Quinn XCII

A singer/songwriter with a wide-ranging appreciation of music and a talent for couching deep-seated emotions in sun-dappled songs, Quinn XCII spent the 2010s blossoming from a bedroom producer into a pop sensation. Born in 1992, Mikael Temrowski began releasing music at the age of 20, eventually christening his project in honour of a university nickname and the year of his birth. Musically, Quinn drew inspiration from the genre-agnostic approach of fellow Michiganders Mike Posner and Big Sean, and it paid off almost immediately: his 2015 debut EP, Change of Scenery, established him as a bright light of millennial pop, with songs like the hiccuping “Native Tongue” and the brass-assisted “Another Day in Paradise” blending insistent beats with diaristic lyrics. In 2017, Quinn’s first full-length, The Story of Us, made waves thanks to the playlist-ready vibes of the tender Chelsea Cutler collab “Flare Guns” and the swooning “Straightjacket”; his 2019 follow-up, From Michigan With Love, broadened his sound and his supporting cast, with Noah Kahan helping him tackle toxic masculinity on “Tough” and Yoshi Flower commiserating with him on “Werewolf”. Quinn became a mainstay of the U.S. festival circuit in the late 2010s, and in 2020 he released his third album, A Letter To My Younger Self, which looked back at his almost-three decades with wit, charm and assists from other streaming-era stars such as blackbear and Logic.