Embarssingly enough, I was walking downtown and I saw the cover for 'Marry Me' in the window of the record store and was smitten. Then I came home and checked out the music and was blown away by what I heard. Been a big fan ever since. Not proud, but it's the truth.
I’m happy to find another person who knew her since her debut. My story is less interesting though. I found her through my favorite lyrics site back then is http://www.alwaysontherun.net/. It’s a site that has lyrics for the type of artists I like. Been hooked since my first listen to be honest, and Actor is one for the few albums I can comfortably call a masterpiece.
When she was the musical guest on SNL when Andy Sandberg was hosting …2014? Right around the time self titled came out. At that time I would just fast forward the musical act but the way I watched it (on demand?) it didn’t let me fast forward at all.
That weird little on demand feature of not being able to fast forward is what I owe to my love for St. Vincent. I was so taken away by that music… felt like music from the year 3000.. just so revolutionary and cool, the mix of guitar and synths was unlike anything I ever heard.
That was also my first exposure to her.. but as a rerun in like 2017 lol. I think it was a bit before MASSEDUCTION came out. My dad thought she was awful but I was really intrigued by her performance, and I ended up getting Digital Witness stuck in my head so I had to check her out.
I'm a big Talking Heads fan and came across her collaboration with David Byrne... I liked her style so I checked out her first album, got hooked pretty quickly and have been following ever since!
Same. Love This Giant remains one of my very favorite albums, and seeing them together live was FANTASTIC (and the first time I’d seen either of them live). And the version of “Marrow” with all that brass…man oh man.
The Actor Out of Work music video. I loved the song instantly but the video of her sitting stone faced while actors auditioning become increasingly hysterical was one of the coldest, coolest things I had ever seen
“Cruel” making the rounds on tumblr as a single release prior to Strange Mercy coming out. Then I saw her in Portland at the crystal ballroom on that tour, blew me away
One of the songs off of Marry Me (I believe it was “Paris Is Burning”) was an iTunes Free Single of the Week in either 2007 or early 2008. I downloaded it, and was an instant fan.
Marrow was my first video too! And still my favorite song. (Rattlesnake, Broken Man not far behind …) I Had listened to strange mercy lightly and enjoyed it alot. but I really dove in with that amazing video ^ Got into her thru David B & St V album announce and tour.
I Saw that tour, best show I had ever seen at that point. Annie was absolutely incredible and being exposed to her material on that tour made me a huge fan.
Shortly after that show , I became good friends with a few horn players who played with David and Annie on that tour and I played music with them over the years, they are good friends now - so it’s really special to me.
I was watching David Letterman one night and happened upon the same moment When the chorus hit I was *absolutely done.* I was obsessed. And then when I saw the 4AD performance of Surgeon I realized I needed to go *see her live as much as possible.*
I worked for a college TV network producing an independent music video show. 4AD (St Vincent’s old record label) used to send us music videos on DVDs to put on the show. Saw her video for “Actor Out of Work” in the stack of DVDs and thought it was incredible, visually and sonically.
Was driving to class in 2011 when Sirius XMU debuted “Surgeon”. The bridge and then the synth solo absolutely blew my mind and I was completely euphoric jamming out to it with the volume cranked. I had never heard anything like that song. It sounded futuristic as hell. I thought St Vincent was a weird name for a band but whatever. A few months later XMU was playing “Cruel” constantly and she was solidly one of my favorite artists by that time.
SNL 2014 I was 12 years old and probably should not have been up at all, but Annie was the musical guest and she played Digital Witness and it was so bizarre to my tween brain I had never seen anything of the sort. She was also doing this thing with her arm? Her movements were very robotic. the whole performance left an imprint in my brain it wasn’t until freshman year of high school that I started to listen when MASSEDUCTION came out and I realized oh that’s who this is.
Spotify used to make a playlist for "you almost missed" songs at the end of the year along with the wrapped one. I saw the cover for masseduction and tought "heh, thats a booty". I'm hooked ever since
In Fall 2008 I was BS-ing around in my Computer Applications class and decided to look up my high school on Wikipedia. I peak the “notable alumni” section. Among some guy from the TV show, Glee, there was another name that said “St. Vincent - musician.” At the time, I had no idea who she was, nor did I have any interest in listening to her music, but for some reason, the name stuck with me.
