WORDS Jumi Akinfenwa
PHOTOGRAPHY Vic Lentaigne
STYLING Kamran Rajput
MUA Daniela Montero
2ND MUA Natalie Vest-Jones
CREATIVE DIRECTION Tori West
PRODUCTION Chiara Maculan
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT Kevin Mason
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS Evie Baldwin
FASHION ASSISTANTS Issy Pole & Marifer Albiero
MODELS Asia & Mahlah
Your early twenties are a difficult time for anyone. It’s the first time that many are out there on their own, figuring out this crazy thing called life and all its idiosyncrasies. This time in life has been no walk in the park for Cat Burns either, who documented her experiences in real-time on her debut album early twenties. “Last year was a big year for me because the album came out, and it was really interesting to see what songs people connected to the most,” she says from the comfort of her bedroom, accompanied by her cat.
Burns is finding time to rest and recharge from the whirlwind that has been her career to date. It’s been non-stop, with the double-platinum selling single ‘go’ peaking at number two in the UK Top 40 Singles Chart in 2022, a spot on BBC’s Sound Of 2023 poll, three Brit Award nominations, and a place on the 2024 Mercury Prize shortlist all under her belt by the age of 24. She isn’t short of acclaim and welcomes it, but there’s been one even greater prize for her. “The Mercury Prize nomination was amazing, and was really affirming to me as an artist. But I think I’ve always wanted to be an artist with bodies of work out in the world,” she explains. “So to finally have a body of work that I feel currently represents my music and who I am as an artist – that’s been the best part of the last year for me musically.”
Her heartfelt and diaristic opines to the first few years of adulthood have cemented Burns as a Britpop mainstay for Gen-Z, and to some, her success may seem like it came overnight, when in reality, it’s almost a decade in the making. Her music and songwriting abilities were nurtured at Croydon’s famed BRIT School, which boasts alumni including Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Raye. Her debut EP Adolescent, self-released while attending the school in 2016, started her journey dealing with a music industry that didn’t quite know where to place her and erroneously labelled her introspective pop as “R&B”. “I feel as though I’ve overcome, right now anyway, the sort of R&B label,” she says. “I think it’s now the journey of establishing myself as a pop artist that people want to know about and want to hear about. So I think it’s now [about] fighting against the tide of ‘How do I get people to understand me as a pop artist?’”
As a Black, queer, neurodivergent woman in music, Burns is constantly fighting against the tide. The “quadruple homicide of struggle” as she refers to it, is an omnipresent part of her experience in the UK music industry, though not one she wants to necessarily be defined by. “I’m not one before the other, they all exist within me in this in the same way,” she says. “So I always try and be vulnerable and speak about my experiences as honestly as I can…but I don’t want to be the spokesperson.” Along with fighting her way through the UK music industry, Burns has been on a journey of finding herself, being diagnosed with both ADHD and autism spectrum disorder in 2021 and 2023 respectively. “It just unlocked something in me,” she says of her diagnoses. “I just want to learn why all of our brains work this way. I’ve been checking myself, when I say things like, ‘I’m not good in social situations, I don’t know how to speak to people.’ It’s like, no, I just don’t know how to exist in a neurotypical way of speaking. But when I speak to neurodivergent people, I’m fine. So I’ve been really trying to be quite cautious with my words and how I speak over myself, and generally give myself grace.”
Being the only person who thinks and looks like you in a room is a situation that women like Burns have experienced all too often in creative industries, and it’s something she’s keen to no longer be the norm. “I always try and make sure I’m uplifting other voices as well, voices that have more knowledge about things than I do. I don’t ever want to be the one that’s the sole one, which I think can be easily done, especially when you get a foot in the door.” Thankfully Black British pop is in a much healthier state than it once was, with Burns and contemporaries such as Myles Smith, flowerovlove, Olivia Dean, and Rachel Chinouriri leading the charge. “I think the industry is in a good place,” she suggests. “But I think, as with everything, there’s always more work to be done. I think there’s more room that can be made, more support, more investment.” This new generation of Black Brits who refuse to be pigeonholed leaves the door open for future talent to develop without genre constraints. “I think this shows that there is demand, and people want to hear what we’re doing. I think that is proof in itself that more investments can be made into new, up-and-coming artists who want to do the same thing.”
