Banks

**Jillian Rose Banks** (born June 16, 1988, in Orange County, California), better known by her stage name, **Banks**  (stylized in all caps), is an American singer and songwriter.

Following the release of two extended plays, *Fall Over* and *London*, in 2013, Banks released her debut album, *Goddess*, on September 5, 2014, to positive reviews from contemporary music critics.

Her second studio album, *The Altar*, was released on September 30, 2016, to a similar positive reception, and her third album, *III*, was released on July 12, 2019, becoming her most critically acclaimed release to date.

## Early Life

Jillian Rose Banks was born on June 16, 1988, in Orange County, California. She moved to Los Angeles when she was about one or two years old and lived in Tarzana, an affluent neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.

Banks began writing music at 15 years old, after a friend gave her a toy keyboard while she was "going through a tough time" with her family [her mother and father were going through a divorce]. When she was feeling helpless, songwriting tapped into something empowering. "I could say anything I wanted – I could be as graphic as I wanted, I could be as real and as vulnerable and as angry and raw, and it was the most liberating feeling," she says.

Later after high school, Jillian enrolled to study psychology at University of Southern California (USC), where she wrote a thesis on the children of divorced parents, eventually earning a bachelor's degree in psychology.

## Carreer

### **2013–2014: Breakthrough and Goddess**

After getting her college degree, Banks started posting her songs online. She started talking to a few record companies in the beginning of 2013 – "no papers had been signed". However, after posting "Before I Ever Met You" online and watching it quickly receive 50,000 plays and Zane Lowe played it on Radio 1. "I didn't even understand how he got it. It was really crazy and amazing. It felt like a gift from the universe."

"Work," a collaboration with Lil Silva, was played on BBC Radio 1, and her new label, the London-based Good Years, released "Before I Ever Met You" as an official debut single in February (Banks is signed to Harvest Records in the U.S.). "The response I got was exactly what anyone would want if they'd written a song. People really connected to the words and the sound. There are no words to describe what it made me feel." – Banks said.

Banks released her debut extended play, *Fall Over*, internationally in March 2013 by Good Years Recordings. Billboard called her a "magnetic writer with songs to obsess over." Her second EP, *London*, was released in September 2013 by Harvest Records and Good Years Recordings to positive reviews from music critics. It is her best Metacritic score to date, with a 78 overall score. Her song "Waiting Game" from the EP was featured in the 2013 Victoria's Secret holiday commercial.

In late 2013, she received nominations for awards from both the BBC and MTV. She was nominated for a Sound of... award by the BBC and a Brand New Nominee by MTV. She was included on Shazam's list of "2014 Acts to Watch",[24] as well as on iTunes' list of "New Artists for 2014". Banks was artist of the week for Vogue in August 2013 where they wrote that her songs "perfectly capture a feeling of being lost and powerless in the world."

    Banks has been tipped by several media outlets as the artist to watch in 2014, including Spin listing London as one of the "50 Albums You Gotta Hear in 2014" and being named as one of the artists under Spotify's Spotlight for 2014. Additional accolades came from The Boston Globe, Fuse, and The Huffington Post.

Banks was the opening act for Canadian singer The Weeknd during his fall 2013 tour, supporting him in both the United States and the United Kingdom. After finishing the tour with The Weeknd, she announced her own tour which begun in the United Kingdom during March 2014. Banks was also a featured performer at the Coachella festival, taking place in April 2014, Bonnaroo and Open'er Festival in July 2014. In January 2015, Banks was part of the lineup for the 2015 St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, which toured Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Detroit, Fremantle, Melbourne, Singapore and Sydney. On August 7, 2014, Banks made her television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing "Beggin for Thread" and "Waiting Game".

Her debut album, *Goddess*, was released on September 5, 2014 and charted within the top 20 of several countries, including the UK, Australia, Germany, New Zealand and Sweden. In the US, the album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, selling 25,000 copies in its first week of release. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised her sonic ambition and the album's raw sound. It holds a score of 74 out of 100 on Metacritic. The album was supported by the release of four singles: "Brain", "Goddess", "Drowning", and "Beggin for Thread". "Drowning" peaked at number 48 on Billboard's Rock Digital Songs chart, while "Beggin for Thread" reached number 11 on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, and numbers 80 and 64 in Australia and Germany, respectively. Several tracks from the album were featured on commercials, trailers, TV shows and movies.

