PinkPantheress, Gen Z's most unmistakably British star: Between classic tartan and a chess player's mind

"PinkPantheress displayed the improbable mix of quirks that, at just 25, has made her the most unmistakably British star of her generation from her fixation with tartan prints (which she wears even on her lips) to the hyperaccelerated pulse of viral tracks like Ilegal and, of course, the cool precision of a chess player's mind inherited from a family full of champions."

"However, that Coachella performance was only the tip of the iceberg of her first major world tour, which began a year ago and ends this summer. In less than five years, PinkPantheress has turned stages across half the world into her personal chessboard, moving with a balance of determination and agility worthy of the best players."

"When asked on Reddit what she would be doing if she weren't a musician, she replied: I'd be a chess player. My family are all chess players. The only way to understand her career, then, is to read it as if it were a grand chess match."

"This game begins in Bath, a city in southwest England, in 2001. Back then, she wasn't yet PinkPantheress, but Victoria Beverley Walker and thanks to her rich family heritage, she started on the board with an unusually strong set of pieces. Her mother is Kenyan and worked as a caregiver; her father is English and a statistics professor. And on her father's side, she is the niece of Susan Lalic, a chess champion with prestigious titles such as International Master."

PinkPantheress became a prominent British star and performed at Coachella, showing a distinctive mix of tartan fashion, fast viral tracks, and precise, chess-minded thinking. Her career is framed as a chess match, beginning in Bath, England, in 2001, when Victoria Beverley Walker started learning chess early through a family with strong chess heritage. Her mother is Kenyan and worked as a caregiver, while her father is English and a statistics professor. She is also connected to chess champion Susan Lalic. Walker later moved to London to study film, but continued composing music at night while playing piano, shaping her path into music.

Read at english.elpais.com