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Irish Examiner

Culture That Made Me: Cork-born singer Biig Piig selects her touchstones

Jessica Smyth, known by her stage name Biig Piig, was born in Cork in 1998. From the age of four, she grew up in Marbella, Spain, later moving to London. While still a teenager, she began releasing singles and quickly gathered acclaim as an impressive new trip-hop voice. She released her debut album, entitled 11:11, earlier this year. She will perform at Cork's Cyprus Avenue on Thursday, July 17. See: Leonard Cohen Growing up, my dad was always playing a Leonard Cohen CD, Songs from a Room. I love his songwriting. It's gorgeous. Obviously, some of it's very dark, but it's so beautiful. He's so romantic. The baritone in his voice is amazing. It's like you've bumped into an old head at the back of the bar and he's telling you his life story in a very poetic, smoky way. Gabrielle My mom couldn't stand Leonard Cohen! She loved more upbeat music like Gabrielle. There were quite dramatic ends of the spectrum going on in our house. There were no in-betweens. Gabrielle's Sunshine was our song. Driving to school, she would play that song and it would bring her so much joy. It's a beautiful thing to watch when you can see a song bring someone into such a joyful place. Leonard Cohen was a companion to my dad, and Gabrielle felt like a companion to my mom. Ben Harper I discovered Ben Harper when I came to London. I loved his lyricism and his guitar-playing. Also, I was feeling quite an angsty teenager and lonely. Songs like Another Lonely Day and Diamonds on the Inside are bangers. Obviously, we were living in such different realities. I was a 14-year-old girl living in London. He was in America somewhere and he'd had a whole life, but weirdly, even with that, I found my companion in him, listening to his lyrics. I felt like he was talking about my life. He was my first love when it came to an artist. Bowling for Soup I love a bit of punk pop. Going to see Bowling for Soup was my first big gig. There was a big mosh pit. It was the best thing ever, being in there, so much fun. I remember there was a big, bald guy in his 40s running and bouncing around. I love when music connects like that to so many different people and you're all throwing yourself into it. Obviously, sometimes in a mosh pit it's a bit oh-God, but for the most part it feels exciting there's no barrier between everyone, which is great. Erykah Badu I was late to the party with Erykah Badu, but once I found her – at about 16 – I listened to her on repeat. I remember I was at a jam my friend was having. It was my first introduction to freestyles and beats. I fell in love with ciphering and some of the beats they were playing, including Erykah Badu instrumentals. A lot of it is piano-based or light instrumentation, but it has such a swing to it. There's so much space in it you could float around in. I fell in love with her voice, explaining her perspective on her world. It's so conversational, and at the same time, so beautifully put and it sounds effortless. I love her music and her melodies. Salimata Salimata is an incredible New York rapper. I've been coming back to her a lot. She's great because of her selection of samples and beats. She's got a style of rap I love, and that New York thing I love. It's effortless. Lexa Gates Lexa Gates is very good at telling stories in a way that rolls off the tongue. There's a 'steez', a style to it. Obviously, New York is known as a concrete jungle. It's mad. Every corner has a story. Whenever I go there, there's so many characters. A lot of those rappers, like Lexa Gates, you can hear it in their voice. There's so much going on. I love the opening lines to her song, Lately, Nothing. It's like she's chilling in a room with a friend. It's very casual: 'I might just smoke this shit to make my man mad/Need that love, I had a bad dad/Finally got some bread and my own pad/But I don't even got no one to bring back.' Van Morrison Van Morrison My dad brought me to see Van Morrison at a place down in West Kensington called Nell's Jazz and Blues Bar. It's an intimate venue. I was maybe 16-17 years' old. He's obviously a very serious character. He gets up and he commands the stage. Every musician on stage with him, you know they're gonna be the best of the best. The way he can nod and change things in a second if he wants to. He's got such great control, yet it feels like anything could happen, which is cool. The songs are so beautiful. When he starts singing, it hits you somewhere different. It was a special gig. Just Kids I love autobiographies. I loved Patti Smith's Just Kids. It's about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, the photographer, and being an artist in the late '60s, her life story and their love story. It's about how much you sacrifice for art and for love. It's a powerful story, and it's such a big story about friendship – how much they put on the line for each other and how much they were there for each other, even after all the pain. It's such a gorgeous story, and there are so many amazing characters that come into it, other artists, the Chelsea Hotel, and life in New York at the time. It's an amazing book. Open Water I loved Caleb Azumah Nelson's Open Water. It's a beautiful read. He's an author from London. The book is a love story based in London, but it's also about the black experience and about growing up in London. It's based in modern times. I love the music references in it. His language is so poetic. He has a great way of painting with his words. I love that book. Gaspar Noé A scene from Love, by Gaspar Noé. I love the movie Love by Gaspar Noé. It's quite intense. It opens on an intense scene. It's a very French noir film. It's about this guy who's retracing his steps. He's dealing with addiction, and he has done so for a very long time. There is a love story, too. It shows how he ended up where he was. It's a very passionate movie. It's great. Searching for Sugar Man Searching for Sugar Man, about Sixto Rodriguez, is an excellent documentary. It's a good representation of how the industry has left so many artists behind and fucked them over. He spends a lot of his life working as a carpenter. He has no idea that he's changing a lot of lives with his music. I went to see him live before he passed. It was in London at The Royal Albert Hall. His two daughters walked him out. It was hard-hitting, one of the most incredible shows I was ever at.