Piri

This article is about the dance musician. For other uses, see Piri (disambiguation).

piri
piri on stage at Scala
Background information
Birth name	Sophie McBurnie
Also known as	froge pirickili
Born	(1999-03-14) 14 March 1999 Rochdale, England
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter pole dancer social media personality sex worker
Years active	2020–present
Labels	EMI Polydor Warner Chappell
Member of	piri & tommy Loud LDN

Sophie McBurnie (born 14 March 1999), known professionally as piri, is an English dance musician, pole dancer, social media personality, and sex worker. Along with venbee and PinkPantheress, she has been described as a leader of the 2020s drum and bass revival.

Born in Rochdale, McBurnie met Tommy Villiers of Porij and See Thru Hands after matching with him on Tinder, finding his band on Twitter, and messaging him on Instagram, in that order. They released the disco song "it's a match" on 12 March 2021 and then the liquid drum and bass song "soft spot" on 4 June 2021, which was used in 110,000 TikTok videos, and attracted the attention of EMI, who signed them up for a three-single deal, which included a re-release of "soft spot" on 13 September 2021, the jungle track "beachin" on 29 January 2022, and the speed garage song "words" on 22 April 2022.

Later in 2022, they signed with Polydor Records, on which they released the liquid drum and bass song "on & on" on 29 July 2022, which charted at number 99 on the UK Singles Chart on 11 November 2022; they also released the mixtape froge.mp3 on 21 October 2022 and "unlock it", a cover of the Charli XCX, Kim Petras and Jay Park song "Unlock It", on 11 November 2022. After it was announced in January 2023 that McBurnie and Villiers had broken up, the pair were featured on MJ Cole's 20 January 2023 UK garage single "Feel It", before releasing their own single, the hyperpop song "updown", on 17 February 2023. On 28 April 2023, she featured on Sudley's "fumble".

McBurnie is noted for her frog motif, derived from a nickname she and Villiers used to give each other, for her pole dancing, which she discovered at Lancaster University's pole fitness society and occasionally integrates into her performances, and her openness, from sharing her personal life on social media to subjects of songs. She funded her career and move to London using her OnlyFans account, which she set up in May 2020; she also maintains a TikTok account, which as of November 2022 has over 419,000 followers, and a Twitter and Instagram account. She is a member of Loud LDN, a collective of London-based female and non-binary creatives, and she has been vocal about her experiences as a woman in the music industry.

Life and career

1999–2021: Early life, cover versions, and "it's a match"

McBurnie was born on 14 March 1999 and grew up in Rochdale. Her parents were an Asda manager and a human resources manager. Her stage name, which she stylises in lowercase, was a truncated form of pirickili, which was created for a Tumblr account; in an interview with Unity Radio in October 2021, she said that she came across it after "using a gibberish word generator to come up with a username [...], and then everyone just shortened that to piri when talking to [her] online".

piri pole dancing at Scala

She holds a degree in chemistry from Lancaster University, at which she was a member of the pole fitness society. She had previously worked part time shifts at Asda, and had previously wanted to become a lecturer after being inspired by her organic chemistry lecturer. McBurnie entered into a relationship with Tommy Villiers, a member of Porij and See Thru Hands, after matching on Tinder, finding his band on Twitter and messaging him on Instagram, in that order; their first date was at Piccadilly Gardens, where they bonded over a shared love of disco. During the third United Kingdom COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, they formed a support bubble in a student house in Manchester.

In November 2020, McBurnie released two cover versions to YouTube; on 14 November 2020, she and Villiers released a cover of MOOO! by Doja Cat, and on 22 November, she released a version of "You're the One" by Kaytranada featuring Syd. On 19 February 2021, she released an acoustic cover version of "The Last Time" by Eric Benét. On 12 March 2021, McBurnie released a single, "it's a match", with Tommy Villiers, which has been described as "disco-infused". She released one further cover version to YouTube on 25 March 2021, a version of Teardrops by Womack & Womack.

