Early life and education Claire Elizabeth Cottrill was born on August 18, 1998 in
Atlanta. She is the daughter of
Geoff Cottrill, a marketing executive who has worked for
Procter & Gamble,
Coca-Cola,
Starbucks,
Converse, and
TopGolf, and Allison 'Allie' Cottrill, a children's fashion photographer and designer. Her father's industry connections--he served as one of the founding executives of a recording studio in Brooklyn and got Clairo her first recording contract--led to Clairo being called a "nepo baby" and an "industry plant." She has a sister, Abby Cottrill. She and her family lived in Atlanta until she was age seven, when they moved to
Washington state for three years before settling in
Carlisle, Massachusetts. She attended middle school in Carlisle and then attended
Concord-Carlisle High School in
Concord, Massachusetts, graduating in 2017. In 2017, Clairo enrolled in the Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries at
Syracuse University Career 2011–2016: Early career When Clairo was 13 years old, she began learning to play guitar, first with some formal lessons, but mostly via tutorials on
YouTube, copying hand movements. Clairo began recording
cover versions on her laptop that year, beginning with a cover version of a
Maroon 5 song. She recalled of this first recording, "It took me hours to figure out if I wanted to post it on
Facebook or not to even tell my friends that I'd made it. I was so nervous about it! I just closed my eyes and did it, and then I closed my computer and tried not to think about it". She posted music to
Bandcamp under the names Clairo and DJ Baby Benz. She also posted
cover versions, songs, and
DJ mixes of
rap music on
SoundCloud. and maintained a second channel for cover versions and short films.
2017–2018: diary 001 EP Clairo first drew wide attention in late 2017 when the video for her song "
Pretty Girl" became a
viral video on
YouTube. The song was recorded for an
indie rock compilation benefiting the
Transgender Law Center. According to her, she recorded the track "using the resources around me which were pretty s_. I used like a little keyboard that I had and I was really into '80s pop music–my mom is obsessed with it–so it kind of inspired me to do something like that." She attributes audience interest in the video to YouTube's
algorithm system. Her videos became popular on
vaporwave-centric Facebook groups. The success of "Pretty Girl" led to interest from major labels such as
Capitol,
RCA, and
Columbia. In her review for
Pitchfork,
Fader contributor Sasha Geffen wrote that the EP ought to subside the "legions of naysayers who dismissed her as a one-hit fluke or an industry plant." Joe Coscarelli of
The New York Times said that the EP "bridges both worlds, building on the coy, understated bedroom pop of 'Pretty Girl' and 'Flaming Hot Cheetos' toward sturdier numbers like '4EVER' and 'B.O.M.D.'" Her July 2018 performance at the
Bowery Ballroom in
New York City was a sold-out show. She performed at the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2019.
2019–2020: Immunity in Los Angeles, April 2019 In May 2019, Clairo released "
Bags" and announced her debut studio album
Immunity, which was released in August 2019. She released two more singles from the album, "Closer to You" and "
Sofia". Following the album's commercial success,
Apple Music named Clairo an
Apple Music Up Next artist in August 2019. Clairo made her television debut performing "I Wouldn't Ask You" on
Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September 2019 and performed "Bags" on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show a few days later. In December 2019, she won Pop Artist of the Year at the
Boston Music Awards for the second consecutive year, as well as Album of the Year for
Immunity. "Bags" was included in over 15 critics' lists ranking the year's top songs including ''
Pitchfork's
and Paste'''s lists of best songs of the decade.
Immunity was included in over 10 "Best of 2019" lists, including those of
The Guardian (20th),
Pitchfork (18th),
Billboard (22nd), and the
Los Angeles Times (5th). During the tour to support the album, Clairo was so stressed that her hair began to fall out and she lost a significant amount of weight, eating only two small portions a day. Since 2019, Clairo has been managed by Mike Ahern and Jimmy Bui.
2020–2023: Sling in
Los Angeles, California in 2022 During the
COVID-19 lockdowns, Clairo moved in with her family in Atlanta. In June 2021, Clairo released "
Blouse", the first single from her second studio album,
Sling. The album was released in July 2021, co-produced by
Jack Antonoff, and was praised for Clairo's artistic progression and thematic songwriting that ponders future motherhood, domesticity and the responsibility of becoming a caregiver. It appeared on "Best albums of 2021" lists by
The Guardian (29th),
NME (14th), and
Stereogum (19th). The cover of the album features a dog that Clairo adopted in December 2020. She canceled the last three dates of her North American tour after a technical error at her gig in
Toronto, whereby her in-ear monitors became unbearably loud and left her with temporary hearing damage. After two songs, her opening show of the
UK tour in
Bristol had to be canceled due to a case of sinusitis that was affecting her voice, leading to her having a panic attack onstage and leaving afterward. The
Glasgow show was canceled but the show the day after it in
Manchester went ahead, and her final UK show of that tour was in
London. In May 2023, after being featured on remixes by
Phoenix and
Beabadoobee, she released the EP
Live at Electric Lady, containing new versions of songs from her first two albums. She also released two charity singles on Bandcamp, "For Now" with all proceeds directed to
Everytown for Gun Safety and For the Gworls, and "Lavender", to raise funds for
Doctors Without Borders during the
Gaza war.
2024–present: Charm in Los Angeles for the
Charm residencies, September 2024 In May 2024, Clairo announced her third album, titled
Charm, which she co-produced with
Leon Michels, and released its lead single, "Sexy to Someone". She also announced two residencies to support the album in
New York City and
Los Angeles in September 2024. In June 2024, "Nomad" was released as the record's second and last single.
Charm was released in July 2024, to critical acclaim, with music critics highlighting the record's jazz-like production, songwriting and Clairo's overall musical expansion. Also in July 2024, to promote the record, Clairo performed "
Juna", the seventh track of the album, live at
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On the same day, she also announced the dates of her 2024 North American tour spanning between September and November, with
Alice Phoebe Lou as the
opening act. In August 2024, the music video for "Juna" was released. It marked Clairo's first music video in six years, and it is wrestling-themed. She also released a
cover version of
Lana Del Rey's "
Brooklyn Baby" exclusively on
Spotify as part of the Spotify Singles series. In October 2024, Clairo released a
cover version of
Margo Guryan's "Love Songs". The cover song is a part of the Guryan tribute compilation album
Like Someone I Know, released in November 2024.
Charm was nominated in the
Best Alternative Music Album category of the
67th Annual Grammy Awards. This marked Clairo's first Grammy nomination. In December 2024, Clairo shared the music video for "Sexy to Someone". That month, she was named to the music category of the
Forbes 30 Under 30 list. It was directed by actress
Ayo Edebiri, and features
"Weird Al" Yankovic as "Clairo". In July 2025, her band Shelly released
Shelly 2, a double single which contains the songs "Cross Your Mind" and "Hartwell". They marked the group's first release since 2020's "Steeeam" and "Natural". In September 2025, Clairo signed with
Atlantic Records. ==Influences==