minor roles on shows including ''Hannah Montana'' ...

girl in red Marie Ulven Ringheim (born 16 February 1999) known professionally as girl in red (stylised in all lowercase), is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer. Her first EPs ''Chapter 1'' (2018) and ''Chapter 2'' (2019) were recorded in her ...

d4vd David Anthony Burke (born March 28, 2005), known professionally as d4vd (pronounced ), is an American singer and songwriter. Burke began making music at his mother's recommendation to avoid receiving copyright strikes on his YouTube videos. I ...

, and

Hozier Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (born 17 March 1990), known professionally as Hozier ( ), is an Irish musician. His music primarily draws from Folk music, folk, Soul music, soul and blues, often using religious and literary themes and taking politica ...

on tour.

Life and career

Gianna Brielle Perez was born on February 4, 2000, in

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n immigrant parents, and raised in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

. She spent a year at a comprehensive before moving to a Christian school, The King's Academy, where she acted in musicals and was named 2017 homecoming queen. Perez is a lesbian and has credited " Girls Like Girls" by

Hayley Kiyoko Hayley Kiyoko Alcroft (born April 3, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and author. As a child model and actress, she appeared in a variety of films, including '' Lemonade Mouth'' (2011), '' Jem and the Holograms'' (2015), '' Insidi ...

with helping her accept her sexuality. She began writing songs at age fifteen and began releasing music in 2018 while in high school as part of the band Wendy Lane. Perez briefly attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

but left due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. She had an older sister, Celene, who died in July 2020, shortly after which Perez's partner broke up with her. To cope with her grief, she began uploading videos to

. She went viral in early 2021 after uploading the song "Celene" to

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

, then followed by "Sometimes (Backwood)", both of which gained traction on TikTok, which led to her signing with Interscope Records. Perez released a further single, "The Man", in June 2022, a song that reflects on gender expectations within the queer community. She supported

on their

Music of the Spheres World Tour The Music of the Spheres World Tour is the ongoing eighth concert tour undertaken by British Rock music, rock band Coldplay. It is being staged to promote their ninth and tenth studio albums, ''Music of the Spheres (Coldplay album), Music of t ...

later that month at their Florida stadium show. She has stated in interviews to have received the offer to do so on her 22nd birthday and in February 2022. She then released "When She Smiles", a song about a toxic relationship inspired by

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Regarded as a pop icon and an influential figure in popular music, Grande is known for her four-octave vocal range, which extends into the whistle re ...

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap ( ; born 9 December 1977) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur. She is considered a pioneer in pop music, particularly electropop, and in music technology. While attending the ...

, and "When Jamie Smiles" from the

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian and American actor, producer and businessman. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he was the List of highest-paid film actors, world's second-highest-paid actor in 202 ...

film ''

Just Friends ''Just Friends'' is a 2005 Christmas romantic black comedy film directed by Roger Kumble, written by Adam 'Tex' Davis and starring Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Anna Faris, Chris Klein and Christopher Marquette. The plot focuses on a formerly ...

'', and "Glue", a track written in late 2020 about clinging to a relationship after bereavement. In October 2022, she supported Noah Cyrus on her The Hardest Part Tour and released "Figurines". In February 2023, she supported D4vd on his The Root of It All Tour. In March, by which time she was based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, she released "Sally" and announced an EP, ''How to Catch a Falling Knife'', which comprised eight songs composed three years earlier. The EP took its title from the stock market term "never try to catch a falling knife", as she felt it represented what she had put into the project, and was released in April 2023 alongside a music video for focus track "Kill for You". In March 2024, after being released from Interscope Records, she released "Normalcy", a queer ballad she had first promoted in December 2022 on TikTok; she followed this a month later with "Please Be Rude". In July 2024, she released the single " Sailor Song", an acoustic queer ballad about a woman who looked like

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime ...

. The track went viral on TikTok, and peaked at number 22 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Some conservative Christian communities complained about the line "I don't believe in God, but I believe that you're my savior", prompting Perez to remind her followers that her songwriting was "not a democracy". She signed to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

in September 2024. On April 25, 2025, Perez released her debut studio album, '' At the Beach, in Every Life'' through Island Records. ''At the Beach, In Every Life'' debuted at number 96 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and charted internationally, reaching number 54 in Canada, 77 in Ireland, 36 in Norway, and 38 in New Zealand.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As part of Wendy Lane

Music videos

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Gigi 2000 births Musicians from Hackensack, New Jersey Singer-songwriters from New Jersey Living people American lesbian musicians 21st-century American singers LGBTQ people from New Jersey LGBTQ people from Florida Lesbian songwriters American people of Cuban descent