2021–2022: "soft spot", "beachin", and "words"

Main article: piri & tommy

Later that year, McBurnie and Villiers self-released the single "soft spot" on 4 June 2021. The song has been described as "liquid drum 'n' bass" and features loon birds. She told NME in December 2021 that the song was about "falling for someone and being unsure if they feel the same, but still having no way to stop yourself – but with optimism that it will all work out". According to a September 2022 interview for Apple Music, the song was "made across two student houses", and its vocals were recorded under a duvet. She told Unity Radio in October 2021 that she paid six TikTok creators £20 to use the song in one of their videos, and took out "a couple of Instagram ads and a couple of like TikTok ads, like not creator promotions". The song went viral after being featured in a TikTok video of a creator making a Japanese bench, which acquired 1,000,000 views; the song saw use in 110,000 videos, including by Bella Hadid, Molly-Mae Hague, and Rebecca Black, and caught the attention of Charli XCX, who stated that she ran to it in the gym, PinkPantheress, who direct messaged the pair to say she thought the song's "beat goes stupid", and EMI, who re-released "soft spot", on 13 September 2021. MJ Cole provided the song's official remix after she and Villiers sent a long list of suggested artists to their label, including bigger artists such as Cole, and were not expecting him to respond. The song had also been played on Sunday Brunch. Rolling Stone named it as the fifty-ninth greatest dance song of all time. A music video was released on 4 June 2021.

McBurnie and Villiers's follow up single, "beachin", was released on 28 January 2022, with Skream providing the official remix. It was written after a trip to Formby beach in Liverpool, and its lyrics were an attempt at encapsulating how much they enjoyed the trip and how close they felt afterwards. The song was Villiers's attempt at making a jungle track, which he later annotated with what he described as "some Isley Brothers type of tones", and which ends with a spoken word section, from a video of the trip. The song was first played on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds with Clara Amfo.

piri on stage at Glastonbury

The band's third release, "words", was released on 22 April 2022. Remixes came from Hamdi and Higgo. The song was intended by Villiers as a "Disclosure meets old school speed garage" song. Lyrically, the song describes a challenging period in their relationship, and helped them express their frustrations and work through their problems; it has been described by McBurnie as a "kind of a commentary on different levels of maturity in relationships, particularly in young people". In the week after its release, the band went on a three-day tour. A music video for "words" was released on 17 June 2022. Later that month, the band performed at Glastonbury.

2022: "on & on", froge.mp3, and "unlock it"

Later that year, McBurnie and Villiers signed to Polydor Records. Their fourth single as piri & tommy, "on & on", was released on 29 July 2022, with Sudley providing the remix. The song was first played on a Jack Saunders-presented edition of BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds. A music video was released on 12 October 2022. It was written in September 2021 shortly after the pair attended that year's Parklife Festival, has been described as having a "liquid DnB beat and textural garage-esque synths", and was described by McBurnie during an MTV interview as being written "about British festival culture and how people can get really tired and like dirty, especially by the third day of the festival, but you just have this like drive [to] just keep on moving". The drums were lifted from an earlier jump-up track, which featured "grotty Belgian bass". The song appeared on the 11 November 2022 UK Singles Chart at number 99. Billboard rated it as one of 'The 50 Best Dance Songs Of 2022', and NME rated it as one of 'The 50 best songs of 2022'. It was used on the 27 February 2023 broadcast of series 9 of Love Island.

On 23 August 2022, McBurnie was featured on the remix of KkbutTerFLY27 Xx's single "omg i rlly like u". Later that month, McBurnie and Villiers performed at Reading Festival. She signed a solo publishing record deal in September 2022 with Warner Chappell Music. "soft spot", "beachin", "words", and "on & on" featured on their mixtape froge.mp3 (/froʊɡ/), which was released on 21 October 2022, with a vinyl release on 22 April 2023. The mixtape contained songs about their relationship, and was promoted with a nine-date tour, froge.tour, in November 2023, and a twelve episode YouTube Shorts series, froge.tv, in which McBurnie and Villiers explained what the album's songs were written about.

