Tommy Villiers | |
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Birth name | Thomas George Villiers |
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Thomas George Villiers is an English musician from Saffron Walden. After being introduced to dance music via his brother, he began producing drum and bass tracks and uploading them to SoundCloud. While at the Royal Northern College of Music, he joined See Thru Hands and cofounded Porij, with whom he released one and two EPs respectively. In mid-2020, he formed Piri & Tommy with Piri, with whom he released the mixtape Froge.mp3 , which they promoted with Froge.tour, and several singles including "Soft Spot", "Beachin", "On & On", "Feel It", "Updown", and "Nice 2 Me". He also played Scotty in the music video for Wet Leg's "Ur Mum" and has released several singles including a remix of LF System's "Afraid to Feel".
Thomas George Villiers [1] grew up in Saffron Walden, [2] and was a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. [3] He attended Saffron Walden County High School, [4] at which he would proffer his grade eight [5] trumpet skills to any high school band that would entertain him. [3] While there, he started a funk rock band, [3] Room C. [4] In 2016, he played at that year's Justice Service for the County of Essex. [6] When he was in sixth form, his older brother began taking him to house parties, where he developed an interest in dance music. [3] After receiving a Mac and deciding he wanted to replicate what he was hearing, [7] he began producing drum and bass tracks, uploading them to SoundCloud, and DJing at house parties. [8]
Villiers attended the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), [9] from which he holds a degree in popular music. [5] While there, [10] : 29:33 he joined the bands See Thru Hands and Porij, [11] the former after being recruited at a jam session to join four personal friends of the band's vocalist. [12] By January 2019, See Thru Hands had released an EP, Hot City/Connectivity, which David Sue of Manchester Evening News compared to Prince, Chic, Hot Chip, and New Order. [13] A reviewer for DIY later described "Hot City" as "disco-inflected post-punk" [14] and Paul Carr of PopMatters compared its introduction to that of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". [15]
Villiers set up Porij in early 2019 [16] with other students from his RNCM course. [17] Just before the second United Kingdom COVID-19 lockdown, [18] he matched with Piri on Tinder; [5] a couple of weeks later, one of Porij's photographers retweeted one of their photoshoots, prompting Piri to locate his Instagram account and ask him out. [10] : 38:07 Their first date was at Piccadilly Gardens, at which they bonded over a shared love of disco. [5] After it was realised that Piri could sing and Villiers could produce, they set about writing together. The first song they recorded, "Sunlight", was a house song. [19] She later moved into his student house [20] in Manchester and formed Piri & Tommy with him. [10] Porij released the Breakfast EP in November 2020 and the Baby Face EP in September 2021. [21] Villiers left this band in early 2022 [22] to concentrate on Piri & Tommy, remaining in Porij long enough to gain writing credits on their third EP, Outlines. [23]
Piri & Tommy released "It's a Match" in March 2021, [24] : 37:50 a disco song made after both experimented with numerous genres. [10] Their second song, June 2021's "Soft Spot", went viral on Spotify and TikTok, [25] prompting EMI to sign them, re-release "Soft Spot", [20] and release the singles "Beachin" in January 2022 [26] and "Words" in April 2022. [27] They then signed to Polydor Records, [28] who released "On & On" in July 2022 [29] and then the mixtape Froge.mp3 in October 2022. The latter took its name from a nickname they used to give each other [19] and featured "Sunlight", "Soft Spot", "Beachin", "Words", "On & On", [30] and "Player 2", with Villiers providing lead vocals on the last of these. [31] They promoted the mixtape with Froge.tour, which ran from 2 to 19 November. [30] A week after the tour finished, the pair split up and did not talk to each other until April 2023, [24] : 44:20 though Robin Murray of Clash reported in January 2023 that Piri and Villiers would release previously recorded music and planned to work together in the future. [32]
