A personal story behind every lyric

Giift is about to carve out her own laid-back sound of R&B and neo-soul with the release of her debut EP, ‘Archives’. The five-tracker is a boundless musical DIY-creation by the 18-year-old artist – the first chapter by one of the most promising new talents to come out of Scandinavia!

She was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on February 18th 2004, and was adopted and grew up to be who she is today: a small-town kid straight outta Havnsø, Denmark, named Klara. Her given name is Giift.

Growing up, her life and home was a creative space with her dad being a musician too and a great influence on the young girl, who started writing her own songs at a very young age. Writing her debut EP began along with Giift progressing and developing as a producer but long before she even knew where she was headed on her musical journey – that’s why it’s entitled, ‘Archives’.

“These five songs represent everything that I’ve experienced over the last few years. There’s a personal story behind every lyric, top to bottom, and so, it was natural for me to list them in order of when I experienced what and in the order of the emotions I was going through. ‘Archives’ is about falling in love, falling out of love, loving yourself and everything in between,” Giift says.

It comes clear within the very first few seconds of ‘Archives’, that love is confusing as we’re presented with troubles and feelings that tell more than the story behind a song but also the story of an artist. ‘Fed Up’ was the striking lead single by Giift, released on her 18th birthday earlier this year. The song was met with praise from leading Danish culture sites, Soundvenue, and numerous international tastemakers like PAPER, COLORS and Ones To Watch.

Giift has proved to be a gifted girl. On her acoustic guitar, she writes her melodies and innermost thoughts and unfolds them with a voice beyond her years. Her boundless, self-taught way of producing harmonies and musical layers make the R&B and soul-infused sound stand out and portray a young woman whose mind, body and soul become her music.

A song like ‘Take Off’ is a fine example of how Giift transcends limitations as a producer while ‘Me Time’ is the songwriter telling a story about how she needed to “cut some people off” to solely find comfort. Giift often draws her songs too as she likes the idea of “sounding out a picture”, she says.

“Music is a very impulsive thing to me. It happens in bits and pieces – as quick melodies or guitar parts and sounds recorded on my phone – and the actual song comes alive mostly during night time till early in the morning,” Giift tells. She continues: “I always knew, I wanted to make music. But I couldn’t set it free until I knew exactly what it should mean to me and what stories it should tell. This is my first chapter.”

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