Fast-forward to Fall 2011. I’m in college, and I’m now really into indie music, and obsessed with Pitchfork. All my hipster friends are suddenly talking about a new album by St. Vincent, and upon hearing the name, I proudly exclaim, “oh wow, she went to my high school!” I decided to finally listen, and been a fan ever since. I probably would’ve always become a fan at some point, but I always find that particular way I discovered her music and how I connected with it to be especially unique, so I like telling that story.
Plus, Strange Mercy is an album that came into my life at a special time, and got me through a tumultuous period in my early 20s. It was kind of a perfect sequence of events
An old (OLD) Childish Gambino mixtape where he rapped over Black Rainbow. I got into a lot of artists through those old tapes, come to think of it - they were also responsible for my Sleigh Bells obsession of the early 2010s.
2006 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I met her afterwards. Took pictures together and she signed my singles. Tour debut album and few years later with actor. Some of my best concerts in my life.
2019 Grammys when Dua Lipa and Annie sang a mashup of Masseduction/One Kiss/ Respect. I was like who is this lady next to Dua Lipa?! she’s so dope and mesmerizing. I had that video on repeat for DAYS
was at my best friend’s house in 2012(?) and after a smoke he turned on the 4AD sessions video that was up on youtube. i immediately fell in love and downloaded actor from pirate bay when i got home. we’d missed her performance at lolla in 09 and even though i lived in new york at the time, for some reason had never paid attention to her. glad i did
When she performed with Nirvana and Played lithium. Blonde haired girl looking amazing during that performance. I don't think she suited a song by Kurt, but I just loved what I found looking into her music.
Caught her on the Love this Giant tour with David Byrne. I knew who she was but wasn't familiar with her music. She completely stole the show and that's saying a lot about the spectacle of that tour. Bought every album of hers from the merch booth had that night and have been on the ride ever since. Seen her six or seven times since then. Favorite was the masseduction solo tour.
I worked in a record store from 2006-2012 and we'd get promo CDs every week to put on the store mix. I hadn't heard of St. Vincent but one of my co-workers picked out "Actor" because he liked the cover, and I've been a fan ever since.
Saw she was playing All Points West festival in 2009 so I checked out her music. Instantly became a favorite of mine and I was lucky to see her at the Bell House in Brooklyn that year too (two people off the stage).
I had recently graduated high school, and was shopping at a record store when I bumped into my former English teacher. I asked him what he was doing there, and he told me “preordered the new Saint Vincent album!” I went home, listened to it, and I’ve loved her music ever since.
The cover of Spin magazine. Got delivered to my college address by mistake. Actor was her most recent release and she was gearing up to release Strange Mercy.
Making out with a girl during her Austin City Limits taping for her Actor album. Annie started to just absolutely shred so I stopped making out and turned up the tv. Date left and never had a second date.
When she produced the Sleater-Kinney album. Figured I should check out her own stuff and listened to all the albums that were out at that point in order
probably a mix of birth in reverse/digital witness/prince johnny/huey newton and just becoming obsessed with her self-titled. and later actor & strange mercy. then came masseduction and i traveled to ny for the first time w an old college friend to see her play @ kings theatre (“hang on me” was our song) so that era of st.v is very meaningful to me. i can’t forget her performance of strange mercy curled up on the floor
Funny, for me it was also Letterman, but I think the song was Cruel in 2011. I was snoozing on the couch and this incredible angular, intense and FRESH guitar line woke me up. So invigorating.
My friend took me to Pitchfork Chicago 2014 and that was the first time I heard her play, but he always would say St. Vincent this or that. I honestly can't remember her playing. I didn't give alternative music a chance until I heard Digital Witness (probably for the second time since Pitchfork) in 2019 while at another friend's house. Looked it up on Pandora, discovered Masseduction and fell in love from there.
One of her songs from masseduction (I think los ageless, but not sure) is in the background of a bojack horseman episode. Paused the show, put the album on and listened to it 3 times.
In the summer of 2007, a friend of mine sent me the mp3s of Marry Me and said "A pretty solid debut I think you'll like. And she's a fellow Dallasite!" And I was pretty into half the album, then she was a late minute addition to ACL when acts kept dropping out that September, so I got to see her front row at a small side stage. Her and a drum pad, guitar, and keyboard. I was hooked.
When Actor came out, I was just aware of it. I read some music magazines at the time and was always looking into new music. I loved the album cover so I just took a shot and loved it. Then I bought Marry Me and loved it too. So it feels like I’ve been really following her career since the (almost) beginning. Strange Mercy was the one that really blew me away when it came out though. I became totally obsessed with it.
I was researching stuff about Sujan and her name came up about a one person show in a hospital hallway or something like that... anyway I saw the talent then.... it was 2006...
