Sienna Spiro Is Stealing the Show

Sienna Spiro is inevitable.

That much seems clear as the bubbling U.K. singer steps off the stage at the close of her very first U.S. headlining concert at The Troubadour in West Hollywood last week, where she had young fans in tears as they mouthed her lyrics and industry execs in the audience opining if she’s the next Adele or Amy Winehouse.

Just don’t ask her why, as she’s still looking for answers too.

“I don’t know, you’ve got to tell me that,” she says with a light chuckle over Zoom days after that show, when asked what she thinks has caused this increasingly growing excitement these past few months. “I’m just being myself and trying to make music I love.”

Whether that’s an earnest answer or just a bit of humility from a 20-year-old who knows better than to get ahead of herself this early into the race, we can try to answer instead. At its simplest, she has an otherworldly voice. Deep and smoky with impressive control and just a touch of Etta James rasp, Spiro’s is a voice not so much influenced by jazz legends like Winehouse or Nina Simone but rather a direct descendant.

Couple that with a timeless ‘60s flair and heartbreaking ballads like “Die on This Hill” and “You Stole The Show” — which have been in a combined 8.3 million TikTok videos and have both surpassed 100 million Spotify streams — and it’s hard not to see how Spiro has become one of the industry’s most-anticipated contenders primed for a star-making 2026.

Spiro is one of several acts spearheading a new British invasion fronted by soulful pop girls, joining the likes of Olivia Dean and Lola Young. Spiro’s latest single, “The Visitor,” the namesake for her ongoing tour, is out this Friday. Ahead of the release, Spiro spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about singing with Sam Smith, the heartbreak of friendships ending and how a desire for more human connection is driving a resurgence of jazz and soul in pop music.

You just played “Die on This Hill” with Sam Smith in San Francisco, which is wild. Tell me about that.

I wish I could be more articulate, because something like that is just so unbelievable. I’ve spoken about this before, but I got to sing with Sam at their residency in New York when I was opening. We sang “Lay Me Down,” and that was just the best moment of my life.

And then to be asked to sing my own song with one of my idols is kind of an indescribable feeling. I would never have written that song without Sam’s music to be honest. So it was just insane. It’s still sinking in that that happened. I feel like I’m quite late with my like reactions.

You almost can’t hide your influences; they practically ooze out of you. Adele, Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone. Where’d those come from?

That’s what my dad used to play in the house, so I grew up listening to it. I grew up learning from all these legends, and I used to try to copy how they sang. I listened to Frank Sinatra all the time, Nina and Aretha and Ella Fitzgerald. I used to try and emulate it.

It really is just the best, but it’s my favorite. It’s my favorite music in the world, jazz and soul, and I think it’s the most real and the most human, and the one I just connect to the most.

It’s not easy for that sort of music to grow so popular in today’s pop landscape. It happens sometimes, Amy did it, Adele did it. But it’s been more dormant. Artists like you and Olivia Dean coming up means it could be coming back. Why do you think that is now?

I think people are craving humanness. Sorry, I know there’s a word, but I don’t know how else to say it. People really want real things. And I think in a world where everything’s digital and online for the most part, people are craving human interaction and connection, and things you can hold and things you can see and feel.

Jazz and soul music is so human. It’s all live.

Do you remember the first song you ever fell in love with?

It must’ve been a nursery rhyme or something. I’ve been singing my whole life. I don’t remember the first song, but I do remember being given one of those little square iPods when I was very young. My cousin downloaded me four songs: It was like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Someone Like You,” a Beatles song and a Sinatra song. I used to just shuffle those songs on repeat every single day.

Is there a moment where it clicked for you that you had a voice that was unique enough for this. That a path as a singer is something you could consider?

I had no other plan. I was like, “Alright,I’m gonna do this.” I’m very delusional. If you listen to my music, you’ll pick that up straight away. It only kind of dawned on me a few months ago that it 100 percent could not have worked out like this. I’m very, very grateful it has.

You’ve used the metaphor about wings being clipped on several songs, “Butterfly Effect”and “Back to Blonde.” Why is that a phrase you’re drawn to? Was that intentional or did it just happen?

It wasn’t premeditated. I think I’m quite a visual writer. “Butterfly Effect” is one of my favorite songs that I’ve written. I mapped out on paper first, like of a series of events that happened and what the song was about. I think it’s a really strong image, and I love when you can see things, and when it’s not telling you exactly what happened. I don’t have any wings to be clipped. But I think it’s such a beautifully said image of tying someone down or holding someone from doing what they really should be doing.

