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How Hailey Knox Pivoted From Viral Acoustic Pop to Experimental R&B: ‘I Don’t Like To Box Myself In’


Hailey Knox is Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month for December.

There’s the solo act, who drew inspiration from Justin Bieber ‘s YouTube take off and Ed Sheeran ‘s one-man band performances, as Knox paved her own path with an acoustic guitar, loop pedal and soulful voice that makes up the essential core of her music even to this day. She made Awkward with renowned producers Michael Mangini (Joss Stone, David Byrne) and Peter Zizzo (Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez) – who discovered Knox years ago through her YouTube covers – as well as songwriter Imani Coppola. She kept the momentum going with the release of her 2018 mixtape Hardwired, on which Knox showcased her confessional and cunning lyricism about romantic uncertainty and adjusting to life on the road as well as her boundary-pushing indie-soul sound through fully fleshed out tracks and late-night voice memos.

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