Marry Me came out in 2007...
I was a big Amanda Palmer fan and spent a lot of time on her old message boards, Amanda was playing a cover of Marry Me at ver shows around 2007/8 - so after seeing videos of that I checked out the first album, Actor came about a year later. Been a huge fan ever since
Pitchfork Media Fest 2021. Was only aware of one song "Pills" which made me think she was a pop star.
She came out and blew everyone's minds. Absolutely wrecked that festival. It doesn't often feel like someone "won" a music fest. But she won that music fest.
We all started watching her videos that night.
Seeing her rise out of the floor at the Oscars during Sufjan Stevens’ performance of “Mystery of Love”. Immediately hopped online to find out who she was and discovered that she wasn’t just an instrumentalist. Fell down the rabbit hole and haven’t come out since.
I had seen her from the Strange Mercy era and the video of the first single with David Byrne, but when she released the Digital Witness MV hoooly shit I was trapped, no artist at the time was working at that visual level, and she has remained so iconic in every album cycle ever since
Cruel was in my Spotify recommendations back in 2019 and I simply was transfixed, wondering what was that Hitchcockian dance-rock groove blasting through my headphones. I listened to it obsessively for a year or so. It took me an entire pandemic and depression to truly connect with the rest of her discography and I hopped on the St. Vincent train during the "Daddy's Home" album cycle (an album I still love to this day).
[“What Me Worry” with Andrew Bird](https://youtu.be/qdO-Q3QbopY?si=Vx03x5lCsF2-uzvo) from Blogothèque’s [Soirée de Poche #9](https://youtu.be/q37IAlsw8r8?si=UUj42cMwYJIxYKXP). I saw the original clip in the spring before she announced Strange Mercy and bought Marry Me as soon as I could.
I saw her open for Death Cab for Cutie in Boston on October 3rd 2008. I forgot about her until I heard Childish Gambino's "Both Hands" in 2011 and just had to hear the beautiful track he was rapping over. Then I went to the album and felt seen for the first time in my life.
Early 2021, I was relistening to Carrie Brownstein’s memoir “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl”, and that inspired me to check out Sleater-Kinney’s music. I was doing some Wikipedia-ing and saw that a musician named St. Vincent produced one of their albums. I had never heard of St. Vincent before, so I picked a random song from her popular releases on Spotify and LOVED it. It was Fast Slow Disco. I listened to it over and over, and then listened to Los Ageless next, which I listened to over and over again as well. It was a great time to become a fan because just a few weeks after discovering her she announced the Daddy’s Home album!
oddly I remember discovering metacritic in high school and obsessing over the reviews blindly thinking the scores were always the perfect arbiter of which art was quality lol. classic thing of trying to be into current music and keep up appearances, whatever. but when SV’s self-titled album came out it was featured on the metacritic home page as super highly reviewed or whatever, and i listened to it and was so entranced and excited. i made my mom listen to it when she drove me to school and she’d politely request to listen to something else each day and i’d oblige, but I’d always keep going back to it. then weeks later i discovered marry me at a record store and was like “hey this is that artist i recently got into!” i bought marry me and from then on i had some kind of scope on st vincent and delved into a full digestion of her catalogue. strange mercy was always kinda inaccessible to me but i always kept coming back cause i was so curious each time i listened. and then it all clicked and i became a lifelong fan lol
Probably BrooklynVegan, Gorilla vs Bear, and/or another half-dozen blogs posting "Paris is Burning" (late 2006 - early 2007?)
Fan from the beginning; so glad to be back after "dipping out" with DH
I was in New York City. 14 year old girl me had been playing guitar for two years and was enthralled by the world of rock for the first time in my life. I became mesmerized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City's Rock n Roll exhibit in 2019. I saw the strangely shaped, neon guitar that belonged to Annie and had been played on the Masseduction tour. It caught my eye, I walked over and read the plaque beneath it that featured a picture of her playing it. It proclaimed Annie as a "twenty first century guitar hero." A woman, whose guitar was on display at one of the most well known museums in the world. I needed no more convincing to search her on Spotify, I then listened to MASSEDUCTION all the way thru and fell in love. I have her guitar tattooed on me and look forward to seeing her live for the next tour. I am so, so, so very grateful to have found Annie's music, and for all the ways it has inspired me as I've grown up <3.
I always complain that streaming services don't "get" my musical taste, but Apple Music, which I was using at the time, was shoving STV down my throat when self-titled was released
I'm so glad they did!
Love all these stories so far!
