Introducing: Elle Varner

American singer/songwriter Elle Varner has taken an unusually academic route to success. She learned to play the flute at age six, the piano at nine, and she taught herself guitar while she was still in high school. All of this earned her a place at New York University’s prestigious Clive Davis Program of Recorded Music, where she excelled, earning the awards of “most likely to get signed” and “most likely to win a Grammy” in the process.

Also, as the daughter of two songwriters, she can pen a track as well as she can play one. It’s unfair for someone to be that talented, isn’t it?

Anyway, at the ripe old age of 22 she’s releasing her debut single, ‘Only Wanna Give It To You’, and it’s unsurprisingly great. Mixing an old-school soul vocal with modern production (and a J. Cole guest spot), the track wouldn’t be out of place in Janelle Monae’s next album. Believe me, that’s high praise.

Elle releases her debut album Perfectly Imperfect later this year, and with over 3 million views on the single’s video on YouTube (which you can see below), the buzz is already building. We’re really excited to see what she does next.

– Matt Mansfield