Clairo

Claire Elizabeth Cottrill (born August 18, 1998), known professionally as Clairo, is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Carlisle, Massachusetts, she began posting music on the internet at age 13.

Clairo rose to prominence following the viral success of the music video for her lo-fi single "Pretty Girl" in 2017. She subsequently signed a record deal, releasing her debut EP Diary 001 (2018) with Fader Label. Her debut studio album Immunity (2019) received critical acclaim and spawned the singles "Bags" and "Sofia", the latter of which became her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Cottrill's second studio album, Sling, was released in 2021. Upon its release, the album received critical acclaim and saw commercial success, debuting in the top 20 of the US Billboard 200.

Early life
Claire Cottrill was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Carlisle, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of marketing executive Geoff Cottrill.

2011–2017: Career beginnings
Cottrill began recording covers at the age of 13; she often performed covers at local businesses including Blue Dry Goods. During this time, MTV contacted her to record a song to be used as background music for one of their shows, but the song was never used. Under the names Clairo and DJ Baby Benz, she began posting music to Bandcamp while attending Concord-Carlisle High School and went on to post covers and songs in addition to DJ mixes of rap music on SoundCloud. She also maintained a YouTube channel where she would post covers and short films.

Clairo first drew wide attention in late 2017 when the video for her song "Pretty Girl" went viral on YouTube. The song was recorded for an indie rock compilation benefiting the Transgender Law Center. According to her, she recorded the track "using the resources around me which were pretty shitty. I used like a little keyboard that I had and I was really into ’80s pop music — my mom is obsessed with it — so it kind of inspired me to do something like that." She has attributed audience interest in the video to YouTube's algorithm system. The video also became popular on vaporwave-centric Facebook groups. "Pretty Girl" had amassed more than 81 million views on YouTube by 2022. A piece written by Joe Coscarelli of The New York Times said that the work: "bridges both worlds, building on the coy, understated bedroom pop of 'Pretty Girl' and 'Flamin Hot Cheetos' toward sturdier numbers like '4EVER' and 'B.O.M.D.'".

Another video, "Flamin Hot Cheetos", was released a month before Pretty Girl on YouTube. It garnered 3 million views by July 2018. The success of "Pretty Girl" led to interest from major labels such as Capitol, RCA, and Columbia. Jon Cohen, the co-founder of The Fader, signed Clairo to the magazine's associated record label with a 12-song record contract and introduced her to Pat Corcoran, manager of Chance the Rapper. She became a client of talent agency Haight Brand near the end of 2017.

2018–present: Immunity and Sling
On May 25, 2018, Fader Label released Clairo's debut record, titled Diary 001. In her review for Pitchfork, Fader contributor Sasha Geffen wrote that the EP ought to subside the "legions of naysayers who dismissed her as a one-hit fluke or an industry plant." That same month, she announced a headlining tour throughout North America, as well as select dates opening for Dua Lipa. Her July performance at the Bowery Ballroom in New York was a sold-out show. In October 2018, she performed at Lollapalooza. She performed at Coachella in 2019.

On May 24, 2019, Clairo released a new single, "Bags", and announced her debut album Immunity which was released on August 2, 2019. She would further release two more singles from the album "Closer to You" and "Sofia." Following the album's commercial success, Apple Music named Clairo an Up Next artist in August 2019. Clairo made her television debut performing "I Wouldn’t Ask You" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September 2019, before performing "Bags" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show a few days later. In December 2019, Clairo won Pop Artist of the Year at the 2019 Boston Music Awards for the second consecutive year, as well as Album of the Year for Immunity. "Bags" was included in over 15 critics' lists ranking the year's top songs including Pitchfork's and Paste's lists of best songs of the decade. Immunity was included in over 10 critics' end of year lists, including The Guardian, Pitchfork, Billboard and Los Angeles Times. As of 2019, Clairo was managed by Mike Ahern and Jimmy Bui.

In April 2020, Clairo revealed that she had begun working on her second album via a tweet of a screenshot of a playlist titled ‘Album 2 (demos so far)’. On October of that same year, Clairo formed a new band called Shelly with indie-pop artist Claud and their two friends from Syracuse University, Josh Mehling and Noa Frances Getzug. The group released two songs, "Steeeam" and "Natural", on October 30, 2020. On June 11, 2021, Clairo released "Blouse", the first single from her second record, Sling, which was announced that same day. The album was released on July 16, 2021. In February 2022, Clairo embarked on the US leg of the Sling tour.

Artistry
Clairo recalled that the Shins' Wincing the Night Away was the first album she "really completely geeked out over", crediting it as her inspiration to make music. Based on the fact that many around her told her that a career in music was unlikely, she did not consider it a likely prospect and musically "kind of did whatever" she wanted.

Personal life
In 2017, Cottrill began attending Syracuse University.

Cottrill was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 17. Cottrill came out as bisexual to her fans via Twitter in May 2018. In an interview, she explained that making friends in college is what helped her to come out as they were openly gay and she was inspired by "their confidence and their willingness to be exposed." In July 2020, she signed an open letter to the UK Equalities minister Liz Truss calling for a ban on all forms of LGBT+ conversion therapy.

Following the success of "Pretty Girl", a number of social media users (specifically on discussion website Reddit) began claiming that Clairo was an "industry plant" who gained success through her father's nepotism. She denied the claims, calling them sexist. Writers for The Guardian and The Ringer also stated that her father's connections facilitated her record contract signing.

Discography

 * Immunity (2019)
 * Sling (2021)