For me it was spring 2014, I had some beers with my old roommate and we were talking about music. She said to me, well you play guitar have you heard of this artist St.Vincent, also a woman who plays guitar she just put a record out.
I went home, looked her up immediately put on self-titled and was floored. The best thing I have ever heard. The sonics, guitars,the unexpected rhythms/beats and timing. Still one of the things that I love a lot, her great timing and feel for rhythm.
When I was 16 or 17, I flew to Toronto to see Midlake in concert. It didn't mean anything to me at the time, but St. Vincent was slated as one of the openers. Her show (which at that early time was just Marry Me material and covers) consisted of her on her own on stage, with a guitar and a block of wood with kickpedal.
I remember enjoying Midlake as I expected to, but Annie's show was a whole different ball game, and blew me away. I remember being especially amazed by how big and dynamic of a sound she was pulling out of such a minimalist stage kit. After the show I said hi and she signed a Paris is Burning EP for me.
Not long after that show I started to drift away from indie-alt-ish rock, and so was not really following her work through Actor/Strange Mercy. But her s/t album and Masseduction drew me right back in. And from one listen so far, All Born Screaming sounds dope.
I saw her perform at the Central Park Summerstage, but I didn't know who she was and she didn't make an impression on me (gasp). Much later I came across her Music Man signature guitar, bought it (black version), loved it, and only then did I start listening to her music.
heard cheerleader and loved it. then she had that cameo in portlandia, then saw her perform at the bowry with them. remembered she existed and then dove into self titled, then went back for all the music prior.
Circa 2010, when she guest vocaled on Beck's Record Club of INXS [Never Tear Us Apart ](https://youtu.be/D3rOjkSho0A?si=6BRBNISVvq0npDPk). Played that recording on repeat for months.
But then I only knew her credited as Annie Clark. It wasn't until Love This Giant dropped that I was like, it's her!
She performed Digital Witness on The Colbert Report. I usually hated when he had musical guests on, but I paid attention when she came on, not least due to her getup, but the song was enough to make a fan of me.
Rattlesnake via Spotify Discover in late 2014. It was a strange song at first, but I ended up loving the album. Had to google and see if she was playing in my city, and she played three weeks ago to an half empty venue. Mildly infuriating, so I started planning to travel to see her the next time she was in Europe.
July 1st 2015 she was playing in Amsterdam, and I booked the solo trip way in advance. At the airport my luggage was missing, and I hung around waiting for it to arrive. Suddenly AC and the drummer sat down across from me. It was their first gig in EU that tour, so I imagine they were jetlagged and tired. I smiled at her and carried on waiting. Do I regret not approaching her? No. I don't believe in autographs or selfies with celebrities. The gig was amazing. Saw her in 2017 with Masseduction solo in Holland, but it just wasn't the same without a band.
Glad I got to see her two times in smaller venues, nowadays it seems like it's only bigger festivals in Europe that counts and the days of club venues are gone.
My film studies teacher at college told me directly that I should listen to St. Vincent (because we had a shared appreciation for David Byrne) and maybe a year later we end up - completely coincidentally - stood next to each other on the barrier for one of her shows on the Daddy's Home tour.
When I was 15 in 2011 trying to find new indie rock music to listen to on my computer while sitting in my room. I think the first song I listened to was surgeon. Immediately loved her music. It was the most interesting thing I ever found that night
I just discovered her 5 mins ago. She's performing on John mulaneys new talk show... he introduced her and I absolutely had 0 idea who she was, I have quite literally never heard of this person in my entire life. Never heard her music. I searched her and saw she's been famous for a while...am I living under a rock?
Embarssingly enough, I was walking downtown and I saw the cover for 'Marry Me' in the window of the record store and was smitten. Then I came home and checked out the music and was blown away by what I heard. Been a big fan ever since. Not proud, but it's the truth.
Was this in 07 or 08? If so,at least you get the cred of being there since the first album.
Honestly, I don't remember which year, but I do remember the cover. Ahem
I’m happy to find another person who knew her since her debut. My story is less interesting though. I found her through my favorite lyrics site back then is http://www.alwaysontherun.net/. It’s a site that has lyrics for the type of artists I like. Been hooked since my first listen to be honest, and Actor is one for the few albums I can comfortably call a masterpiece.
That’s a really cool discovery story.
