# Kirby Lauryen

Kirby Lauryen Dockery, also known by the stage names Kirby (stylized as KIRBY) and Kirby Lauryen, is an American singer and songwriter. She has written pop songs such as "FourFiveSeconds" performed by Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney. She is an independent artist and released her first album, Sis, in 2020.

## Life and career

Dockery was born October 24 in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Southaven, Mississippi. She studied music at Stax Music Academy, and enrolled at Berklee College of Music after high school but left in 2012 to pursue music full-time. She was influenced by Kanye West's The College Dropout.
She began a YouTube challenge where she posted videos of herself singing a new original song for 275 days. She was contacted by Joy Brown of Roc Nation on day 302 of the challenge and signed to the label.
She has worked with artists such as Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Brandy, and Timbaland. Kirby co-wrote the track "FourFiveSeconds", which went through several rounds of edits as directed by Kanye West. She also wrote the song "Die with You" performed by Beyoncé and "Break Your Heart Right Back" by Ariana Grande.
She released her first album, Sis, in February 2020. Robyn Mowatt of Okayplayer referred to it as "a mashup of refreshing deep cuts." Two singles from the album were featured on the soundtrack for the fourth season of Insecure.
In June 2020, Kirby posted a viral TikTok video about the racist origins of the pancake brand Aunt Jemima, and amid other online critiques taking place, the brand announced that they would retire the racist imagery.

## Discography
### Studio albums

* Sis. He Wasn't the One (2021)

### Extended plays

* Sis. (2020)
* I Told You I Would (2022)

### Soundtrack albums

* Swarm (with Childish Gambino) (2023)

### Singles

| Title | Year | Album |
| "Loved by You" | 2016 | Non-album single |
| "Vain" | 2017 | Non-album single |
| "Kool Aid" | 2019 | Sis. |
| "Don't Leave Your Girl" | 2019 | Sis. |
| "We Don't Funk" | 2020 | Sis. |
| "Velvet (Remix)" (featuring Lucky Daye) (from Insecure) | 2020 | Non-album single |

## Songwriting credits

indicates a credited vocal/featured artist contribution
| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album | Credits | Written with |
| "J'irai te chercher" | 2014 | Amel Bent | Instinct | Co-writer | Amel Bent, Simon Cohen, Aymeric Mazaudier, and Kore |
| "The Game" | 2014 | Kelly Rowland | Pepsi Beats of the Beautiful Game | Co-writer | Jake Troth, and Sia Furler |
| "Let It Be Me" | 2014 | Jennifer Lopez | A.K.A. | Co-writer | Harmony Samuels and Jennifer Lopez |
| "She" | 2014 | Keyshia Cole | Point of No Return | Co-writer | Keyshia Cole, Sean Fenton, Dijon McFarlane, and Priese Board |
| "Hustle Harder" (featuring Snoh Aalegra and Dreezy) | 2014 | Common | Nobody's Smiling | Co-writer | Lonnie Lynn, Ernest Wilson, Snoh Nowrozi, Seandrea Sledge, Alexander Izquierdo, and Leon Michels |
| "Break Your Heart Right Back" (featuring Childish Gambino) | 2014 | Ariana Grande | My Everything | Co-writer | Andrew "Pop" Wansel, Warren "Oak" Felder, Donald Glover, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Steven Jordan, Christopher Wallace, Sean Combs, and Mason Betha |
| "Only One" (featuring Paul McCartney) | 2014 | Kanye West | Non-album single | Co-writer | Kanye West, Paul McCartney, Mike Dean, and Noah Goldstein |
| "Crazy" | 2015 | Kat Dahlia | My Garden | Co-writer | Glass John |
| "FourFiveSeconds" | 2015 | Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney | Non-album single | Co-writer | Kanye West, Paul McCartney, Mike Dean, Tyrone Griffin, Jr., David Longstreth, Robyn Fenty, Dallas Austin, Elon Rutberg, and Noah Goldstein |
| "Die with You" | 2015 | Beyoncé | Non-album single | Co-writer | Beyoncé |
| "If I Have To" | 2015 | Avery Wilson | Non-album single | Co-writer | Avery Wilson, Rodney Jerkins, and Sean Garrett |
| "The Otherside" | 2015 | Elijah Blake | Shadows & Diamonds | Co-writer | Sean Fenton and Carlo Montagnese |
| "Rockabye" | 2015 | Elijah Blake | Shadows & Diamonds | Co-writer | Sean Fenton, Christopher Crowhurst, and Anthony Charles Williams II |
| "Aquaria" (featuring Deradoorian) | 2015 | Boots | Aquaria | Co-writer | Jordan Asher and Angel Deradoorian |
| "Over Getting Over" | 2015 | Fleur East | Love, Sax and Flashbacks | Co-writer | Andrew "Pop" Wansel, Warren "Oak" Felder, and Trevor "Trevorious" Brown |
| "Never Say When" | 2015 | Fleur East | Love, Sax and Flashbacks | Co-writer | Fleur East, Andrew "Pop" Wansel, and Warren "Oak" Felder |
| "Love Just Ain't Enough" (featuring Timbaland) | 2015 | Monica | Code Red | Co-writer | Monica Brown, Nick Brongers, Jocelyn Donald, Timothy Mosley, and Jonathan Solone-Myvett |
| "Call My Name" | 2015 | Monica | Code Red | Co-writer | Monica Brown, Jocelyn Donald, Daniel Jones, Jamal Jones, Timothy Mosley, and Jonathan Solone-Myvett |
| "All Men Lie" (featuring Timbaland) | 2015 | Monica | Code Red | Co-writer | Monica Brown, Nick Brongers, and Timothy Mosley |
| "Beggin & Pleadin" | 2016 | Brandy | Non-album single | Co-writer | Ronald Colson, Andrew "Pop" Wansel, Warren "Oak" Felder, John Lee Hooker, Steve Mostyn, and Brandy Norwood |
| "Wolves" | 2016 | Kanye West | The Life of Pablo | Co-writer | Kanye West, Sia Furler, Victor Mensah, Magnus August Høiberg, Alan Stanley Soucy Brinsmead, Noah Goldstein, Elon Rutberg, Cydel Young, Ryan McDermott, Mike Dean, Caroline Shaw, and Pat Reynolds |
| "Nothing Even Matters" (featuring KIRBY) | 2016 | Kevin Ross | Non-album single | Co-writer/Featured artist | Kevin Ross |
| "Will You Fight" | 2017 | La'Porsha Renae | Already All Ready | Co-writer | La'Porsha Renae, Edgar "Johnny Velvet" Etienne, and Harmony Samuels |
| "Tell Me You Love Me" | 2017 | Demi Lovato | Tell Me You Love Me | Co-writer | Ajay Bhattacharyya and John Hill |
| "Twice" | 2018 | Christina Aguilera | Liberation | Writer/Producer | None |
| "Accelerate" (featuring Ty Dolla Sign and 2 Chainz) | 2018 | Christina Aguilera | Liberation | Co-writer | Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, Mike Dean, Che Pope, Ernest Brown, Carlton Davis Mays, Jr., Bibi Bourelly, Ilsey Juber, Tayla Parx, Tyrone Griffin, Jr., Tauheed Epps, and Ronald Brown |
| "Thank You" (featuring KIRBY) | 2018 | Black Thought | Streams of Thought, Vol. 1 | Co-writer/Featured artist | Tariq Trotter and Patrick Douthit |
| "Don't Walk Away" | 2020 | John Legend | Bigger Love | Co-writer | John Stephens, Stephen McGregor, and Mikyala Simpson |