With songs such as ‘people pleaser’ which tackles the issues of communication and confrontation with your loved ones, and ‘alone’” which speaks of fears of loneliness, Burns’ experiences, while told from her own unique perspective, are still universal for many people of her generation. Part of why it is harder for Black artists to push past genre stereotypes, she feels, is due to media representation and an unwillingness to view Black people as relatable. “We consume a lot of American media, and because America is such a large place you can have actors, actresses and musicians that are big within the Black community and aren’t really big outside of the community. There’s still a bit of media segregation and we have mimicked that a little bit in the UK,” she argues. “But we’re a tiny island, so I’m like, this doesn’t make sense. It just can’t be that way.”
I think the industry is in a good place, but as with everything, there’s always more work to be done. I think there’s more room that can be made, more support, more investment.
Cat Burns wears Blazer & Trousers FILIPPA K, Shirt AXEL ARIGATO, Shirt DENZIL PATRICK, Tie GUCCI, Shoes HELMUT LANG
This media segregation is still apparent when other marginalised communities are seemingly uplifted. Rolling Stone dubbed 2024 “Sapphic Pop’s Banner Year”, highlighting artists such as Chappell Roan, Muna, and Reneé Rapp, and copious social media posts have acknowledged pop’s “queer renaissance”, but questioned why there are seemingly no Black queer artists without looking beyond the headlines. “That’s been one of my biggest frustrations,” Burns admits. “We’re here. We’ve been here this whole time. But I’m hoping now, with social media, that [people] are doing the research and seeing the artists that do exist and have been making music and have a fan base and a following.”
Despite her frustrations, Burns has a tight-knit support system around her, which includes the aforementioned Rachel Chinouriri, a fellow BRIT School alum. “Rachel was the year above me, and she was in dance, I believe, and I was in music, but we knew of each other throughout school,” she reveals. “She was also putting on shows, and I remember she put out an EP on SoundCloud when we were 16 or 17, and I loved it. I played it all the time. I still play it now. I just love it, it’s so good. There was just a constant back and forth of showing love to each other.” With Chinouriri similarly struggling to initially establish herself as a pop artist in the eyes of the music industry and by extension, the general public, there’s a shared frustration with Burns, a recognition of a double standard faced by Black women trying to break through that their white contemporaries do not. They joined forces last year on ‘Even’, a track that allowed both to lay bare their critiques of the industry, asking “We talk the same, dress for fame / Why does no one else believe in us the same?”.
I’ve never really spoken about my experience of being a Black female artist trying to do pop music. This is the perfect opportunity to do it.
Cat burns wears Full Look & Accessories BOTTEGA VENETA
For Burns, the collaboration came at a time in their careers when they had confidently found their voices and felt safe enough to air their grievances. “The love and support that we have for each other is so genuine and authentic and has been since we were young, that when [Rachel] was like, ‘Oh, let’s do this song together, it’s about being Black women in the industry,’ I was like, ‘This is perfect,’ because I’ve never really spoken about my experience of being a Black female artist trying to do pop music. This is the perfect opportunity to do it, and I feel safe doing it with Rachel. So it all just sort of fell into place.”
Adding to Burns’ feeling of safety is her ability to mask depending on the environment she finds herself in. “I think this is where my neurodivergence sort of helps me. I’m really good at taking off masks and putting them back on. So if I’m on stage, if I’m doing an interview, if I’m doing anything ‘Cat Burns musical artist’ related, I can put on the Cat Burns mask,” she says. “All my friends and family will tell you, once I’ve finished the gig, that mask comes straight off and I’m Catrina again. I’m just me, and I don’t buy into my own hype.”
Just being herself is the motto for Burns’ new era. Having now firmly established herself, she’s keen to show a new side of her music. Her latest single ‘GIRLS!’, is an upbeat and playful ode to flirtation, a departure from the Burns we know and love but no less authentic. “I feel like I’m becoming more settled within myself,” she says. “I finally understand how you get better with age, because you go through things, and as you continue to go through things, you can sit more comfortably within yourself. So the music is reflecting that, which is why ‘GIRLS!’ is such a fun first single of the year, because it’s just flirty, and I’m comfortable in sharing my appreciation for women.”
So what’s next for the new era of Cat Burns? She’s spending her days jamming to the “lightskin Justin Bieber” playlist on Spotify and posting The Traitors debriefs on her TikTok “yap account”. Other than this, she just has one goal for the year ahead, which she is noticeably gleeful about – “more fun music in 2025!”
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