Who is Gigi Perez? New artist blowing up with viral hit Sailor Song

Last Friday, keen chart watchers will have been made aware of a brand-new entry inside the Top 40 of the UK's Official Singles Chart - Gigi Perez's Sailor Song. 

It's the first entry in the charts for the 24 year-old singer-songwriter, who was born in New Jersey, but is now based in Florida. For the uninitiated, this may have come as something of a surprise - who exactly is Gigi Perez, and why has Sailor Song clearly struck such a chord with UK listeners?

Who is Gigi Perez?

Gigi Perez is a singer-songwriter from the US. 24 years of age, she was born in New Jersey but is now based in Florida.

As for many rising musicians in 2024, much of Perez's initial buzz and career growth came through her TikTok page. At the time of writing, she has just under 330,000 followers on TikTok. 

When did Gigi Perez release Sailor Song?

Sailor Song was officially released on July 26 2024, but its road to virality started long before then.

Perez first began teasing the song - an aching love ballad that's been compared to the likes of Hozier, The National and Bon Iver - this April, with hype slowly building with each snippet of the song she teased. 

How has Sailor Song by Gigi Perez performed in the UK?

When Sailor Song was finally released in full, clearly the appetite for the song was there. On the chart week beginning August 2 2024, Sailor Song officially debuted at Number 53 in the UK. It dipped to Number 70 the next week, before rising to a new peak of Number 43 the week after, and finally last Friday it broke into the Top 40 for the first time ever at Number 35. 

It became Perez's first career entry into the UK's Official Chart.

Why is Sailor Song by Gigi Perez so popular?

The song's ender acoustic balladry may seem quite conventional, but its lyrical content is anything but. Sailor Song is centred over a sapphic love story, with Perez fascinated by a woman who "looks like Anne Hathaway."

"Kiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor," the song's chorus goes. "And when you get a taste, can you tell me, what's my flavour?"

Given its central queer love story, the release of Sailor Song drew criticism from some far-right, conservative Christian groups online for the line "I don't believe in God, but you're my saviour." Perez took to TikTok to decry the backlash, saying; "My songwriting is not a democracy and that applies to every artist's work."

As for Perez herself, Sailor Song is not her first taste of viral success. She got her first taste of virality in 2021 when the song Sometimes (Backwood) became a minor streaming sensation in the US, earning her a record deal with Interscope (Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey), who issued her debut EP How To Catch A Falling Knife in 2023. Although it seems now that her deal with Interscope has lapsed, being that Sailor Song is an indie release from Perez's own label.

Sailor Song by Gigi Perez is out now.