Gabrielle Aplin In Concert
Gabrielle Aplin has effortlessly evolved from wistful singer-songwriter to joyous pop purveyor. The English artist lets her music go wherever it feels natural for her, and it's led to some of her most euphoric work — and even a shout-out from superstar Taylor Swift.
Aplin hails from Sutton Benger, a small village in the Wiltshire region of England. It was here that she first picked up a guitar at age 11, and then soon learned the piano. During her teen years, she began honing her musical skills and showcasing them on MySpace and YouTube. In fact, at one point her YouTube channel was the 16th most subscribed channel in the world. Her videos captured mesmerizing covers of artists like Bob Dylan, Katy Perry, MGMT, and Ed Sheeran, and her growing following inspired her to write her own songs.
By age 18, Aplin was studying music at Bath College, where she also was a part of the college's music label BA1 Records. In 2010, she released Acoustic EP on her own Never Fade Records label, and it made a small splash in the U.K. The following year, she followed up with another EP, Never Fade. Around this same time, she was invited to record a session for the BBC Introducing program.
Her third EP, Home, dropped in 2012. That same year, she signed to Parlophone Records, went on a European tour with Gotye, and covered Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "The Power of Love" for a John Lewis Christmas campaign, which scored Aplin her first No. 1 track on the U.K. charts.
In 2013, she released her debut album, English Rain, a set of lush folk-pop. This led to her first North American tour, and soon her sophomore album, Light Up the Dark, in 2015. The album revealed a more robust alt-pop style, but by 2016, Aplin fully embraced pop music with her EP Miss You (the title track of which Swift featured on a "Songs Taylor Loves" playlist) and later songs like piano ballad "My Mistake." It's a sound that fits her just as well as her earlier acoustic tracks — and is just as thrilling to hear live.
