Cavetown | ||||||||||
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![]() Cavetown performing in 2025 | ||||||||||
Background information | ||||||||||
Also known as | brother [1] [2] | |||||||||
Born | Oxford, England | 15 December 1998|||||||||
Origin | Cambridge, England [3] | |||||||||
Genres | ||||||||||
Occupations |
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Instruments | ||||||||||
Years active | 2012–present | |||||||||
Labels | ||||||||||
Website | cave | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Genres |
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Subscribers | 2.25 million [12] | |||||||||
Views | 618.891 million [12] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 3 May 2025 |
Robin DanielSkinner [13] [14] (born 15 December 1998), [3] known professionally as Cavetown (sometimes stylised in all lowercase), [15] [16] is an English singer-songwriter, record producer, and YouTuber. His [a] style blends elements of indie rock, indie pop and bedroom pop with mellow, gentle ukulele ballads. [3]
As of March 2024, he had amassed over 6.6 million monthly streamers on Spotify. [17] His YouTube channel, which he began in November 2012, sits at 2.25 million subscribers and over 612 million video views as of May 2025. [18] Skinner released his fifth studio album, Worm Food, in November 2022. [19]
Skinner was born in Oxford, England, on 15 December 1998. [3] [20] His interest in music was inspired by his father, David Skinner, a musicologist and choir director, who taught him how to play the acoustic guitar at the age of eight. [21] [22] His mother is a professional Baroque flautist and music teacher. He was raised in Cambridge and attended Parkside Community College from 2010 to 2015 and Hills Road Sixth Form College until 2017. [23]
Skinner began his YouTube channel in November 2012 and uploaded his first video, an original song named "Haunted Lullaby", in October 2013. [24] [25] Soon after, Skinner began releasing music to Bandcamp with his first album, Everything Is Made of Clouds, at the age of 14. [26] [27] He released Gd Vibes, Nervous Friends // Pt. 1, Balance (as brother) and Everything is Made of Stars on Bandcamp over the following two years. [28] [29] [30] [31] Critics expressed that he felt "the acceptance of ignorance" on Gd Vibes. [32] Skinner released his debut single "This is Home" in August 2015, [33] before releasing his debut self-titled album in November 2015. [34] Critics described the album Cavetown as "an eclectic mix of acoustic and electronic". [35] Skinner continued to publish covers of songs onto his YouTube channel from artists such as Pinegrove, Twenty One Pilots and Joji. [22]
In 2016, Skinner released his second studio album, 16/04/16. [36] The album includes a mix of "warm, melodic bedroom pop" and "lo-fi indie rock". [3] The album was dedicated to his childhood friend, Jack Graham, who died of leukaemia on the album's titular date. 60% of the album's proceeds were donated to Cancer Research UK. [37]
In 2018, he released his third album, Lemon Boy. [38]
In 2019, Skinner released five split singles which were later compiled into Animal Kingdom, a mixtape of ten tracks including covers and original singles with guest appearances from Sidney Gish, Simi, and Chloe Moriondo. [39] [40] [41] He signed under Sire Records in 2019 where he released the single "Telescope" ahead of his upcoming album, later announced as Sleepyhead. Skinner embarked on a series of sold-out worldwide headlining tours in October 2019 in support of this album. He was joined by Hunny and Mxmtoon for a few shows in the UK tour, [42] [43] as well as Field Medic and Chloe Moriondo for a few shows in the US tour. [39] In October 2019, Skinner announced his headlining tour along Australia's east coast, which took place in January 2020, where he was accompanied by Spookyghostboy. [44]
In 2020, Skinner released his major label debut album Sleepyhead. [45] He cancelled the tour in support of Sleepyhead due to the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020. [46] In July 2020, Skinner collaborated with Tessa Violet on the single "Smoke Signals" and announced the launch of his unisex clothing line Cave Collective. [47]
In 2021, he released the extended play Man's Best Friend. [48] Sahar Ghadirian of Clash gave the EP a positive review, describing it as "wistfully compelling, providing comfort in a uniquely fuzzy way." [49]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2025) |
In 2022, Skinner released the album Worm Food to positive reviews from critics. Rachel Min Leong of Clash praised Worm Food for bringing "new depths" to Skinner's "disarming, raw sincerity". [50] Similarly, Ali Shutler of NME wrote positively of Worm Food's "raw honesty, understanding and self-empowerment" and described the album as "[Skinner's] most fully-realised yet". [19] [51] Worm Food features guests such as Pierce the Veil, Beabadoobee, and Chloe Moriondo. [52] Around the same time, Skinner announced the This Is Home Project, a foundation which will donate to various charities supporting young LGBT+ people. [50] [53]
In 2024, Skinner released the extended play Little Vice. [54] [55] In June 2024, he returned to Bandcamp to release a cover of "My Love Mine All Mine" by Mitski. [56] Skinner later released multiple collaborative singles, including "magic 8 ball" with artist Frankie Cosmos, [57] [58] [59] in advance of his 2024-2025 tour with Mother Mother. [60] [61] In December 2024, Skinner released an extended play consisting of lofi versions of some of his songs. [62]
In 2025, Skinner released an extended play of covers, including the previously released cover of "My Love Mine All Mine" on his Bandcamp, titled SONGS I LIKE IN 2025. [63] He signed with Futures Music Group, a joint venture between Neon Gold and Avenue A Records, which formed in 2024. In August 2025, he released his first single under his new label entitled "Baby Spoon" which was accompanied with a music video [64] .
