Is ‘Die on This Hill’ singer Sienna Spiro, 20, the next Adele?
British singer-songwriter Sienna Spiro, whose ‘Die on This Hill’ has been streamed more than 300 million times, just can’t get enough of ballads
Four hours before Sienna Spiro is due to launch her first US headlining tour, the 20-year-old singer and songwriter from London sits upstairs in the Troubadour’s empty balcony, peering down as several crew members wheel a grand piano onstage.
“The fact that I’m 11½ hours from home and that this room is gonna be filled with people that have never met me and that I’ve never seen before – that’s just crazy,” she says. “I’m kind of scared.”
The song that brought Spiro to the West Hollywood nightclub recently is “Die on This Hill”, a showstopping pop-soul ballad about staying in a toxic relationship. It has been streamed more than 300 million times on YouTube and Spotify since it came out in October.
Built around tolling piano chords and Spiro’s vocals, the song hit No 9 in the UK and broke into the Top 20 of Billboard’s Hot 100; in February, Spiro – whose famous admirers include SZA, Mark Ronson and Alex Warren – was nominated for the Critics’ Choice prize at the UK’s annual Brit Awards.
With its unabashed emotion and throwback feel, “Die on This Hill” can be heard as the latest in a long line of melodramatic ballads by young Britons such as Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Lewis Capaldi and Olivia Dean, the last of whom was just named best new artist at the Grammys. Yet Spiro’s voice stands out: rich and pulpy, with a crack she knows how to deploy for maximum heartbreak, it might be the most impressive instrument to come out of England since Adele emerged nearly two decades ago.
“Sienna is a true artist with the voice of a generation,” says Sam Smith, one more English singer – and former best new artist winner – with a flair for ugly-cry theatrics. “The world is at her feet.”