Genevieve Stokes

Genevieve Stokes

Genevieve Stokes is an American singer-songwriter from Portland, Maine, who works in pop and alternative pop. Raised in Portland, she also lives there. She is a pianist and songwriter whose music is described as ethereal and translucent, with lo-fi piano progressions and modern alternative-pop themes.

Early life and training

Stokes is born Genevieve Curtis. She starts playing piano at the age of 8 and writing songs at 9. She is the second youngest of four children, with an older sister, Madeline Haze Curtis, a younger sister, Gem Stokes, and a brother, Oliver Curtis. At 14, she enrols at the Maine Academy of Modern Music, and she graduates from Falmouth High School in 2019.

Recording career

In high school, Stokes records on her phone, edits in GarageBand, and uploads more than 50 songs to SoundCloud, beginning with “Little Houses” during her sophomore year. Her senior project and a performance video she posts on YouTube attract management attention in 2019. She is signed to Atlantic Records that same year.

Her debut EP, Swimming Lessons, appears in 2021. It is led by the single “Surface Tension.” Her second EP, Catching Rabbits, follows in 2023. Before and around this period, she amasses more than 7 million streams independently.

Style and influences

Stokes’s music combines lush alternative pop with vivid, image-based writing and a lo-fi piano sound. She cites Cat Power, Lorde, Adele, Regina Spektor, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver, Charli XCX, Caroline Polachek, Kendrick Lamar, Moses Sumney, Feist, Isaac Brock, Thom Yorke, Fiona Apple, and Adrianne Lenker as major musical, vocal and lyrical influences.

Recognition

Her work receives attention from Complex, Earmilk, OnesToWatch, and Lyrical Lemonade, which describes her as a storyteller able to turn feelings into a coherent work of art.