Skinner has stated that he is on both the aromantic and asexual spectrums. [65] [66] He came out as transgender in September 2020. [67] His pronouns are he/they. [68] Skinner lives in Cambridge as of 2019. [3] He has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [69]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [70] | SCO [70] | US Sales [71] | US Heat [72] | US Folk [73] | |||||||||||
Cavetown [34] |
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
16/04/16 [36] |
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
Lemon Boy [74] |
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
Sleepyhead [75] |
| 52 | 7 | 53 | 12 | 16 | |||||||||
Worm Food |
| 39 | 8 | 86 | — | — | |||||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |
---|---|---|---|
UK Phys. [70] | US Heat. ENC [76] | ||
Dear. [77] |
| 7 | 6 |
Man's Best Friend |
| — | — |
little vice |
| — | — |
Title | Details |
---|---|
Animal Kingdom [81] |
|
Title [82] | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK Phys. [70] | UK Indie Brk. [70] | ||||
"Devil Town" | 2015 | — | 17 | Cavetown | |
"This Is Home" | — | — | Non-album single | ||
"Lemon Boy" | 2018 | — | — |
| Lemon Boy |
"Just Add Water" | — | — | Dear. | ||
"Juliet" | — | — |
| Animal Kingdom: Sandy [b] | |
"Boys Will Be Bugs" | — | — | Animal Kingdom: Comet [b] | ||
"Advice" | 2019 | — | — | Animal Kingdom: Ash [b] | |
"Self Control" (Frank Ocean cover) | — | — | Animal Kingdom: Shells [b] | ||
"Hug All Ur Friends" | — | — | Animal Kingdom: Jackson [b] | ||
"Home" | 35 | — |
| Non-album single | |
"Feb 14" | — | — | Sleepyhead | ||
"Telescope" | — | — | |||
"Things That Make It Warm" | — | — | |||
"You've Got a Friend in Me" (Randy Newman cover) [85] | — | — | Non-album single | ||
"Sweet Tooth" | 2020 | — | — | Sleepyhead | |
"I Miss My Mum" | — | — | |||
"Smoke Signals" (feat. Tessa Violet) | — | — | Non-album single | ||
"Sharpener" | — | — | Man's Best Friend | ||
"Sharpener's Calling Me Again" (feat. Kina) | 2021 | — | — | Non-album single | |
"Paul" (Big Thief cover) | — | — | Man's Best Friend | ||
"Ur Gonna Wish U Believed Me" | — | — | |||
"Teenage Dirtbag" (feat. Chloe Moriondo) (Wheatus cover) | — | — | Non-album single | ||
"squares" | 2022 | — | — | squares / y 13 | |
"y 13" | — | — | |||
"Fall in Love with a Girl" (feat. Beabadoobee) | — | — | Worm Food | ||
"Fall in Love with a Girl" (feat. Orla Gartland) [86] | — | — | Non-album single | ||
"Grocery Store" [c] | — | — | Non-album single | ||
"1994" | — | — | Worm Food | ||
"Frog" | — | — | |||
"del mar county fair 2008" (Underscores cover) | 2023 | — | — | Non-album single | |
"glacier meadow" (feat. Field Medic) | — | — | little vice | ||
"let them know they're on your mind" | 2024 | — | — | ||
"let them know they're on your mind" (acoustic) | — | — | |||
"Baby Spoon" | 2025 |
Year | Title [82] | Album/EP |
---|---|---|
2018 | "Devil Town" (with Kevin Devine) | Devinyl Splits No. 11 |
2020 | "Is Your Bedroom Ceiling Bored?" (with Sody) | Non-album singles |
"Lemons" (with Brye) | ||
"Was It Something I Said" (with Mykey) [87] | ||
2021 | "Struck by Lighting" (with Sara Kays) | |
"Trying Not to Cry" (with Kina) [c] | ||
2024 | "Didn't" (with Illuminati Hotties) | Power |
"Dirty Devil Town" (with Mother Mother) [88] | Non-album singles |
Year | Title | Certifications | Album/EP |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | "Fool" |
| Lemon Boy |
as Cavetown [15]
as brother [1]
Award Ceremony | Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Berlin Music Video Awards | 2020 | Green | Best Narrative | Nominated |
The Indie rock/indie pop artist Robin Daniel Skinner, more commonly known as Cavetown, incorporates elements of low-fi and indie folk music into his bedroom pop-style music.
Robin "Robbie" Skinner, aka Cavetown, walks in wearing jeans rolled up at the ankles with checkered Vans, and greets the room as if we're all gathered at a club after school.