Layton Greene

“I basically decided to write this record because I wanted to inspire people,” R&B singer Layton Greene tells Apple Music about her 2019 album Tell Ya Story. “I feel like we all have a story, and at this time, I feel like not a lot of people are talking about what they’re really going through.” The album’s standout song, “Blame on Me”, is a master class in storytelling from an artist giving it her all from the get-go: it lays out Greene’s heartbreaking youth—including abusive family members, episodes of racism and homelessness—in plain terms. Born in Illinois in 1998, Greene got her big break from a viral video she recorded of her take on Kodak Black’s “Roll in Peace” in late 2017. Fast forward to the next year—with a couple wildly popular tunes produced by G. Styles in the rearview—and Greene had ditched her restaurant job. Her nimble voice, capable of understated, soulful runs, is the ultimate vessel to deliver vivid and emotional narratives about lovers playing games (“Myself”), devotion (“Never Knew”) and learning to heal (“Open Wounds”). Regardless of which chapters of her story she’s telling, the way she sings and writes about them draws listeners in and leaves them wondering what’s going to happen next.