The Australian DIY-pop virtuoso G Flip (aka Georgia Flipo) leaves nothing to chance. When, in 2018, the energetic singer/drummer performed her inaugural solo show at the frenetic US industry fest SXSW, within weeks of uploading the viral single About You on triple j Unearthed, she pre-empted every mishap. "I breezed through that gig," Flipo recalls. "I rehearsed so much that I rehearsed if any little thing would go wrong... So I even rehearsed if my mic would cut out and I wouldn't be able to hear myself. I rehearsed it about ten times, that happening."

Funnily enough, she faced just that scenario. "I sat down on the drumkit to play the first song and my mic wasn't in my in-ears [monitor], so I couldn't hear myself – and then I'm getting announced to start performing. I looked at my best mate – he plays in my band on stage with me, Toothpick [Oscar Solis] – and I was like, 'Toothpick, my mic isn't in my ears, I can't hear!' He just looked at me, dead in the eyes, and he said, 'Flip, we rehearsed this over ten times. You know exactly what to do.' Then I was like, 'Fuck, yeah, I know what to do. I've rehearsed this. So it doesn't even fucking matter. I'm not gonna let this destroy my first show ever.'"

Indeed, Flipo "slammed" that slot. She garnered rapturous reviews and her subsequent sets at the Austin, Texas event attracted epic lines. 

Hailing from Melbourne, Flipo is an earthy, gregarious prodigy. As a kid, she learnt the drums before picking up the piano, guitar and bass. She's had multiple sonic phases. Tween Flipo dug "really catchy pop/R&B stuff", such as Usher. She became "a rock chick", mooching to Paramore, only to gravitate to nu-metal like Slipknot. When she studied music at Box Hill Institute, Flipo embraced jazz. But she's always appreciated "catchy melodies".

Flipo gigged in various bands. In her late teens, the muso-for-hire joined the indie outfit EMPRA, reputedly blitzing 20-plus dudes in auditions. She'd play with them at 2016's SXSW. This experience prepped Flipo for a solo run, the drumkit proving an ideal vantage point. "I was observing the whole time and watching and learning and taking notes." 

What's more, by providing backing vocals while drumming, she flexed that future mighty singing voice. "I wasn't shy," Flipo says. "I just wasn't ready to be confident and go out and start singing solo."

Coincidentally, EMPRA dissolved at the close of 2016. The assiduous Flipo spent the next year honing her skills as a bedroom producer and songwriter, paying the bills as a music teacher. Then, early last year, she circulated About You, which blew up, Pitchfork declaring it a Best New Track. 

In demand, Flipo toured globally through 2018. She appeared at Splendour In The Grass. Flipo was also a hipster guest on the ABC's New Year's Eve spectacle at the Sydney Opera House. In January, she issued the queer anthem Drink Too Much. Flipo had originally conceived the "jam" following a big night out at the infamous Melbourne nightclub Revolver on being "dumped" by her girlfriend for a spell of excessive partying. She opens the song namechecking her "crush", local model/influencer Steph Claire Smith, who awesomely stars in the video. Recently, Flipo aired the empowering I Am Not Afraid, co-produced with Californian Ariel Rechtshaid (Blood Orange, HAIM and Kelela).

Now Flipo is dropping her debut album, About Us, on Future Classic. She describes the LP as a song cycle, charting a relationship and her coming of age. "It's very much an open diary to my life."

About Us isn't all bops. Flipo offers introspective numbers like the delicate, piano-led Bring Me Home, another single, about the psychological strain that came as her career "jumped pretty quickly", plus the power ballad Waking Up Tomorrow. "There's some more vulnerable songs on the album that I want to have in the world. I've released a lot of singles, and the more radio-friendly songs, but there's some really deep ballads that I wrote when I was really heartbroken. I want people to hear that [side], 'cause I know, when I was heartbroken, I would listen to heartbreak songs to mend myself. I feel like I have songs that could help people through heartache."

Flipo admits that her music defies categorisation. "I think, when anyone ever asks me what genre my music is, I'm genuinely confused, 'cause I don't know," she says.

Flipo is into juxtaposition: heavy rock drums mixed with shiny pop synths, or jaggy guitar and "Top 40 poppy hooks". "Every element's just a little piece of me and my past through music, so I would put myself in that box of being genreless."

Significantly, as a visible queer pop star, Flipo's songs are connecting with young LGBTQIA+ listeners. She generously interacts with her fans via social media. Many share stories of the part her songs have played in their lives. "For me, as a songwriter, that's like the most lovely thing to hear; that a little piece of art that you've made has had such an impact and effect on another human being's life," she muses. "So I'm absolutely humbled with that – and it always makes me teary, actually. That's so crazy. I know when I was growing up, I wish that there was more representation of female queer artists in the music industry and in pop culture. If I fulfil that role for people, then I think that's amazing. I'm honoured that anyone would say that or think that, for sure."

Over summer, Flipo enjoyed her first touring fest in Laneway. On the Fremantle leg, she accompanied Skegss impromptu, Toby Cregan "chucking" a guitar on her. "That will go down in history as one of my favourite summers," she enthuses. 

In coming months, Flipo will hit Lollapalooza, Reading & Leeds, and, back home, Spilt Milk – where, if not on stage, she hopes to hang as a fan. "The line-up's insane. As soon as I read the line-up the day it was announced, I was like, 'Oh, wow, I hope I get a good set time so I can actually go watch the rest of the acts!'"