McBurnie, venbee and PinkPantheress were described in November 2022 by NME as "leading the new British drum 'n' bass scene". Their final single as piri & tommy, "unlock it", was first released as an Apple Music exclusive on 13 September 2022 and then re-released on 11 November 2022. The song was a cover of "Unlock It", the Charli XCX, Kim Petras and Jay Park song, and has been described as a "blend [of] bubblegum pop and drum & bass". Their version of the song was rated as the fourteenth best song of 2022 by Vice. In December 2022, the band were longlisted for the BBC's Sound of 2023. In December 2022, she uploaded four solo compositions to SoundCloud; "lonely v2" on 11 December, "oh baby ! v3" on 15 December, "sunblock v1" on 21 December, and "supposed to v3" on 28 December.

2023–present: "Feel It", "updown", and "fumble"

In 2023, it was reported that McBurnie and Villiers had split up, but remained friends, would release previously recorded music, and planned to work together in the future. On 20 January, the pair released "Feel It" with MJ Cole on 892 Recordings; the song has been described as "UK garage-oriented". The song contains a guitar solo from Villiers, and was first played on Danny Howard's Radio 1's Dance Party. The original version was used in a 13 February 2023 Love Island broadcast.

piri at Radio 1 Big Weekend

One further single with Villiers, "updown", was released on 17 February 2023; she wrote the song about a year earlier, and about the cowgirl sex position. The song has been described as "hyperpop"; she told Danny Howard's Radio 1 Dance Party that it had a "really fast [...] four-to-the-floor beat". The song's chorus was made after she accidentally copied and pasted her vocals. The song features a "Crazy Frog drop" at the end; she told Capital Dance upon its release that Villiers had added it during preparation for piri & tommy live sets, as he wanted it to "pop off extra hard[, ...] then we loved it so much we kept it in the full thing". The song became BBC Radio 1's Hottest Record for that week. A music video for the song was released on 2 March 2023; another music video containing piri, that of Maisi's "Over & Over Again", was released on 24 March 2023.

On 28 April 2023, McBurnie featured on "fumble" by Sudley, which was released on DnB Allstars Records; she told Clara Amfo's Radio 1's Future Sounds that the song was written as a "breakup song that had a more empowering and positive spin on it", and about "that feeling a few weeks after a breakup, where you're kind of like, damn, I'm actually a catch, and my ex is the one missing out".

Artistry

Voice and songwriting

Descriptions of McBurnie's voice have ranged from "dreamy" to "sugar sweet" to "whispery" to "unaffected [and] untutored". She has credited Tommy Villiers with helping her realise what she was capable of; she told DIY in September 2022 that she "didn’t really ever intend to be a musician. I always played guitar, but I didn’t really see any way to make actual music. It seemed like, super impossible. I would always just write songs, [but it was] very much a hobby".

McBurnie co-wrote froge.mp3 entirely with Villiers. Her songwriting has been described as having a "no-messing-about attitude[;] she tells it how it is, always". She told Notion in March 2022 that she usually writes about "whatever [she's] feeling at that exact time", and that "a lot of our songs kind of act like a snapshot of how life/ our relationship was at the time of the writing which is fun". The first song she and Villiers wrote together was "sunlight", the last track on froge.mp3.

Influences

She told 1883 in September 2021 that she "grew up in a house with an R&B and hip-hop mum and a rock'n'roll dad", that her favourite artist growing up was the Arctic Monkeys, and that her then-current "taste [was] much more based on good vibes and dance music, artists like Disclosure, MJ Cole and of course PinkPantheress". She is also a fan of Doja Cat and Red Velvet, and takes inspiration from Nia Archives, Charli XCX and Sophie. In an interview with Reform Radio the following month, she mentioned that she got into dance music after being introduced to it at university, and in an interview with Reprezent Radio in March 2022, she pointed out that she was listening to "loads of tech house" while writing her dissertation.

Music videos and stage

piri on stage at Radio 1 Big Weekend

A crocheted frog hat is a staple of her signature look; she told DORK in November 2022 that when McBurnie and Villiers met, she was in a phase of drawing frogs and toads, and they started calling each other 'froge' as a nickname. Her amphibian motif extended into the band's "on & on" video, which featured her accidentally eating a psychedelic frog-filled hot dog, and in the band's "updown" video, where she turns the director into a frog. She is also noted for her pole dancing, which she started at the pole fitness society at Lancaster University whilst in her second year after attending a taster session with her housemate as a joke, and which she occasionally integrates into her performances, such as in the music videos for "soft spot" and "updown", and whilst performing on-stage. She told Reform Radio in October 2021 that she considered it "amazing for fitness" and "a great way to make friends".