On “You Stole The Show,” there’s that refrain where you sing, “I ask if you love me and you just shrug your shoulders.” Is that figurative or something that actually happened to you?

No, I’d die if that happened to me. Well… it has happened to an extent. But this song was all from my imagination. I went on my first-ever mini tour in the U.K. and had this deep fear every night that my ex was in the audience.

It’s called “You Stole The Show” because these shows are the only moments I really feel are mine and I’m present and I can be myself. And there’s this fear of him being there that kept taking that away from me, I just kept thinking about him and what I’d want and if he was there.

Has this person been the inspiration for your writing on these new tracks you’re prepping?

Not anymore, thank God. I’m over it now. But the reason I was thinking about him so much is because I try and bring myself back to who and what I wrote these songs about, and I get the most emotion when I sing them. And sometimes it just brings up stuff.

You said the other night during your show that you’ve been heartbroken more by friends than romantic partners. I don’t see that sentiment in music often; it’s refreshing.

It’s so much more heartbreaking, a friendship ending, because you never think it will. When you enter a romantic situation, you kind of predict the end of it, or you’re aware that it might end or it might not last. When you enter a friendship, it never crosses your mind that this might be over one day.I think that’s why it’s so miserable and so debilitating to lose a friend.

As you’re getting more and more famous and everyone begins to ask more of you, I’m sure friendships can get hard too.

I’ve always struggled with friendship my whole life, since I was 10 years old. But I’ve got incredible people around me, whether that be my sisters and my brother or my best friend. I’ve made so many friendships with the people I work with. I have a lot of people around me.

How are you feeling about your rise up? It’s exciting but I’m sure also a lot of pressure when millions of people, as well as the music industry, are watching so closely.

I’m just insanely grateful for it.I hope I get to use it in the right way, and I hope I don’t let people down. It really is quite strange to have a lot of eyes on you, and especially being young, people wanting answers from you. And I don’t have any answers. I’m figuring it out myself.

What are the questions you’re asking yourself or the things you’re fixated on lately through all this?

I think you can’t be a great artist if you’re not good at being human first. I’m just making sure that I’m being good at being human as well as everything else, and just making sure I’m doing things for the right reason and not for the sake of it.

How do you define being a good human?

It doesn’t just mean being nice, by the way. I just mean you have to be good at connecting and being level and understanding people’s emotions. I know I said it earlier, but the humanness of everything and being present and understanding the way things work and people work. I don’t think you can be a great artist without being a good human first.

“The Visitor” comes out this week. I got to hear it at your show and it’s another beautiful, heartbreaking song. I’m struck by the phrase of being a visitor in someone’s arms. Where’d the inspiration come from?

I wrote that song nine times because about two years ago, I was sitting with a friend, and she mentioned this art exhibition called The Visitor. For some reason, that title stuck with me. I was thinking about why, and it is just because I’ve felt like a visitor my whole life. I’ve always felt temporary; I’ve always been aware of things being temporary.

Always fighting for a place or showing my visual self isn’t enough. That’s why I mentioned the heartbreak of friendship; I’ve just had it so much. It’ssuch a real thing too, and it’s so specific, knowing you’re temporary to someone. I’m terrified of impermanence. It’s something I really, really care about articulating properly.

Does it take any level of adjusting knowing that your songs are going to be scrutinized by more and more people? Are you comfortable giving that all out or do you think you need to maintain some things for yourself?

I’m a bit too comfortable, to be honest. I think I just lay it all out. Sometimes I have to hold myself.

I know you’ve talked about playing Royal Albert Hall as one of your major goals. As you continue to climb, what are your other goals in the months and years ahead?

Like you said, Royal Albert Hall is a big one. I want to be the best songwriter, the best musician,learn more about music and push myself. You can never win music or complete music, you can always get better and you can always learn more. I have so much to learn. I’m in like — what do you guys call it — kindergarten, primary school of music right now. I’m just really excited to learn more and make better stuff.

When you think about Albert Hall, getting to do a more grandiose show, bigger stage, something of this bigger scale, what does that look like to you?

I’ll tell you: Two albums out, hopefully a James Bond song, orchestra and me in a nice dress. That’s what I would like it to look like.