Rising singer-songwriter Chrissi is reshaping R&B as we know it. The Essex-born, Brighton-based artist is ditching themes of love and heartbreak in favour of poetic lyrics that delve into the darkest corners of past trauma. Through her craft, she champions the importance of mental health care, offering not only great music but also a place for her fans to find solidarity and healing. In her open-hearted chat with The Forty-Five, Chrissi reflects on a whirlwind year that saw her collab with Kojey Radical, find a new passion for flower arranging, and gear up to release her long-awaited debut album in 2026.
2025 was a massive year for you. How has it felt to have your platform grow so rapidly?
It feels amazing. I was so surprised by the response to my single ‘ONE IN FIVE!’ The amount of support it’s garnered has been insane. I actually don’t think I’ve processed it yet.
The song has been doing absolute numbers, but it’s really personal in its lyricism. How does it feel having such an intimate song being heard by a huge audience?
At first, I wasn’t going to release it online, because it felt like too much of my story. I only had the first verse written when I posted it. I was really scared, but because of how quickly people reacted, that snippet became theirs and not mine; I was able to separate it from the things that happened to me. I got messages from people around the world telling me how it’s impacted them in different ways. Because of this, I didn’t really feel the pressure of outing the secret I was hiding.
What inspired you to write a song that reads like a diary entry?
That first verse came from my actual journal. It was an entry from 2021 that started with the line “I don’t want to have a daughter because it’s one in five” [referring to the statistic of women who are victims of sexual assault]. It’s such a normal fear, having a daughter that will grow up and go into the world; god forbid she goes through half the stuff I went through. No one is talking about it. It’s terrifying.
When we were recording it, I was fanning myself with the journal paper because it was really hot in the studio, and I thought it sounded like pages turning, so we decided to leave it in. After recording, I was like “that’s done.” I’d done a lot of work in therapy, and making that song was part of the healing process. My previous song ‘Love Me In Chapters’ fits into that theme as well. We can turn the page and go onto the next thing.
In the visualiser for ‘ONE IN FIVE!’ you play the parts of both yourself and your therapist. How did this idea come about, and what does it symbolise for you?
Ben at my label [Black Butter] asked if I had any ideas for a visualiser. I got really high and was like “Oh my god, what if I’m the therapist as well as the patient?” I was totally kidding, but he thought it was amazing. The team really believed in me, and we found the director Flora Scott who really liked the idea.
It had been four years since I was on set shooting anything. That felt daunting. I have a different body now, and I’ve been through a lot since then. I was really scared, but playing those two roles felt like taking ownership of my journey and coming back as myself. The book Addiction To Love by Susan Peabody is featured in the video, because that book has inspired me so much. It’s a very Caribbean thing to become your own therapist and find your own ways of coping. I believe in therapy now, and have a therapist, but when I wrote the song I was leaning on myself quite a lot.
How does your Caribbean heritage influence the way you process and deal with emotions?
In ways I wouldn’t like to admit. I’m now the most “mental health first” person you will ever meet. I believe everyone should have a therapist, and I’ve been to multiple treatment centres myself. I’ve tried my hardest to tap into that side of things, because I was raised by my nan and she would never, ever entertain the conversation of therapy. Because of that, in my day-to-day life, I still don’t leave much room for self-care. I’m like “Yeah, I’ll crack on” – very similar to my nan.
You had a two-year break from releasing music after ‘Love Me In Chapters.’ Why did you decide to return in 2025?
Life was so busy. I was working really hard on songwriting for Stellar Songs. I kind of forgot I hadn’t released anything, because every day was still filled with music – until someone in an interview said I disappeared for two years, and I was like, “Wait, what?”
It was also the fact that my previous label wanted me to do more EPs. I don’t think an EP is long enough for someone to understand me. I was like, “If you won’t let me do an album, just let me go,” and they did. They were super loving and gracious about it. I then went to LA and started recording my album. I’ve been releasing music for five years; it’s time.
You’ve had some huge collaborations, with Rachel Chinouriri on ‘Love Me In Chapters,’ and then with Kojey Radical and Ghetts on ‘Baby Boy.’ What was it like to work with these artists?
Rachel was so lovely. I’d been a fan of hers for a very long time; I’m a big fan of any Black girl in the UK doing something outside of R&B. It was super cool to get accolades from her. She posted a whole video saying, “If she wants a remix, tell her to let me do it.” I was like, “Are you fucking joking? You’re Rachel Chinouriri, you can do whatever you want with it.” I feel like I’ve gained a really cool big sister; she’s been so supportive in the past four years.