A November 2022 Gigwise review noted that piri & tommy "dressed exactly how you’d expect a Gen Z raver couple to dress". Live piri & tommy shows featured piri, tommy, and a drummer, while live piri shows featured dancers. On stage, she would refer to the band's fans as "piri & tommy nation". Live shows of piri & tommy occasionally featured cover versions, such as "Move Your Body" by Marshall Jefferson, "LK (Carolina Carol Bela)" by DJ Marky and Xerxes de Oliveira featuring Stamina MC, Gypsy Woman by Crystal Waters, and "Everybody Dance" by Chic.

Personal life

Sex work and activism

File:Coupdekat, Maisi, and piri.jpg

coupdekat, Maisi, and piri

NME reported in December 2022 that McBurnie, venbee, Willow Kayne, A Little Sound, Charlotte Plank and Lucy Tun were amongst "more than 50 drum 'n' bass, pop and R&B artists at all stages in their careers" to be part of Loud LDN, a collective of London-based female and non-binary creatives founded in May 2022 by coupdekat and Maisi.

McBurnie set up an OnlyFans account in May 2020 as she found herself £2,000 into her overdraft after completing her degree, with shifts at Asda failing to clear her debt. She told The Times in November 2022 that she experienced less backlash than she was expecting, and that her account had "about 1,000 to 2,000 fans paying about $12 a month", which after the site had deducted its fees meant she made "between $10,000 and $20,000 a month", which she was able to use to fund her music career, buy a computer and microphone, and move to north London. She has also credited the site with increasing her body confidence.

McBurnie has been vocal about her experiences as a woman in the music industry; she used a Hunger article on International Women's Day 2023 to state that there was a "long way to go for equality" and that "[o]nline, I constantly see female success being attributed to their attractiveness and not their hard work and talent. [...] Women have to work so much harder to prove themselves." She also criticised the misogyny she and other female creatives receive in comment sections, using a May 2022 VICE article to say that "Half the things I post, I get hate for. And I know that if a guy posted this, even if Tommy did rather than me, he would get overwhelming love. [...] Girls get hate just for existing." When "updown" was released, she was praised for talking about female sexuality.

Social media

According to The Times in November 2022, she had "over 419,000 followers" on TikTok; she told 1883 in September 2021 that she considered it "the best place as a small creator to get yourself out to people", but that she had had her account banned three times due to "the banning issue[...]; TikToks are constantly taken down despite them completely adhering to the community guidelines and users are being banned if this happens to them multiple times". She told Vice in May 2022 that "I feel like I make more TikToks than the label could ever ask for." She also maintains Twitter and Instagram accounts, the usernames for which both use the suffix .io, and once ran a k-pop Twitter stan account.

McBurnie is noted for her readiness in sharing her personal life with her followers to a greater extent than other pop stars of previous generations. Her openness extends to the way she speaks to live audiences, with a September 2022 Brighton & Hove News review enjoying "the candid way [piri] spoke to the audience", and noting that when "she introduced songs she'd be upfront about what they were about, ranging from disgusting exes to finding love and comfort in a person effortlessly".

Discography

For music released as part of the band, see piri & tommy § Discography.

Singles

Title	Year	Album
"it's a match" (piri & Tommy Villiers)	2021	Non-album single
"soft spot" (piri & Tommy Villiers)		froge.mp3
"updown" (piri & Tommy Villiers)	2023	Non-album single

As featured artist

Title	Year	Album
"Feel It" (MJ Cole ft. piri & Tommy Villiers)	2023	Non-album single

Guest appearances

Title	Year	Album
"omg i rlly like u (remix)" (KkbutTerFLY27 Xx ft. piri)	2022	Non-album single
"fumble" (Sudley ft. piri)	2023