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Kimbra Lee Johnson (born 27 March 1990), known mononymously as Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Known for mixing pop with R&B, jazz and rock musical elements, her accolades include four ARIA Music Awards, two Grammy Awards and seven New Zealand Music Awards.
Kimbra's debut album, Vows, was released in 2011. Singles from the album include "Settle Down", "Cameo Lover" (which won an Australian Recording Industry Association Award), "Good Intent" and "Two Way Street". A reworked version of the album was released in Europe and the United States in 2012. It featured several new songs, including "Come into My Head", "Warrior" (on which Kimbra was joined by musicians Mark Foster from Foster the People and DJ A-Trak), and a cover of Nina Simone's "Plain Gold Ring". Vows reached the top 5 in New Zealand and Australia. In May 2012, the album was released in North America; debuting at number 14 on the Billboard 200, it is her highest-charting album.
A portrait of Kimbra by Vincent Fantauzzo was a finalist for the 2012 Archibald Prize. The portrait was painted in conjunction with the making of a video featuring her song "The Build Up". Kimbra (The build up) by Vincent Fantauzzo, 2012 Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of NSW Kimbra – "The build up" (Portrait by Vincent Fantauzzo for Archibald 2012), Youtube. Kimbra was featured on the 2011 multi-platinum single "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye; the single became her first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 and earned them two awards at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, including for Record of the Year, making her the third New Zealand singer to win a Grammy Award. Her second studio album, The Golden Echo, was released in 2014 to positive critical reception, and her third album, Primal Heart, was released in 2018. Her fourth album, A Reckoning, was released on 27 January 2023. She recorded a fifth studio album with several other collaborators; titled Idols & Vices (Vol. 1), the album was released in September 2024.
On 29 August 2011, Kimbra's debut album, Vows, was released in New Zealand and 2 September in Australia. In its first week of release it charted at No. 3 in New Zealand, No. 5 in Australia and No. 14 in the US. In its second week, it rose to No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Australian producer 'M-Phazes' produced Kimbra's track "Call Me" and assisted on other tracks on Vows. Its artwork including body art and illustrations were created by Rhys Mitchell and Raphael Rizzo. She has won the Critics' Choice Prize at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards and Best Female Artist and Best Song (for "Cameo Lover") at the ARIA Music Awards of 2011. The US release of Vows featured new tracks not available on the Australian or New Zealand version of the album. She had performed in various location such as at the Forum Theatre, Melbourne on 9 September 2011, at Astor Theatre, Perth on 17 September 2011, at the Adelaide Botanic Garden in Brisbane on 1 October 2011, at Adelaide, Australia on 3 October 2011, at Queenscliff Music Festival, Queenscliff, Victoria and Wellington Square, Perth on 25 November 2011, at Homebake Festival 2011, at Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney on 3 December 2011 and at the Falls Festival in Lorne, Australia on 30 December 2011.[4]
On 19 January 2012, "Good Intent" was played on an episode of ABC's drama Grey's Anatomy. The track also appears in the video game, , which Kimbra recorded in Simlish for the soundtrack. Also in January, Kimbra won the "One to Watch" award at the 2012 Rolling Stone. Kimbra has collaborated with Mark Foster (of Foster the People) and DJ A-Trak on the track "Warrior", which was released on 2 April. On 14 April, she performed "Somebody That I Used to Know" with Gotye on Saturday Night Live. On 15 July 2012, she performed in Santralistanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. On 25 September, her song "With My Hands" was featured in Tim Burton's movie, Frankenweenie. On 1 November, she had been nominated at the Vodafone 2012 New Zealand Music Awards and won for the International Achievement, Best Female Solo Artist, Best Pop Album, Breakthrough Artist of the Year awards, and also won as a featured artist for the song "Somebody That I Used to Know", for Most Played Australian Work and Song of the Year, at the APRA Music Awards of 2012. on the same year, she also received an award for Best Female Artist at the ARIA Music Awards of 2012 for the second time. On 14 November 2012, Kimbra performed at the Calvin Klein Collection which held an exclusive dinner to celebrate the brand's Women's Creative Director, Francisco Costa. Kimbra also performed for other events such as, at Homebake Festival 2012 on 8 December, at Festival of the Sun in Port Macquarie, New South Wales on 14 December, at the Rhythm & Vines Music festival 2012 in Gisborne, New Zealand on 29 December 2012 and at the Summadayze Festival in Adelaide, Melbourne, Gold Coast on 30, 31 December 2012.
On 10 February 2013, Kimbra and Gotye won the Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance awards at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards Show for "Somebody That I Used to Know". This achievement made her only the third New Zealand singer to win a Grammy Award in history. Kimbra was also featured with the R&B singer John Legend in the song "Made to Love", published in the album Love in the Future. The single was released on 11 June 2013 and the album was released on 30 August 2013. On 15 September 2013, Kimbra performed for Rock in Rio Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Kimbra was also involved in a non-profit charity organisation called So They Can. Kimbra became the ambassador of So They Can within the year of 2013.
