INJI

INJI, born İnci Gürün in Istanbul on January 2, 2001, grew up in a family of guitarists: her grandfather Orhan founded the shipyard company Sanmar Denizcilik, now chaired by her father Ali. She enrolled at the Istanbul University State Conservatory at age seven, studying classical piano and music theory, and competed in piano competitions across Europe before moving to London for high school.

In London she began singing in jazz groups and choirs, a pursuit she continued at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she formed her own jazz group. She is now based in Philadelphia, having shifted from that academic path toward pop music full time.

Her breakthrough came with "Gaslight," produced with fellow Penn student Alex Graf from a beat he made in his dorm room; a demo posted to TikTok went viral in 2022 and pushed the song past 300,000 Spotify streams within two weeks. The follow-up single "Madeline" repeated that success, earning airplay on BBC Radio 1 and a Tidal Rising Artist placement.

Her songs typically pair conversational, often comic lyrics with house and electropop production, keeping the vocal delivery close to speech over club-tempo beats.

"The One," released in 2023 and later remixed by MK and Lee Foss, appeared in the video game EFootball '24, while "GOOD TIME GIRL" featured in EA FC 26. Her debut EP, LFG, arrived on Astralwerks that July. She cites jazz and blues songwriters as influences, naming Amy Winehouse as her favourite for storytelling, and says she is open to experimenting with styles including hyperpop.