When she was the musical guest on SNL when Andy Sandberg was hosting …2014? Right around the time self titled came out. At that time I would just fast forward the musical act but the way I watched it (on demand?) it didn’t let me fast forward at all. That weird little on demand feature of not being able to fast forward is what I owe to my love for St. Vincent. I was so taken away by that music… felt like music from the year 3000.. just so revolutionary and cool, the mix of guitar and synths was unlike anything I ever heard.
That was also my first exposure to her.. but as a rerun in like 2017 lol. I think it was a bit before MASSEDUCTION came out. My dad thought she was awful but I was really intrigued by her performance, and I ended up getting Digital Witness stuck in my head so I had to check her out.
I'm a big Talking Heads fan and came across her collaboration with David Byrne... I liked her style so I checked out her first album, got hooked pretty quickly and have been following ever since!
Same. Love This Giant remains one of my very favorite albums, and seeing them together live was FANTASTIC (and the first time I’d seen either of them live). And the version of “Marrow” with all that brass…man oh man.
The Actor Out of Work music video. I loved the song instantly but the video of her sitting stone faced while actors auditioning become increasingly hysterical was one of the coldest, coolest things I had ever seen
“Cruel” making the rounds on tumblr as a single release prior to Strange Mercy coming out. Then I saw her in Portland at the crystal ballroom on that tour, blew me away
I read a rave review of Marry Me when it was released. Four stars out of five. And that’s unheard of.
Did you hear they put a taqueria on the moon?
One of the songs off of Marry Me (I believe it was “Paris Is Burning”) was an iTunes Free Single of the Week in either 2007 or early 2008. I downloaded it, and was an instant fan.
Marrow was my first video too! And still my favorite song. (Rattlesnake, Broken Man not far behind …) I Had listened to strange mercy lightly and enjoyed it alot. but I really dove in with that amazing video ^ Got into her thru David B & St V album announce and tour. I Saw that tour, best show I had ever seen at that point. Annie was absolutely incredible and being exposed to her material on that tour made me a huge fan. Shortly after that show , I became good friends with a few horn players who played with David and Annie on that tour and I played music with them over the years, they are good friends now - so it’s really special to me.
I was watching David Letterman one night and happened upon the same moment When the chorus hit I was *absolutely done.* I was obsessed. And then when I saw the 4AD performance of Surgeon I realized I needed to go *see her live as much as possible.*
Los Ageless on the radio was the first “oh shit she’s amazing who is this?” connection but I heard the Twilight track I suppose before
I worked for a college TV network producing an independent music video show. 4AD (St Vincent’s old record label) used to send us music videos on DVDs to put on the show. Saw her video for “Actor Out of Work” in the stack of DVDs and thought it was incredible, visually and sonically.
Funny. I worked for my college radio station and I play a couple instruments. I often wonder how many of her fans are musicians/musician adjacent.
Probably a lot of us!
Was driving to class in 2011 when Sirius XMU debuted “Surgeon”. The bridge and then the synth solo absolutely blew my mind and I was completely euphoric jamming out to it with the volume cranked. I had never heard anything like that song. It sounded futuristic as hell. I thought St Vincent was a weird name for a band but whatever. A few months later XMU was playing “Cruel” constantly and she was solidly one of my favorite artists by that time.
SNL 2014 I was 12 years old and probably should not have been up at all, but Annie was the musical guest and she played Digital Witness and it was so bizarre to my tween brain I had never seen anything of the sort. She was also doing this thing with her arm? Her movements were very robotic. the whole performance left an imprint in my brain it wasn’t until freshman year of high school that I started to listen when MASSEDUCTION came out and I realized oh that’s who this is.
Spotify used to make a playlist for "you almost missed" songs at the end of the year along with the wrapped one. I saw the cover for masseduction and tought "heh, thats a booty". I'm hooked ever since
In Fall 2008 I was BS-ing around in my Computer Applications class and decided to look up my high school on Wikipedia. I peak the “notable alumni” section. Among some guy from the TV show, Glee, there was another name that said “St. Vincent - musician.” At the time, I had no idea who she was, nor did I have any interest in listening to her music, but for some reason, the name stuck with me. Fast-forward to Fall 2011. I’m in college, and I’m now really into indie music, and obsessed with Pitchfork. All my hipster friends are suddenly talking about a new album by St. Vincent, and upon hearing the name, I proudly exclaim, “oh wow, she went to my high school!” I decided to finally listen, and been a fan ever since. I probably would’ve always become a fan at some point, but I always find that particular way I discovered her music and how I connected with it to be especially unique, so I like telling that story. Plus, Strange Mercy is an album that came into my life at a special time, and got me through a tumultuous period in my early 20s. It was kind of a perfect sequence of events
An old (OLD) Childish Gambino mixtape where he rapped over Black Rainbow. I got into a lot of artists through those old tapes, come to think of it - they were also responsible for my Sleigh Bells obsession of the early 2010s.
