Penelope Scott

Penelope Scott is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and producer. She has produced all of her own music. After releasing the compilation albums Junkyard (2020) and The Junkyard 2 (2020), Scott released her debut album, Public Void, in August 2020. Her song "Rät" peaked at no. 29 on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Chart. Scott released the EP Hazards in 2021 and the EPs Girl's Night and Mysteries for Rats in November 2023.

Early life and career
Scott grew up in California. While she was young, her father worked as a roadie on tour, and taught her how to use a microphone, which introduced her to the technical side of music. Her mother encouraged her to learn piano, so Scott began taking piano lessons around eight or nine years old, and continued to until her mid-teens. In middle and high school, she focused on learning pop songs by ear, writing lyrics, and learning to record. After graduating high school, Scott studied political science in college. There she joined college choir and learned the guitar. Scott also took courses in philosophy and computer science. In her senior year, she took a music production class, which was online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Scott initially learned remotely using the free software LMMS instead of Pro Tools, which she began using later.

Scott began publishing her songs online in 2019. She released the compilation album Junkyard on February 27, 2020, followed shortly by the release of The Junkyard 2 on May 13, 2020. The latter explores themes of emotional labor, healthcare, and insecurity. A song from the second album, "Sweet Hibiscus Tea", went viral that same month. Scott later expressed surprise at the success of The Junkyard 2 given its lack of mixing.

2020–2022: Public Void and Hazards EP
Scott's debut album, Public Void, was released on Bandcamp on August 29, 2020, then on streaming services on September 25, 2020. In late 2020, her music found a larger audience on the short-form video-sharing app TikTok. A song off the album, "Rät", went viral in November 2020. The song expresses disappointment with Silicon Valley and technology billionaires, particularly Elon Musk. "Rät" peaked at 29 on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Chart. Music producer Jesse Cannon called its lyrics "so extremely online".

On November 4, 2020, Scott released the single "Born2Run", which went viral prior to its official release. The song garnered attention after the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, due to its lyrics describing a fictional storming of the Capitol by politically involved youth. On April 30, 2021, Scott was featured on the song "Brittle, Baby!" by Char Chris. She also appeared in its video as an animated version of herself.

In July 2021, Scott released the song "7 O'Clock" and announced an EP, Hazards, which released on August 27, 2021, through Many Hats Distribution. She released the song "Dead Girls" as a single a day before the EP's release. In July 2021, Scott announced her first tour to support Hazards, beginning on the west coast of the United States in December 2021. She also announced East Coast tour dates for January 2022, but these were canceled due to concerns about rising numbers of COVID-19 cases. In December 2021, Scott covered Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" for an episode of the Recording Academy's ReImagined.

In May 2022, Scott played at the Belltown Bloom music festival in Seattle. In June, she began another U.S. headlining tour, supported by Rosie Tucker, fanclubwallet, and Yot Club. She then embarked on a UK/EU tour in July, supported by Addison Grace. In October, Scott was featured on Cincinnati-based artist Lincoln's song "Baby Take My Acid", which appeared on his debut album Everything is Wrong.

2023–present: Girl's Night / Mysteries for Rats
On September 20, 2023, Scott released the single "Gross", followed by the single "Time of My Life" on October 12. On September 25, she announced two EPs, Girl's Night and Mysteries for Rats, which were released on November 3 and November 17 respectively. Scott split the release into two EPs to differentiate their sound, saying "Whereas before, if you were buying one CD or record, you would want quantity, now you can pick the songs individually and put them in your playlist. I think being reserved and sorting the songs beforehand by vibe is a way to make the work more pleasant to the listener."

Recognition
In November 2020, Scott appeared on Rolling Stone's Breakthrough 25, which showcases artists with large gains in streaming numbers—she was fifth, with 5.4million streams that week. Her song "Rät" appeared in the Top 40 of Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. Billboard's Danielle Chelosky said of her music, "Sonically, it's like being inside of a videogame; lyrically, it's like scrolling a Tumblr meme page of an edgy teenage girl."

Scott has been described as an example of TikTok allowing music artists to be successful without signing to a label; she reached threemillion monthly listeners on Spotify without substantial media coverage. By March 2021, her music had been streamed an estimated 88million times in the U.S., and her Youtube channel has over 100 million views as of February 2023.

Musical style and influences
Scott's music has been called "baroque punk". Chelosky said that her music features aspects of hyperpop. Scott said that she has "been waiting for anyone to come up with an accurate description" of her genre of music.