Kojey has also been a really supportive big brother and a good friend. He’s given me so much advice over the years. I didn’t know he was going to ask me to be on his album. I thought I was just going into the studio for writing, and even that was super exciting. But I tried really hard all day and couldn’t get anything good. I went upstairs and got really drunk with the rest of the team, and suddenly formed an idea, so I went back downstairs to work on it. I wrote this song called ‘Baby Boy’ about my ex. I meant it for me, not for Kojey, but he woke me up the next morning and was like, “I need Baby Boy on the album – can we change the lyrics to be about my son?” I thought he would get someone else to sing it, but he wanted me. That just felt insane. I love him so much, and I love the song as well.
Thinking back, what music from your upbringing inspired you to become a musician?
My family is from Trinidad, so we listened to a lot of soca. I didn’t know much about anything else as a kid, until secondary school when I became obsessed with One Direction. I was like, I need to get famous so I can meet Harry Styles and we can be together – so I need to learn how to play guitar. So I learnt, and through that I got really into Paramore and Panic! At The Disco and Sleeping With Sirens. I really love Twenty One Pilots as well.
When I started at East London Arts and Music college, everyone had been into R&B their entire lives, and I was like, “Who is Erykah Badu?”
My older brother Berwyn also makes soul and rap music; he’s really cool. My four other siblings can’t sing for shit, but us two are very musical.
It’s been years and years of finding different genres and being inspired by them in different ways. Now I’m really into music from the ‘60s, especially the Supremes. I love Diana Ross so much. When I was finishing my album a few weeks ago, my producer told me to come out for a drink for my last night in LA to celebrate. We were having a cigarette outside the bar, and this guy asked me for a lighter. He heard my British accent and asked me what I was doing there. I said I was recording my album, and he told me his mum is an artist. He was Evan Ross, the son of Diana! The whole process of making this album has been bizarre.
That’s a total pinch-me moment. You’ve spoken before about your newfound passion for flower arranging. How did you get into that?
It was early last year. I had a really bad breakup, which I explore a lot on the album, and was looking for a hobby outside of music to help me stop writing only sad lyrics. I walked past a florist in Brighton and decided to get some flowers. I got a bottle of wine, went home and arranged my first bouquet. It looked so terrible, but I really enjoyed the process. I made it a weekly thing, and got better and better at it. It’s my favourite thing to do now. There’s one song on the album that’s the saddest of all, but I wasn’t sad while writing it. I felt really good; I was surrounded by all these flowers I’d arranged. I want to continue it this year, and do a little course if I have time.
You’ve recently finished touring with kwn. How was that experience?
Amazing, but very hard. It was my first-ever European tour, and I was super excited to do all the travelling, but my wisdom tooth impacted on the day of the first show. My entire face was swollen and I couldn’t open my mouth. I went to an emergency dentist in Germany, and they didn’t speak any English. I was terrified.
I still performed that night. I will perform through anything; adrenaline is crazy. I had a toothache that felt like it was in my brain, and couldn’t feel my face, but as soon as I stepped onstage, I was fine. I was just covering the swollen side with my hair. The second I came off, though, I was like, “Oh my god, I should not have opened my mouth.” It was terrible. So the days around the shows were hard, but the performances themselves were amazing. Kwn was in the year above me at ELAM, and we’ve always championed each other’s music. My guitarist was also at school with us, so it was a very wholesome, beautiful reunion. Kwn has the best fans; they all knew who I was. A lot of my songs are sad, and a lot of Kwn songs are like, ‘We wanna shake arse’, so I didn’t expect it, but they made me feel really safe and happy. It was just the greatest experience.
If you could open for any artist, who would it be?
Right now, probably Olivia Dean. She’s so amazing. Or Raye; I love her. I want to keep it to the UK. I did a session with Skye Newman the other day and I was like, the UK girls are taking it.
What direction are you taking with your music on the new album?
It’s a lot more me. Half the album is me and my guitar; the other half is live instrument-led, inspired by Motown and soul. I’m not the greatest guitarist; I don’t have the patience for it, plus I’m left-handed and only have right-handed guitars – so I’m on my way to being Jimi Hendrix – but everyone else that plays on the album is an instrumentalist first. That’s the way I want to make music going forward: with a room full of musicians. It’s every artist’s unspoken dream to get an album out, so I’m super excited.
What else have you got lined up for 2026?
I’m going back to LA to write more, and there will be another tour for sure. There will also be another single before the album release; I’m not sure which one yet, but it’ll be a good song.
Chrissi’s debut album will be released in spring.