Later that month, they featured on MJ Cole's "Feel It", to which Villiers contributed a guitar solo. [33] Piri and Villiers followed this with "Updown" in February 2023 [34] and "Nice 2 Me" in May 2023. [35] In July 2023, the pair released "Lovergirl" as independent artists, [36] : 1:19:39 followed by "Bluetooth" in October [37] and "Christmas Time" in November. [38] In August 2024, they announced an EP and released the liquid drum and bass track "99%" from it. [39] The following month, having remixed Lucy Tun's "Come to My House", they announced that the EP would be called About Dancing and released the dance-pop track "Dog". [40] About Dancing was released that November. [41] In February 2023, he played as part of Ninety One Living Room's house band Dojo Dojo [42] and in April 2024, he performed as half of Toast Club. [43]
In April 2022, [44] Villiers played the anti-hero, [45] Scotty, [44] in the music video for Wet Leg's "Ur Mum", directed by Lava La Rue; [45] in an interview in June 2023, he stated that he got the job after supporting Nine8 Collective, [46] : 6:02 a group composed of Lava La Rue, Mac Wetha, Bone Slim, Biig Piig, Nayana Iz, Nige and LorenzoRSV, [47] and after being interviewed for the role in the venue's green room by La Rue. [46] : 6:02 By September 2022, he had released a remix of LF System's "Afraid to Feel"; [48] that month, he signed a solo publishing deal in September 2022 with Tim & Danny Music. [49] In November 2022, he released a remix of "Noodle Poodle" by Nine8 Collective. [50] By July 2023, he had released "Not Puzzled" featuring Ceòl-Min; that month, he released "To the Moon" with Hertfordshire-based rapper Mustbejohn, a song about the possibilities of a night out. [51]
In May 2021, Villiers cited Coco Bryce as an inspiration on the grounds that no two of his breaks were the same. [52] "To the Moon" was inspired by the UK garage and Brazilian music he and Mustbejohn were listening to during studio sessions, [53] while Toast Club were inspired by yacht rock and California sound. [43] Dork wrote in August 2024 that Villiers took inspiration from "everything from Daft Punk music videos to black midi press shoots". [54]
Title | Details |
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Froge.mp3 (Piri & Tommy) |
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Title | Album | Year | Ref. |
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"Change a Thing" | Non-album singles | 2019 | [55] |
"Poinciana" | 2020 | ||
"Soft Spot" (Piri & Tommy Villiers) | Froge.mp3 | 2021 | |
"Beachin" (Piri & Tommy) | 2022 | ||
"Words" (Piri & Tommy) | |||
"On & On" (Piri & Tommy) | |||
"Unlock It" (Piri & Tommy) | Non-album singles | ||
"Not Puzzled" (Tommy Villiers & Ceòl-Mìn) | |||
"Updown" (Piri & Tommy Villiers) | 2023 | ||
"Nice 2 Me" (Piri & Tommy Villiers) | |||
"To the Moon" (Tommy Villiers & Mustbejohn) | |||
"Lovergirl" (Piri & Tommy) | |||
"Strangers to Lovers" (Tommy Villiers & Nat Slater) | |||
"Bluetooth" (Piri & Tommy) | |||
"Christmas Time" (Piri & Tommy) | |||
"Marmalade (For Your Love)" (Flourish & Tommy Villiers) | Embrace | 2024 | [56] |
"Top Bins" (Tommy Villiers & KiLLOWEN) | Non-album singles | [55] | |
"99%" (Piri & Tommy) | |||
"Dog" (Piri & Tommy) |
Title | Year | Album | Ref. |
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"Feel It" (MJ Cole featuring Piri & Tommy Villiers) | 2023 | Non-album singles | [55] |
"Garage Talk (Ur Dun Out)" (Bone Slim & Tommy Villiers) | [57] |
Song | Year | Artist | Co-writers | Ref. |
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"It's a Match" | 2021 | Piri | Sophie McBurnie | [58] |
"Morning Blues" | 2023 | Emzo | Emilion Buckz, Sophie McBurnie | [59] |
Song | Year | Artist | Co-producers | Album | Ref. |
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"Boxes" | 2018 | Darcie | None | Non-album singles | [60] |
"Tiptoeing" | 2021 | Hope Tala | [55] | ||
"Border Control" | 2022 | See Thru Hands | [61] | ||
"Motions" | B-ahwe | [62] | |||
"Afraid to Feel" | LF System | [55] | |||
"Noodle Poodle" | NiNE8 | 98 Nights | [63] | ||
"Looking for Love" | 2023 | Disclosure | Alchemy (The Remixes) | [64] | |
"Head" | Maisi, Piri | Non-album singles | [65] | ||
"Come to My House" | 2024 | Lucy Tun | Piri | [66] |
Album | Year | Artist | Notes |
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Garage Classical | 2019 | DJ Spoony | Villiers played guitar on this album, which included "Flowers", [67] which charted at numbers 48 and 26 on the UK Albums Chart and UK Dance Singles Chart. [68] |
The discography of American musician Porter Robinson consists of three studio albums, one remix album, three live albums, eight extended plays, one DJ mix, 33 singles, and 22 music videos. He first released music under Ekowraith in 2008, starting with "Booming Track".
