Cavetown | ||||||||||
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![]() Cavetown performing in 2025 | ||||||||||
Background information | ||||||||||
Also known as | brother [1] | |||||||||
Born | Oxford, England | 15 December 1998|||||||||
Origin | Cambridge, England [2] | |||||||||
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 [11] | |||||||||
Views | 618.891 million [11] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 3 May 2025 |
Robin DanielSkinner [12] [13] (born 15 December 1998), [2] known professionally as Cavetown (sometimes stylised in all lowercase), [14] [15] 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. [2]
As of March 2024, he had amassed over 6.6 million monthly streamers on Spotify. [16] 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. [17] Skinner released his fifth studio album, Worm Food, in November 2022. [18]
Skinner was born in Oxford, England, on 15 December 1998. [2] [19] 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. [20] [21] 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. [22]
Skinner began his YouTube channel in November 2012 and uploaded his first video, an original song named "Haunted Lullaby", in October 2013. [23] [24] Soon after, Skinner began releasing music to Bandcamp with his first album, Everything Is Made of Clouds, at the age of 14. [25] [26] He released Gd Vibes, Nervous Friends // Pt. 1, Balance (as brother) and Everything is Made of Stars on Bandcamp over the following two years. [27] [28] [29] Critics expressed that he felt "the acceptance of ignorance" on Gd Vibes. [30] Skinner released his debut single "This is Home" in August 2015, [31] before releasing his debut self-titled album in November 2015. [32] Critics described the album Cavetown as "an eclectic mix of acoustic and electronic". [33] Skinner continued to publish covers of songs onto his YouTube channel from artists such as Pinegrove, Twenty One Pilots and Joji. [21]
In 2016, Skinner released his second studio album, 16/04/16. [34] The album includes a mix of "warm, melodic bedroom pop" and "lo-fi indie rock". [2] 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. [35]
In 2018, he released his third album, Lemon Boy. [36]
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. [37] [38] [39] 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, [40] [41] as well as Field Medic and Chloe Moriondo for a few shows in the US tour. [37] 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. [42]
In 2020, Skinner released his major label debut album Sleepyhead. [43] He cancelled the tour in support of Sleepyhead due to the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020. [44] In July 2020, Skinner collaborated with Tessa Violet on the single "Smoke Signals" and announced the launch of his unisex clothing line Cave Collective. [45]
In 2021, he released the extended play Man's Best Friend. [46] Sahar Ghadirian of Clash gave the EP a positive review, describing it as "wistfully compelling, providing comfort in a uniquely fuzzy way." [47]
![]() | 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". [48] 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". [18] [49] Worm Food features guests such as Pierce the Veil, Beabadoobee, and Chloe Moriondo. [50] Around the same time, Skinner announced the This Is Home Project, a foundation which will donate to various charities supporting young LGBT+ people. [48] [51]
In 2024, Skinner released the extended play Little Vice. [52] [53] In June 2024, he returned to Bandcamp to release a cover of "My Love Mine All Mine" by Mitski. [54] Skinner later released multiple collaborative singles, including "magic 8 ball" with artist Frankie Cosmos, [55] [56] [57] in advance of his 2024-2025 tour with Mother Mother. [58] [59] In December 2024, Skinner released an extended play consisting of lofi versions of some of his songs. [60]
In March 2025, Skinner released an extended play of covers, including his previous cover of "My Love Mine All Mine", titled SONGS I LIKE IN 2025. [61] In August 2025, he released the single "Baby Spoon" and an accompanying music video. This was Skinner's first release with Futures Music Group, a joint venture between Neon Gold and Avenue A Records, which formed in 2024. [62] In September 2025 he released the single Rainbow Gal, and announced an upcoming album, Running With Scissors, set to be released in January 2026.
Skinner has stated that he is on both the aromantic and asexual spectrums. [63] [64] He came out as transgender in September 2020. [65] His pronouns are he/they. [66] Skinner lives in Cambridge as of 2019. [2] He has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [67]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [68] | SCO [68] | US Sales [69] | US Heat [70] | US Folk [71] | |||||||||||
Cavetown [32] |
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
16/04/16 [34] |
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
Lemon Boy [72] |
| — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
Sleepyhead [73] |
| 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. [68] | US Heat. ENC [74] | ||
Dear. [75] |
| 7 | 6 |
Man's Best Friend |
| — | — |
little vice |
| — | — |
Title | Details |
---|---|
Animal Kingdom [79] |
|
Title [80] | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK Phys. [68] | UK Indie Brk. [68] | ||||
"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) [83] | — | — | 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) [84] | — | — | 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 [80] | 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) [85] | ||
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) [86] | Non-album singles |
Year | Title | Certifications | Album/EP |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | "Fool" |
| Lemon Boy |
as Cavetown [14]
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.