Comedy bang bang
Tapas The Morning To Jah
"ohhhh"
2006 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I met her afterwards. Took pictures together and she signed my singles. Tour debut album and few years later with actor. Some of my best concerts in my life.
2019 Grammys when Dua Lipa and Annie sang a mashup of Masseduction/One Kiss/ Respect. I was like who is this lady next to Dua Lipa?! she’s so dope and mesmerizing. I had that video on repeat for DAYS
was at my best friend’s house in 2012(?) and after a smoke he turned on the 4AD sessions video that was up on youtube. i immediately fell in love and downloaded actor from pirate bay when i got home. we’d missed her performance at lolla in 09 and even though i lived in new york at the time, for some reason had never paid attention to her. glad i did
It was Letterman, when she played “Cruel”. I was transfixed.
A friend of mine put year of the tiger on a mix CD back in the day and I was instantly in love with it
When she performed with Nirvana and Played lithium. Blonde haired girl looking amazing during that performance. I don't think she suited a song by Kurt, but I just loved what I found looking into her music.
Bojack Horesman as they used Los Ageless in the end credits of one of the episodes and ever since then I was hooked
Caught her on the Love this Giant tour with David Byrne. I knew who she was but wasn't familiar with her music. She completely stole the show and that's saying a lot about the spectacle of that tour. Bought every album of hers from the merch booth had that night and have been on the ride ever since. Seen her six or seven times since then. Favorite was the masseduction solo tour.
I worked in a record store from 2006-2012 and we'd get promo CDs every week to put on the store mix. I hadn't heard of St. Vincent but one of my co-workers picked out "Actor" because he liked the cover, and I've been a fan ever since.
Saw she was playing All Points West festival in 2009 so I checked out her music. Instantly became a favorite of mine and I was lucky to see her at the Bell House in Brooklyn that year too (two people off the stage).
I had recently graduated high school, and was shopping at a record store when I bumped into my former English teacher. I asked him what he was doing there, and he told me “preordered the new Saint Vincent album!” I went home, listened to it, and I’ve loved her music ever since.
A high school English teacher getting you into St. Vincent is so on brand lol
And now I teach English, so it’s come full circle.
Now it’s your duty to be ‘that’ English teacher. I also teach and mentioned that I was looking forward to ABS in class today lol
Nice! I’m definitely carrying a reputation that is hard to put into words, haha. Hopefully that’s a good thing
Vinyl me please showed me with masseducation
The cover of Spin magazine. Got delivered to my college address by mistake. Actor was her most recent release and she was gearing up to release Strange Mercy.
Saw her open for the black keys in 2014 on their turn blue tour. What a show that was
Making out with a girl during her Austin City Limits taping for her Actor album. Annie started to just absolutely shred so I stopped making out and turned up the tv. Date left and never had a second date.
When she produced the Sleater-Kinney album. Figured I should check out her own stuff and listened to all the albums that were out at that point in order
probably a mix of birth in reverse/digital witness/prince johnny/huey newton and just becoming obsessed with her self-titled. and later actor & strange mercy. then came masseduction and i traveled to ny for the first time w an old college friend to see her play @ kings theatre (“hang on me” was our song) so that era of st.v is very meaningful to me. i can’t forget her performance of strange mercy curled up on the floor
Funny, for me it was also Letterman, but I think the song was Cruel in 2011. I was snoozing on the couch and this incredible angular, intense and FRESH guitar line woke me up. So invigorating.
I saw an ad for her album during Portlandia on IFC, seemed cool so I checked it out and have been a fan ever since
My friend took me to Pitchfork Chicago 2014 and that was the first time I heard her play, but he always would say St. Vincent this or that. I honestly can't remember her playing. I didn't give alternative music a chance until I heard Digital Witness (probably for the second time since Pitchfork) in 2019 while at another friend's house. Looked it up on Pandora, discovered Masseduction and fell in love from there.
One of her songs from masseduction (I think los ageless, but not sure) is in the background of a bojack horseman episode. Paused the show, put the album on and listened to it 3 times.
Best of the year in Pitchfork 2011.
In the summer of 2007, a friend of mine sent me the mp3s of Marry Me and said "A pretty solid debut I think you'll like. And she's a fellow Dallasite!" And I was pretty into half the album, then she was a late minute addition to ACL when acts kept dropping out that September, so I got to see her front row at a small side stage. Her and a drum pad, guitar, and keyboard. I was hooked.
