Gigi Perez

Biography

Gianna Brielle "Gigi" Perez (born February 4, 2000) is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey to Cuban parents and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, she went viral on TikTok for her songs "Celene" and "Sometimes (Backwood)×Sometimes (Backwood)19 November 2021 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sometimes (Backwood)2:33" and spent a period signed to Interscope Records, on which she released the 2023 EP How to Catch a Falling Knife×How to Catch a Falling Knife28 April 2023 · EPSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Kill for You3:442When She Smiles3:533Figurines4:204Balsam Fir3:545Glue5:176The Man3:477Karma4:588Sally4:33. After leaving the label, she released "Sailor Song×Sailor Song26 July 2024 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sailor Song3:32," 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, Noah Cyrus, Girl in Red, Annabelle Dinda, Hozier and Noah Kahan on tour.

Early life and education

Gianna Brielle Perez was born on February 4, 2000, in Hackensack, New Jersey to Cuban parents, and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. 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 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 in Boston but left during the COVID-19 pandemic. She had an older sister, Celene, who died in July 2020, shortly after which Perez's partner broke up with her.

Career

To cope with the grief of losing her sister in 2020, Perez began uploading videos to TikTok. She went viral in early 2021 after uploading the song "Celene" to SoundCloud, then followed by "Sometimes (Backwood)×Sometimes (Backwood)19 November 2021 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sometimes (Backwood)2:33", 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 Coldplay on their Music of the Spheres World Tour 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, Imogen Heap, and "When Jamie Smiles" from the Ryan Reynolds film Just Friends, 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, she released "Sally×Sally10 March 2023 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sally4:34" and announced an EP, How to Catch a Falling Knife×How to Catch a Falling Knife28 April 2023 · EPSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Kill for You3:442When She Smiles3:533Figurines4:204Balsam Fir3:545Glue5:176The Man3:477Karma4:588Sally4:33, 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×Normalcy24 September 2024 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Normalcy5:38", a queer ballad she had first promoted in December 2022 on TikTok; she followed this two months later with "Please Be Rude×Please Be Rude24 September 2024 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Please Be Rude3:00".
In July 2024, she released the single "Sailor Song×Sailor Song26 July 2024 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sailor Song3:32", an acoustic queer ballad about a woman who looked like Anne Hathaway. 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 in September 2024.
On April 25, 2025, Perez released her debut studio album, At the Beach, in Every Life×At the Beach, in Every Life25 April 2025 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Sailor Song3:312Sleeping3:523Sugar Water5:034Normalcy5:385Nothing, Absolutely3:456Chemistry4:447Survivor’s Guilt1:208Crown4:469Fable4:2110Please Be Rude3:0011Twister2:4412At the Beach, in Every Life3:57 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.