Sophie McBurnie (born 1999) is a musician and internet personality. She, along with Venbee and PinkPantheress, have been described as "leading" the 2020s drum and bass revival.

Born in Rochdale, McBurnie met Tommy Villiers in August 2020 via Instagram, before releasing a record with him the following year. They later formed piri & tommy, which between 2021 and 2022 released an album and five singles, one of which, "on & on", charted at No. 99 on the UK Singles Chart. She has also released two further singles outside of the band in 2023. She funds her career using her OnlyFans account, which she set up in response to being in debt; she also maintains an TikTok account, which as of November 2022 has over 419,000 followers. She is a member of "Loud LDN", a collective of London-based female and non-binary creatives.

Early and personal life

McBurnie was born in 1999^[1] and grew up in Rochdale.^[2] Her father worked at Asda^[3] and her mother worked as a human resources manager;^[4] her brother also worked at Asda.^[5] She holds a degree in chemistry from Lancaster University.^[4] In an interview with Unity Radio in October 2021, she said that her stage name was a truncated form of pirickili, which she came across after "using a gibberish word generator to come up with a username […], and then everyone just shortened that to piri when talking to [her] online".^[6] After graduating, she worked part time shifts at Asda.^[4]

She was in a relationship with Tommy Villiers from August 2020^[7] until November 2022;^[8] their first date was at Piccadilly Gardens,^[9] where they bonded over their shared musical tastes.^[4] During the UK's third COVID-19 lockdown, they bubbled up in a student house. She told NME in December 2021 that they met after she found his other band, Porij, on Twitter, found the band on Instagram, and sent him a direct message.^[9] In her own time, McBurnie practices pole fitness, which she started at the pole fitness society at Lancaster University,^[10] and which she occasionally integrates into her performances.^[11] As of November 2022, she had over 419,000 followers on TikTok;^[4] she told 1883 in September 2021 that she considered it "the best place as a small creator to get yourself out to people", but that she had had her account banned three times due to "the banning issue[…]; TikToks are constantly taken down despite them completely adhering to the community guidelines and users are being banned if this happens to them multiple times".^[10]

Career

2020-present: OnlyFans

McBurnie maintains an OnlyFans account; she told The Daily Mirror in April 2021 that she'd set it up ten months earlier whilst in her third year of university in response to being £2,000 short on her £5,000-per-year rent, being only entitled to the smallest amount of Student Finance possible, running out of overdraft, owing two people £200, and being barely able to buy food despite having spent the previous summer working at Asda.^[2] She told The Times in November 2022 that she experienced less backlash than she was expecting, that her parents were initially "fuming" but later came around to the idea, and that "my belief is that if I'm not ashamed of it, [people] can't really hold it against me. If I tried to hide it, people could use it against me. […] Nudity shouldn't be a taboo. We've always had nudity in our culture — look at classical statues. It's not inherently immoral to be naked. I'm not doing anything wrong." As of that article, her account had "about 1,000 to 2,000 fans paying about $12 a month", which minus fees meant she made "between $10,000 and $20,000 a month", which she was able to use to fund her music career, move to north London, and buy a computer and microphone.^[4]

2021-2022: piri & tommy

In 2021, McBurnie released a single, "it's a match", with Tommy Villiers,^[12] which has been described as "disco-infused".^[13] Later that year, they formed the band piri & tommy, under which name they were signed to Polydor Records,^[14] and released five singles ("soft spot",^[9] "beachin",^[15] "words",^[16] "on & on",^[17] and "unlock it"^[18]) and an album, froge.mp3;^[19] froge.mp3 featured "soft spot", "beachin", "words", and "on & on",^[19] their last of which charted at No. 99 on the UK Singles Chart,^[20] while "unlock it" was a cover of "Unlock It", the Charli XCX, Kim Petras and Jay Park song^[18] from Charli XCX's 2017 mixtape Pop 2.^[21]

2022-present: Solo career

NME reported in December 2022 that McBurnie, Venbee, Willow Kayne, A Little Sound, Charlotte Plank and Lucy Tun were amongst "more than 50 drum 'n' bass, pop and R&B artists at all stages in their careers" to be part of "Loud LDN", a collective of London-based female and non-binary creatives founded in May 2022 by coupdekat and Maisi,^[22] Jo Brand's daughter.^[23] McBurnie, Venbee and PinkPantheress were described in November 2022 by NME as "leading the new British drum 'n' bass scene".^[24] She signed a solo record deal in September 2022 with Warner Chappell Music.^[25]

In January 2023 it was reported that piri & tommy had broken up, but that "music in the bank" would still be released, and that they would continue to work together.^[26] However, McBurnie later announced via TikTok that for subsequent single releases, they would revert to being credited as separate artists, as they were with "it's a match".^[27] She released a single on 20 January 2023, "Feel It", with Villiers and MJ Cole, the latter of whom had previously remixed "soft spot",^[28] and which was credited to "MJ Cole ft. piri & Tommy Villiers".^[29] The single was promoted with a remix competition in conjunction with Audius.co.^[30]

McBurnie posted on TikTok on 3 February 2023 that she would release a further single, "updown", on 17 February 2023, which would be credited to "piri & Tommy Villiers".^[31] She had previously performed the song at piri & tommy concerts.^[32] She replied to one of the comments on the video to say that the song was written about the cowbell sex position.^[31] She was listed on the line-up for the May 2023 edition of the Ashton Court festival Love Saves the Day.^[33]

Artistry

Descriptions of McBurnie's voice have ranged from "dreamy"^[4] to "sugar sweet"^[34] to "whispery"^[35] to "porcelain".^[36] She has credited Villiers with helping her realise what she was capable of;^[10] she told DIY in September 2022 that she "didn’t really ever intend to be a musician. I always played guitar, but I didn’t really see any way to make actual music. It seemed like, super impossible. I would always just write songs, [but it was] very much a hobby".^[13]

McBurnie co-wrote piri & tommy's entire froge.mp3 mixtape with Tommy Villiers.^[37] She has stated that she usually writes about "whatever [she's] feeling at that exact time",^[38] that until "soft spot" dropped, she couldn't take her songwriting seriously,^[39] and that she was so nervous about showing Villiers her ideas that she had to leave the room while he listened to them.^[13]

A crocheted frog hat is a staple of her signature look; she told DORK in November 2022 that when she and Tommy met, she was in a phase of drawing frogs and toads, and they started calling each other 'froge' as a nickname.^[39] She told 1883 in September 2021 that she "grew up in a house with an R&B and hip-hop mum and a rock'n'roll dad", that her favourite artist growing up was the Arctic Monkeys, and that later inspiration came mainly from Disclosure, MJ Cole and PinkPantheress.^[10]

Discography

Albums

• froge.mp3 (2022, as piri & tommy)

Singles

References