### **2015-2017: The Altar**

On July 1, 2015, Australian singer Chet Faker released a remix of his song "1998" featuring Banks.

On November 4, 2015, Banks released the single "Better", along with its accompanying music video. Banks toured with The Weeknd for a second time, opening for him on his The Madness Fall Tour across North America from November to December 2015. She announced on June 8, 2016 that she had finished work on her second album.

The non-album singles "Crowded Places" and "Underdog" were released on April 7, 2017, and September 28, 2017, respectively.

On July 12, 2016, Banks released "Fuck with Myself" as the lead single from her second studio album, titled *The Altar*. The song received acclaim from music critics, and reached 29 on the US Rock Songs chart. The second single from the album, "Gemini Feed", was released on August 2, 2016. The song peaked at number 25 on the US Rock Songs chart. The album's third single, "Mind Games", was released on August 19, 2016, followed by "To the Hilt" on September 16, 2016.

*The Altar* was released on September 30, 2016. The album debuted at number 17 on the US Billboard 200 with 14,220 copies sold in pure album sales, and at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 3,229 copies in its first week. The album also debuted at number eight in Australia and number 12 in Canada. The album received generally positive reviews from critics.

A music video for "Trainwreck" was released on January 18, 2017. On February 24, 2017 Banks embarked on "The Altar Tour" in support of her sophomore album. It consisted of 68 dates and concluded on November 16, 2017. On April 7, 2017, Banks released the single "Crowded Places", which was featured in the penultimate episode of the HBO series Girls on April 9. Another single, titled "Underdog", was released on September 28, 2017. On November 14, Banks' collaboration with 6lack, "In Between", was unveiled as one of the three new tracks to celebrate the one-year anniversary of 6lack's debut album, Free 6lack. In 2018, "In Between" and "Poltergeist", a track from *The Altar*, were both featured on the soundtrack of the fifth season of the TV show Power.

### **2019: III**

In December 2018, Banks said she was working on an album to be released in 2019. On April 29, 2019, Banks released the lead single for her new album, titled "Gimme", and released the music video for the single on May 23, 2019. The song reached 1 million streams in 2 days. One day after the music video for the lead single, Banks revealed in an interview for Billboard that her new album was going to be called *III* and that it was going to be released in July.On June, the singer announced her headlining tour "The III Tour" to start on September 2019. On June 11, 2019, Banks released another single "Look What You're Doing to Me" featuring Francis and the Lights. The final single from the album before it came out, "Contaminated", was released on July 10. Her third studio album, III, was released on July 12, 2019, and it's her most critically acclaimed full-length album to this date.

## Trivia

* Her family calls her "Chilli".
* She dropped her first name because BANKS was a more heavy and powerful name, and sounds more like her music.
* In an interview after the debut of her first album she posted her phone number on her social media accounts to be closer to her fans and have a more intimate connection to all of them. At the time, her number was (323) 362-2658.
* During her childhood, people questioned why she sounded like a chain smoker.

## References

<references>

1. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/1568655/banks-quick-rising-pop-starlet-explains-why-her-fans-have-her-cell
2. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/23/jillian-banks-trinity-bristol-live-review-simon-price
3. ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-24957472
4. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/1568655/banks-quick-rising-pop-starlet-explains-why-her-fans-have-her-cell
5. ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-24957472
6. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/1568655/banks-quick-rising-pop-starlet-explains-why-her-fans-have-her-cell
7. ↑ https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-mg-victorias-secret-fashion-show-paris-photoshoot-20131211-story.html
8. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/5657725/pop-shop-picks-lady-gaga-romeo-santos-banks-more
9. ↑ http://www.mtv.co.uk/brand-new-for-2014/news/banks-for-headline-uk-tour-in-march-2014
10. ↑ https://consequenceofsound.net/2014/08/watch-banks-makes-her-tv-debut-on-kimmel-live/
11. ↑ https://listen.tidal.com/album/62306449
12. ↑ http://www.idolator.com/7636125/banks-second-album-finished?chrome=1
13. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/banks-new-song-gimme-828394/
14. ↑ https://twitter.com/hernameisBANKS/status/1123700323510628352
15. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8512881/banks-iii-new-album-interview
16. ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-25576571
17. ↑ https://www.laweekly.com/who-exactly-is-banks/
18. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/23/jillian-banks-trinity-bristol-live-review-simon-price