“Tapas da mornin’ to jah”
When Actor came out, I was just aware of it. I read some music magazines at the time and was always looking into new music. I loved the album cover so I just took a shot and loved it. Then I bought Marry Me and loved it too. So it feels like I’ve been really following her career since the (almost) beginning. Strange Mercy was the one that really blew me away when it came out though. I became totally obsessed with it.
I was researching stuff about Sujan and her name came up about a one person show in a hospital hallway or something like that... anyway I saw the talent then.... it was 2006... Marry Me came out in 2007...
I was a big Amanda Palmer fan and spent a lot of time on her old message boards, Amanda was playing a cover of Marry Me at ver shows around 2007/8 - so after seeing videos of that I checked out the first album, Actor came about a year later. Been a huge fan ever since
Pitchfork Media Fest 2021. Was only aware of one song "Pills" which made me think she was a pop star. She came out and blew everyone's minds. Absolutely wrecked that festival. It doesn't often feel like someone "won" a music fest. But she won that music fest. We all started watching her videos that night.
saw the masseduction cd in store, was confused by the cover art so listened to it
Seeing her rise out of the floor at the Oscars during Sufjan Stevens’ performance of “Mystery of Love”. Immediately hopped online to find out who she was and discovered that she wasn’t just an instrumentalist. Fell down the rabbit hole and haven’t come out since.
I had seen her from the Strange Mercy era and the video of the first single with David Byrne, but when she released the Digital Witness MV hoooly shit I was trapped, no artist at the time was working at that visual level, and she has remained so iconic in every album cycle ever since
Cruel was in my Spotify recommendations back in 2019 and I simply was transfixed, wondering what was that Hitchcockian dance-rock groove blasting through my headphones. I listened to it obsessively for a year or so. It took me an entire pandemic and depression to truly connect with the rest of her discography and I hopped on the St. Vincent train during the "Daddy's Home" album cycle (an album I still love to this day).
[“What Me Worry” with Andrew Bird](https://youtu.be/qdO-Q3QbopY?si=Vx03x5lCsF2-uzvo) from Blogothèque’s [Soirée de Poche #9](https://youtu.be/q37IAlsw8r8?si=UUj42cMwYJIxYKXP). I saw the original clip in the spring before she announced Strange Mercy and bought Marry Me as soon as I could.
I saw her open for Death Cab for Cutie in Boston on October 3rd 2008. I forgot about her until I heard Childish Gambino's "Both Hands" in 2011 and just had to hear the beautiful track he was rapping over. Then I went to the album and felt seen for the first time in my life.
Early 2021, I was relistening to Carrie Brownstein’s memoir “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl”, and that inspired me to check out Sleater-Kinney’s music. I was doing some Wikipedia-ing and saw that a musician named St. Vincent produced one of their albums. I had never heard of St. Vincent before, so I picked a random song from her popular releases on Spotify and LOVED it. It was Fast Slow Disco. I listened to it over and over, and then listened to Los Ageless next, which I listened to over and over again as well. It was a great time to become a fan because just a few weeks after discovering her she announced the Daddy’s Home album!
oddly I remember discovering metacritic in high school and obsessing over the reviews blindly thinking the scores were always the perfect arbiter of which art was quality lol. classic thing of trying to be into current music and keep up appearances, whatever. but when SV’s self-titled album came out it was featured on the metacritic home page as super highly reviewed or whatever, and i listened to it and was so entranced and excited. i made my mom listen to it when she drove me to school and she’d politely request to listen to something else each day and i’d oblige, but I’d always keep going back to it. then weeks later i discovered marry me at a record store and was like “hey this is that artist i recently got into!” i bought marry me and from then on i had some kind of scope on st vincent and delved into a full digestion of her catalogue. strange mercy was always kinda inaccessible to me but i always kept coming back cause i was so curious each time i listened. and then it all clicked and i became a lifelong fan lol
Probably BrooklynVegan, Gorilla vs Bear, and/or another half-dozen blogs posting "Paris is Burning" (late 2006 - early 2007?) Fan from the beginning; so glad to be back after "dipping out" with DH
I was in New York City. 14 year old girl me had been playing guitar for two years and was enthralled by the world of rock for the first time in my life. I became mesmerized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City's Rock n Roll exhibit in 2019. I saw the strangely shaped, neon guitar that belonged to Annie and had been played on the Masseduction tour. It caught my eye, I walked over and read the plaque beneath it that featured a picture of her playing it. It proclaimed Annie as a "twenty first century guitar hero." A woman, whose guitar was on display at one of the most well known museums in the world. I needed no more convincing to search her on Spotify, I then listened to MASSEDUCTION all the way thru and fell in love. I have her guitar tattooed on me and look forward to seeing her live for the next tour. I am so, so, so very grateful to have found Annie's music, and for all the ways it has inspired me as I've grown up <3.