"Unlock It" is a song by English singer Charli XCX featuring German singer Kim Petras and American rapper Jay Park. It was released on 11 December 2017 as the first promotional single from XCX's fourth mixtape Pop 2 (2017). The track samples A. G. Cook's "Beautiful" and premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show on the day of release. Reviewers praised "Unlock It", especially its lyrics. A mashup of the song with Tinashe's "Superlove" went viral on TikTok in 2021, shortly after which XCX renamed the track "Unlock It (Lock It)" to fan discontent. In 2022, Piri & Tommy released a cover that Vice rated as the 14th best song of 2022.
Tate Rosner McRae is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and dancer. At the age of 13, she gained prominence as the first Canadian finalist on the American reality television series So You Think You Can Dance. McRae was signed by RCA Records in 2019 after her songs had gained traction online—including her 2017 viral hit "One Day"—and she released her debut extended play (EP), All the Things I Never Said (2020), in January of the following year. Her 2020 single, "You Broke Me First", became an international hit and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2021, McRae was the youngest musician to be featured on the Forbes' 30 Under 30 list.
Ash Blue Gutierrez, known professionally as Glaive, is an American singer-songwriter. After posting a string of hyperpop songs to SoundCloud during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that earned him a following, he signed a record deal with Interscope Records and released his debut extended play, Cypress Grove, in 2020. His debut album, I Care So Much That I Don't Care at All, was released in 2023. His second album, May It Never Falter, was released in 2024.
Piri & Tommy are an English drum and bass duo, formed in 2021. The group are formed of Sophie "Piri" McBurnie and Tommy Villiers. The pair charted at number 99 on the UK Singles Chart with their single "On & On". They released their debut mixtape froge.mp3 in October 2022.
Sophie Leigh McBurnie, known professionally as Piri, is an English musician. Born in Rochdale in Greater Manchester, she is half of the band Piri & Tommy and an original member of the female and genderqueer collective Loud LDN.
"On & On" is a liquid drum and bass song by Piri & Tommy, from their mixtape Froge.mp3. Released on 28 July 2022 on Polydor Records, the track was written after the pair attended that year's Parklife Festival. The song premiered as BBC Radio 1's "Hottest Record"song charted at No. 99 on the UK Singles Chart and received positive reception, with Time Out, The Forty Five, NME, Dancing Bears, and Billboard rating it on their year-end best of lists. A music video was released on 12 October 2022 to promote Froge.mp3.
"Soft Spot" is a liquid drum and bass song, first released independently on 4 June 2021, where it was credited to Piri. After she paid six TikTok creators to promote the song, the song was used in a video of a creator making a Japanese bench, which caused the song to go viral on that platform. Around this time, the track went viral on Spotify after featuring on the platform's "Fresh Finds" playlist. For this, EMI signed her and her producer Tommy Villiers and re-released the track under the name Piri & Tommy Villiers. The song appeared on the pair's 2022 mixtape Froge.mp3.
"Beachin" is a jungle track by Piri & Tommy. Originally intended for late October 2021, the track was eventually released on 28 January 2022 through EMI as their second single from Froge.mp3. The track describes a trip the pair had taken to Formby beach and ends with a spoken word section discussing the creation of sand sculptures. The track received positive reception from Matthew Perpetua and from reviewers from Clash and The Sunday Times. Skream later released an abstract remix of the song.
"Updown" is a hyperpop song single by Piri & Tommy Villiers. Released on 17 February 2023 on Polydor Records, the song was written about cowgirl sex and was performed during live sets prior to release. Upon release, the song received airplay from BBC Radio 1 and Capital Dance and was reviewed by reviewers from Impact, Dancing Bears, and Clash. A music video was released on 2 March.
