Sigrid Solbakk Raabe, known as Sigrid, is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. She was born in Alesund in September 1996. She has two older siblings, a brother, Telief, who is also a musician, and a sister, Johanne. At her first performance, in kindergarten, she had to be pulled off the stage after crying. She began playing the piano at age 7 and began singing at age 13. When she was 13, she performed a version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. In her early youth, she planned to become a teacher or lawyer or journalist, thinking a career in music would be too uncertain.
In her first year of high school, she realized that music was more than just a hobby. When she was 17, she and her sister Johanne started a band called Sala Says Mhyp, which was named after their late cat, Sala. After finishing high school in Ålesund, Sigrid moved to Bergen for its indie music scene, living in a shared flat with her brother and friends. She began studying comparative politics at university, but soon dropped out to pursue her music career.
At the age of 16 she wrote her first song, “Sun”, after her brother told her to stop performing cover versions of Adele songs at performances and challenged her to write a song that she could perform at one of his gigs. In 2013, she released “Sun” as her debut single. The song received airplay on Norwegian radio stations. She signed to Petroleum Records the following year and performed at festivals such as Oyafestivalen.
In 2016, in partnership with Martin Sjolie, she wrote “Don’t Kill My Vibe”, inspired by an incident where a producer belittled and patronized her in a songwriting session. After executives at Island Records heard the song, they immediately signed her to a recording contract. In May 2017 she released her debut E.P. which was named after the song. The E.P. charted in Norway, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In the spring and summer of 2017, Sigrid performed at a variety of festivals throughout Europe. She was also a part of The Sims 4: Parenthood soundtrack with the Simlish version of her song, “Don’t Kill My Vibe”. In January 2018, Sigrid was announced as the winner of BBC Music Sound of 2018. In the same month, Sigrid won the Newcomer of the Year award at Spellemannprisen. In July 2018, Raw, her second E.P. which features 5 tracks was released.
In March 2019, Sigrid’s debut album, Sucker Punch, was released. The album consists of 12 tracks, including five songs released prior to the album. In 2019, Sigrid toured with Maroon 5 for the in Europe, was the support act for George Ezra’s tour across the United Kingdom, and headlined a tour in North America and Europe. Sigrid contributed a song, “Home to You” for The Aeronauts soundtrack. In 2020, Sigrid was one of many artists that took part in a BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge cover of the Foo Fighters song “Times Like These” that was organized to raise funds for the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2021, Sigrid performed in Dingle, Ireland as part of the twentieth series of the live music series Other Voices. Sigrid’s second album, the 12-track How to Let Go, was released in May 2022.
