Sienna Spiro is “always going to be a London girl”, she maintains, but right now it’s the Big Apple that’s calling to the 20-year-old superstar-in-the-making. The city’s been treating her well so far: two nights before we speak, Spiro was in the iconic 30 Rockefeller building performing recent single Die on This Hill for Jimmy Fallon — the latest bucket-list moment that the track has granted her, following her first UK Top 10 chart placing at the end of last year. But it’s the whole buzzing, creative culture of New York that’s giving Spiro the sense that, going into writing for her debut album, this is where she needs to be. “Jazz is so alive here, and the people are so inspiring,” she enthuses. “You’re allowed to be yourself here and you step out onto the street and see things you never thought you’d see. Sometimes it’s insane, sometimes it’s amazing. You never know what you’re gonna get…”
Insane, amazing, unpredictable: Spiro could easily be talking about her own whirlwind rise over the past 18 months. Since releasing her debut single Need Me in May of 2024, her raw, heavyweight vocal power and propensity for a sky-reaching heartbreak ballad have seen her hurtle ahead from TikTok favourite to an artist with critical acclaim and the support of her musical elders coming from every corner. She’s written with Billie Eilish’s big brother Finneas and duetted with Sam Smith, while everyone from SZA to Mark Ronson has professed their fandom. Elton John even sang her praises in these very pages. When I ask who the most famous fan to come out of the woodwork has been, meanwhile, she pauses before offering: “The Beatles liked my Instagram post?”