Froge.mp3 is the debut mixtape by Piri & Tommy. Released on 21 October 2022 and on vinyl on 22 April 2023 on Polydor Records, the mixtape contains "Sunlight", previous singles "Soft Spot", "Beachin", "Words", and "On & On", focus track "Say It", and six additional tracks. The album was promoted by both Froge.tour, a nine-date tour, and Froge.tv, a twelve-episode YouTube Shorts series. Critical reception was broadly positive, with Gigwise describing the album as the 45th best album of 2022, NME rating it amongst the twenty best mixtapes and EPs of 2022, and Ellie Dixon rating it as her favourite album of the year. Additionally, the mixtape charted at No. 13 on the UK Dance Albums Chart.
"Nice 2 Me", sometimes referred to as "Nice to Me", is a 2023 single by Piri and Tommy Villiers. Released 24 May 2023 on Polydor Records, the song is about wanting to be treated nicely in a relationship and received positive critical reception. It featured on Spotify's "Planet Rave" playlist and on the soundtrack for EA Sports FC 24.
Parthenope Ann Wald-Harding, usually credited as Parthenope, is an English musician and singer. She is best known for her cover of Norah Jones's "Don't Know Why", and is a member of Loud LDN.
Froge.tour is a nine-date tour by the English band Piri & Tommy. Released to promote their mixtape Froge.mp3, the tour began on 2 November 2022 at Belgrave Music Hall and ended on 19 November 2022 at The Warehouse Project. Sets included most of Froge.mp3, several future singles, and cover versions of Chic's "Everybody Dance" and Crystal Waters's "Gypsy Woman". Their Brighton gig was opened by Coupdekat, while their London gig was opened by Maisi and contained pole dancing and Parthenope. These three gigs were between them reviewed by Alexis Petridis and reviewers from LeftLion, Brighton & Hove News, and Gigwise, who gave what they saw a mixed reception.
"Feel It" is a 2023 single by MJ Cole featuring Piri & Tommy Villiers. Released on 20 January 2023 on 892 Recordings, the song was Piri & Tommy's first since splitting up and contained a guitar solo from Villiers. The song received positive reception, with many reviewers highlighting Piri's vocals for praise, and the track received airplay by BBC Radio 1 and Capital Dance.
Maisie Harriet Brand Bourke, known professionally as Maisi, is a British musician and social media personality from south-east London. The daughter of Jo Brand, she co-founded Loud LDN, a collective of women and non-binary musicians, and has released several singles and supported Piri & Tommy on their Froge.tour. She has also gone viral on TikTok for her attempts at addressing her boyfriend's restrictive eating.
Mohamed Amine Bouguenna, known professionally as Bou, is an Algeria-born musician from Manchester. He featured on Bru-C's "Streetside" before releasing "Closer" with Slay and "Baddadan" with Chase & Status, which peaked at numbers 84, 24, and 5 on the UK Singles Chart. He also inspired the cowbell use on Piri & Tommy's "On & On".
Katherine Reilly, known professionally as Coupdekat, is an English musician. She is best known for cofounding Loud LDN with Maisi, but has also released two EPs and has supported Piri & Tommy on their Froge.tour.
Charlie Helen Deakin Davies is a British musician from Walkern. They have released two EPs; Green under the name DIDI and Dog Bowl under the name Charlieeeee. They have also co-written the Gary Barlow song "Let's Get Drunk" and the Ellie Dixon song "Swing", the Kate Dimbleby album Songbirds and the compilation album The F Spot Femme Fatales, directed the Piri & Tommy tour Froge.tour, and supported China Crisis. They joined Loud LDN in August 2024.
Porij are an English four-piece band formed in Manchester in 2019 after meeting at the Royal Northern College of Music. At the time, the band consisted of Tommy Villiers, Tom Donaldson, James Middleton, and Scout Moore. Villiers and Donaldson later left and were replaced by guitarist Jacob Maguire and drummer Nathan Carroll. They have released the EPs Breakfast, Baby Face, and Outlines, before supporting Coldplay for four Manchester gigs of their Music of the Spheres World Tour in mid-2023. They released their debut album, Teething, in April 2024, which was received positively by DIY, The Line of Best Fit, NME, Dork, and Clash, but not The Guardian.