In April 2015, Kimbra toured the US with a total of five shows. Kimbra is featured in a song by Bilal called "Holding It Back" from his album In Another Life. On 15 July, Kimbra released the video for her third single from The Golden Echo called "Goldmine", which surpassed 110,000 views in a matter of a day. On 30 September 2016, Kimbra released a non-album single called "Sweet Relief". On 18 September 2017, Kimbra and her record label sent a personalised email to fans who subscribed to the Warner Bros. mailing list, conveying information about her third studio-album and an upcoming single. Kimbra is managed by guitarist Ben Weinman, founding member of metal band The Dillinger Escape Plan, since around 2017. He has also frequently contributed guitar to Kimbra's music. On 29 September 2017, she released the album's lead single, entitled "Everybody Knows", which was co-produced by Nelly Furtado and Goldfrapp affiliate John Congleton. "Top of the World" was released as the second single on 10 November 2017 and was later performed on Late Night with Seth Meyers. The third album Primal Heart was initially planned to be released on 19 January 2018, but was then pushed back to 20 April 2018. Kimbra explained the reasons for the push back and gave a song out for free to fans subscribed to her mailing list to make it up to them. The song is called "Hi Def Distance Romance". A further three more singles were released before the album release, those being "Human" on 19 January 2018, "Version of Me" on 23 February 2018, and "Like They Do on the TV" on 30 March 2018. A new version of "Version of Me" featuring Dawn Richard was released on 21 June 2018, and a new version of "Top of the World" featuring Snoop Dogg was released on 20 July 2018.
Kimbra embarked on a Sofar Sounds secret location venue tour of the United States in October and November 2021, previewing her upcoming fourth studio album. Her fourth album, A Reckoning, was released on 27 January 2023. She released her first collaborative album and fifth release overall, Idols & Vices, Vol. 1, in September 2024. The album was recorded with several different featured artists including Sahtyre, BANKS, Tommy Raps, Ivy Sole, Fatboi Sharif, Le Asha, DRAM, Dawn Richard, and Taylor Graves.
| Season 9, Episode 6 | |
| Season 37, Episode 19 | |
| Season 10, Episode 19 - "John Krasinski/Eloise Mumford/Gotye"; Performed with Gotye[5] | |
| Season 20, Episode - "Wanda Sykes/Rob Riggle/Kimbra" | |
| 2 episodes: Season 12, Episode 12 - "Sam Rockwell/Jordan Roberts/Kimbra", Episode 95 - "Deon Cole/Kimbra" | |
| Episode 5.3 | |
| Season 22, Episode 45 - "Jennifer Lopez/Rob Riggle/Kimbra"[6] | |
| Season 5, Episode 60 - "John Kasich/Darren Criss/Kimbra/Nikki Glaspie" | |
| Apple TV+ series
Films | class="wikitable sortable" |
|- | rowspan="4"| 2012 || Kimbra || Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year || |- | rowspan="2"| "Somebody That I Used to Know" – Gotye featuring Kimbra || Most Played Australian Work || |- | Song of the Year || |- | "Cameo Lover" – Kimbra || Song of the Year ||
|- |rowspan="6"| 2011 || rowspan="3"|"Somebody That I Used to Know" – Gotye featuring Kimbra || Single of the Year || |- | Highest Selling Single || |- | Best Pop Release || |- | "Cameo Lover" – Kimbra || Best Female Artist || |- | "Cameo Lover" – Kimbra – Guy Franklin|| rowspan="2"| Best Video || |- | "Somebody That I Used to Know" – Gotye featuring Kimbra - (director Natasha Pincus) || |- |rowspan="2"|2012 || Vows – Kimbra || Best Female Artist || |- | Vows – Kimbra || Best Pop Release ||
|- | rowspan="2"| 2013 || rowspan="2"| "Somebody That I Used to Know" || Record of the Year || |- | Best Pop Duo/Group Performance||
|- | 2011 | Kimbra | Critics' Choice Prize | |- | rowspan="7" | 2012 | rowspan="2"| Vows | Album of the Year | |- | Best Pop Album | |- | "Warrior" | Single of the Year | |- | rowspan="4"|Kimbra | Breakthrough Artist of the Year | |- | Best Female Solo | |- | Peoples' Choice Award | |- | International Achievement Award | |- | rowspan="2"|2018
| rowspan="2"|Kimbra
| Best Solo Artist
| |- | Best Pop Artist | |}
|- | 2011 | "Cameo Lover" | Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition | style="background:gold;"| 1st |-
| 2007 | Juice TV Awards | Breakthrough Video ("Simply on My Lips") | |
| 2011 | International Songwriting Competition | Grand Prize | |
| J Award | Album of the Year ( Vows) | ||
| Music Video of the Year ("Somebody That I Used to Know") | |||
| 2012 | Rolling Stone | One to Watch Award | |
| 2013 | MTV Woodies | Tag Team Woodie ("Warrior") | |
| 2019 | GAFFA-Prisen Awards | Best International Artist |
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