Absolutely

Hailing from Tooting in South London, Abby-Lynn Keen was born to a Swiss Ghanaian mother and a British father otherwise known as musician/producer Paul Keen. Her older sister, Rachel, went on to chart internationally under the pop alias RAYE. Abby Keen first went viral in her early teens with a series of lifestyle videos on social media, around the time she was singing and writing for the Keen family kids' country-pop group the Runaway Hamsters. She was still in her mid-teens when she sang backup on the RAYE single "Love Me Again" and, as aB Keen, released a series of solo EPs (September, October, etc.) in the second half of 2019. Another EP, the contemporary R&B-styled First Place (Tancrede Rouff Sessions), followed under the moniker àB in March 2020. Working out of Los Angeles, Keen found demand as a songwriter after breaking in with the holiday song "Amor Real" for Anitta, released in late 2020, and she soon earned credits as co-writer of David Guetta's "Get Together" (2021) and Normani's "Fair" (2022), which landed in the Top 20 of Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart. She also contributed to "Suélate," performed by Sam I for the Sing 2 soundtrack, and several songs on Anitta's acclaimed 2022 album Versions of Me. In the process of working with a variety of collaborators, Keen found a kindred musical spirit in producer Dave Hamelin (Beyoncé, 070 Shake), whom she enlisted along with Rami Dawod (Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello), Kurtis McKenzie (Selena Gomez, Doja Cat), and others to help compose and produce her full-length solo debut. Rebranding as Absolutely, she signed with Epic Records for the 13-song CEREBRUM, which wove elements of multiple genres into her brawny alt-pop sound. ~ Marcy Donelson