This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.Singer Sienna Spiro Makes Yearning Feel Less Embarrassing

Nerisha Penrose, photographed by Cameron McCool. Styled by Alex White.Fri, April 3, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC

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Meet Sienna Spiro, the Voice of Gen-Z YearnersCameron McCool 2025

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Dress, Loewe. Earrings, bracelets, rings, Cartier.Cameron McCool

Sienna Spiro is recovering from a breakup, though she’s quick to clarify she isn’t exactly heartbroken. There’s little time to wallow when your breakthrough hit, “Die on This Hill,” echoes through seemingly every video on TikTok. The 20-year-old London crooner appeals to a particular subset of oversharers, hopeless romantics, and, most importantly, yearners. She’s built a cinematic world where longing isn’t embarrassing; it’s the point.

Yearning has a sound. In Spiro’s case, it’s spellbinding and brooding—intimate yet unguarded, lovelorn laments you’d normally bury deep in the pages of a diary but secretly hope someone will hear. Her voice sprawls and swells through acrobatic dips, a sound fashioned after influences formed early, courtesy of her father, who loved artists like Frank Sinatra, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Adele, and Amy Winehouse. “The thing I have in common with them is the way love is spoken. I relate to the ones about being on the bad end of unrequited love,” she says. The result is storytelling so vivid that it takes on a cinematic quality, with Spiro viewing her songs as three-minute “mini films.”

Music is how Spiro—who says she was the lonely, “weird” girl growing up—overcame her struggle to connect with peers and gave language to her big emotions. “I get very overwhelmed by the way I feel, and I’ve always had a strong sense of justice, but didn’t really know how to express that,” she says. These days, with a debut album in the works, “I always have more to say.”

Jacket, Prada. Earrings, rings, Cartier.Cameron McCool

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What was little Sienna like growing up?

Very stubborn, very sad. Stuff happened when I was younger, and I wasn’t able to talk about it or get it out properly, and I had this kind of innate sadness.

What does it feel like to be a woman in music right now?

In my experience, being an artist and a woman is a little bit easier than I’ve heard it was in the past. What has been really shocking to me is the way the women who work behind the scenes are treated. I have a female manager, and even though you just see my face [onstage], we’re completely equal. She deserves so much more respect than she’ll probably ever get credit for. I’m not going to lie, it’s a boys’ club. I think for performers, it’s still not perfect, but it’s a little bit better.

Is there a woman whose vulnerability or creative approach helped you to show up more fully in your own work?

Definitely Raye. As I started working in the industry, she released that song “Ice Cream Man,” [about being sexually abused by a music producer]. I, thank God, haven’t had any problems like that. But she talks about dark and scary things, and I look up to her using her voice. Marvin Gaye’s album What’s Going On was about war, and it was one of the most beautiful albums. Nina Simone always said something. I’m not saying everything has to be preachy, but I really respect and love when artists use their music to actually say something.

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On “Maybe,” you say, “When it’s your turn in blue,” and on “You Stole the Show,” it was, “My love turns green.” Is color a way for you to sort what you’re feeling?

I actually didn’t even realize that I mention colors. I think I just make connections. I’m really bad at explaining how I feel, and sometimes I use things I can see to describe how I feel. When I’m making music, I’m like, “I want to sound like wood.”

Do you consider yourself a yearner, and what does that look like in practice?

It takes a lot for me to lock in with [someone] or to care about something, but when I do it, that’s it for me. I’m not someone who can let go easily, even of small things that shouldn’t matter. People that I let in are people that I really care about, and so it’s hard for me to stop that and turn it off.

Dress, Alaïa. Earrings, bracelets, rings, Cartier.Cameron McCoolAs someone going through a breakup yourself, what song of yours would you recommend listening to?

I think my saddest song for a breakup that killed me is called “I Don’t Hate You.” The thing that’s sad about breaking up is when you can’t be angry. Not being able to hate someone after they’ve done the most heinous thing to you is really hard and sad.

Thinking about your debut album, would the ending be hopeful or heartbreakingly realistic?

I’m writing about something specific at the moment, something I’ve been thinking about for two years and going back and forth [with]. It’s a real thing that’s always on my mind, and so that is going to be very dependent on how I actually end up feeling about it. I can only wait and see, to be honest.

What has the process of making your album revealed about you and your artistry?

I have a little bit more confidence than I did, which is a nice thing in a way, because I used to doubt everything, but I have a bit more confidence. I’m really inspired at the moment and I’m very excited.

Do we have a color for this one yet?

Yeah, I’m not saying too much. I’ve already said too much.

Hair by Teddy Charles at Nevermind; makeup by Lilly Keys at A-Frame Agency; manicure by Jolene Brodeur for Chanel; produced by Hyperion.

A version of this story appears in the April 2026 issue of ELLE.

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