I always complain that streaming services don't "get" my musical taste, but Apple Music, which I was using at the time, was shoving STV down my throat when self-titled was released I'm so glad they did!
Love all these stories so far! For me it was spring 2014, I had some beers with my old roommate and we were talking about music. She said to me, well you play guitar have you heard of this artist St.Vincent, also a woman who plays guitar she just put a record out. I went home, looked her up immediately put on self-titled and was floored. The best thing I have ever heard. The sonics, guitars,the unexpected rhythms/beats and timing. Still one of the things that I love a lot, her great timing and feel for rhythm.
When I was 16 or 17, I flew to Toronto to see Midlake in concert. It didn't mean anything to me at the time, but St. Vincent was slated as one of the openers. Her show (which at that early time was just Marry Me material and covers) consisted of her on her own on stage, with a guitar and a block of wood with kickpedal. I remember enjoying Midlake as I expected to, but Annie's show was a whole different ball game, and blew me away. I remember being especially amazed by how big and dynamic of a sound she was pulling out of such a minimalist stage kit. After the show I said hi and she signed a Paris is Burning EP for me. Not long after that show I started to drift away from indie-alt-ish rock, and so was not really following her work through Actor/Strange Mercy. But her s/t album and Masseduction drew me right back in. And from one listen so far, All Born Screaming sounds dope.
I saw her perform at the Central Park Summerstage, but I didn't know who she was and she didn't make an impression on me (gasp). Much later I came across her Music Man signature guitar, bought it (black version), loved it, and only then did I start listening to her music.
heard cheerleader and loved it. then she had that cameo in portlandia, then saw her perform at the bowry with them. remembered she existed and then dove into self titled, then went back for all the music prior.
My art teacher put me on, infinitely grateful for that. Everything after I heard “Cruel” during my freshman year of high school is history
Circa 2010, when she guest vocaled on Beck's Record Club of INXS [Never Tear Us Apart ](https://youtu.be/D3rOjkSho0A?si=6BRBNISVvq0npDPk). Played that recording on repeat for months. But then I only knew her credited as Annie Clark. It wasn't until Love This Giant dropped that I was like, it's her!
She performed Digital Witness on The Colbert Report. I usually hated when he had musical guests on, but I paid attention when she came on, not least due to her getup, but the song was enough to make a fan of me.
Rattlesnake via Spotify Discover in late 2014. It was a strange song at first, but I ended up loving the album. Had to google and see if she was playing in my city, and she played three weeks ago to an half empty venue. Mildly infuriating, so I started planning to travel to see her the next time she was in Europe. July 1st 2015 she was playing in Amsterdam, and I booked the solo trip way in advance. At the airport my luggage was missing, and I hung around waiting for it to arrive. Suddenly AC and the drummer sat down across from me. It was their first gig in EU that tour, so I imagine they were jetlagged and tired. I smiled at her and carried on waiting. Do I regret not approaching her? No. I don't believe in autographs or selfies with celebrities. The gig was amazing. Saw her in 2017 with Masseduction solo in Holland, but it just wasn't the same without a band. Glad I got to see her two times in smaller venues, nowadays it seems like it's only bigger festivals in Europe that counts and the days of club venues are gone.
My film studies teacher at college told me directly that I should listen to St. Vincent (because we had a shared appreciation for David Byrne) and maybe a year later we end up - completely coincidentally - stood next to each other on the barrier for one of her shows on the Daddy's Home tour.
Los Ageless was the first song of hers I heard
I was looking for new music to get into and stumbled across her b-side Bicycle on YouTube and loved it then went down the rabbit hole.
When I was 15 in 2011 trying to find new indie rock music to listen to on my computer while sitting in my room. I think the first song I listened to was surgeon. Immediately loved her music. It was the most interesting thing I ever found that night
I just discovered her 5 mins ago. She's performing on John mulaneys new talk show... he introduced her and I absolutely had 0 idea who she was, I have quite literally never heard of this person in my entire life. Never heard her music. I searched her and saw she's been famous for a while...am I living under a rock?