GFOTY

Polly-Louisa Salmon (born 19 July 1990), better known by her stage name GFOTY, an abbreviation of Girlfriend of the Year, is a British pop singer. From 2013 to 2018, she released music through the PC Music label. She now independently releases her music. Much of her work has been in the form of mini-mixes.

Early life Polly-Louisa Salmon was born and raised in London, England. Her father is art-dealer and business man Jeff Salmon. Her parents got divorced when she was young.

Career During her early career, she ran a blog and started making music on GarageBand. Her earliest songs include "Take a Picture", which includes rap group Serious Thugs, and "Friday Night", which is a darkly comical take on pop clichés about partying teenagers. A remix of the latter was incorporated into the DJ sets of the producer SOPHIE.

Her debut single, "Bobby", was released in 2013 via the PC Music record label and collective. It describes feelings of futility after a breakup. GFOTY uses a spoken word delivery over a tense, synthesised wall of sound. She released Secret Mix in March 2014. It includes cover versions of songs by Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, and Carly Simon. Tiny Mix Tapes named Secret Mix the third best music release of 2014. She also appeared on PC Music's mix for DIS Magazine DISown. Focusing on the relationship between art and commerce, her contribution includes conspicuous product placement for Red Bull. It creates an uneasy mood by taking two conflicting phrases and frantically sampling them.

In 2015 GFOTY released a mix titled Cake Mix. It is composed of bright, saccharine songs interspersed with buzzing, glitchy breakdowns. The mix includes an adaptation of Peter Andre's 1996 single "Mysterious Girl" featuring Bubbler Ranx and a cover of Blink-182's 2000 single "All the Small Things". In March 2015, a mix titled Dog Food Mix 1 with PC Music artist Spinee was released, as a reworking of GFOTY's earlier songs. A second mix, Dog Food Mix 2, was released in May 2015.

March 2015 saw GFOTY head to the USA to play the PC Music showcase at the Empire Garage in Austin, Texas as part of SXSW. Her performance was well received, with Exclaim! writing that it was a "fascinating set" and Noisey saying "Here's what I did when I saw GFOTY, which was probably the best thing I've seen all week: I fucking lost my mind. I loved it. I was ecstatic." On 8 May 2015, GFOTY performed as part of a PC Music show at BRIC House in Brooklyn, New York as part of the Red Bull Music Academy Festival. The show was billed as the premiere of Pop Cube, "a multimedia reality network".

On 25 October 2016, GFOTY released a glitch pop-influenced pop rock album titled Call Him A Doctor, which is presumed to be a continuation of her previous EP, VIPOTY.

On 9 November 2017, the single "Tongue" was released with an accompanying joint music video for "Tongue" and the VIPOTY track "Poison". "Tongue" is a single from her "greatest hits" compilation called GFOTYBUCKS - which contains 19 tracks from VIPOTY, Call Him A Doctor, past mixes, and various singles - was released on 17 November 2017. On the same date, a "32 page magazine created by GFOTY with exclusive GFOTYBUCKS recipes, lyrics and artwork by various GFOTY approved artists" is available to buy as a bundle with the GFOTYBUCKS CD.

On 14 December 2018, GFOTY confirmed that she had left the PC Music label to become an indie artist. She released her single "Boy Next Door" under her own label "GIRLFRIEND RECORDS, with production by Count Baldor." Via Twitter, she announced that she will be releasing her new EP If You Think I'm A Bitch You Should Meet GFOTY in March 2019, though the EP was eventually pushed back and was then released on 12 April 2019.

On 6 September 2019, via Twitter , had announced she had wrapped up recording for her debut album, GFOTV. She then released the album on 15 November 2019. The album, inspired by television shows, had a runtime of 11:56, with a vast majority of the songs clocking in at a runtime of a minute or under. HighClouds written that GFOTY's mixing of well known television show and "more ambiguous and generic [...] makes it harder to identify which show she’s talking about, but maybe that’s the point GFOTY is trying to get at." In 2020, shortly after the album was originally released, the album was removed on streaming services for unknown reasons.

Artistry Music

GFOTY's music favours tense, bouncy beats with pounding drums. Her style of sing-speaking gives her a more coarse, human quality compared to the rest of the PC Music roster. Describing her singing as "child like", GFOTY often manipulates her words by twisting an individual syllable. as a lampoon of club culture. GFOTY's comments regarding race have been criticised, with Noisey removing some of her remarks from its site. GFOTY's lyrics detail nights of drinking and casual sex. Sporting a sweatsuit for her live performances, she describes her fashion as "a pink onesie covered in Swarovski crystals with loads of money coming out the pockets and Ugg boots". Her facetious interviews with press often blur the line between her real life and the GFOTY character. She maintains an Instagram profile of inspirational quotes.

Discography

Studio albums Title Album details Call Him a Doctor Released: 25 October 2016 Label: PC Music Formats: Digital download Dog Food Released: 24 October 2016 Label: PC Music Formats: Digital download FEMMEDORM Released: 30 July 2021 Label: GIRLFRIEND RECORDS Formats: LP, digital download INFLUENZER Released: 7 March 2025 Label: GIRLFRIEND RECORDS Formats: LP, digital download

Mini-albums Title Album details GFOTV Released: 15 November 2019 Label: GIRLFRIEND RECORDS Formats: LP, digital download

Compilation albums Title Album details GFOTYBUCKS Released: 17 November 2017 Label: PC Music Formats: CD, digital download

Extended plays Title Album details VIPOTY Released: 29 March 2016 Label: PC Music Formats: Digital download GFOTYBUCKS : REDCUPS Released: 6 April 2018 Label: PC Music Formats: Digital download If You Think I'm A Bitch, You Should Meet GFOTY Released: 12 April 2019 Label: GIRLFRIEND RECORDS Formats: LP, cassette, digital download Ham Chunks and Wine Released: 29 May 2020 Label: Pretty Wavvy Formats: Digital download

Mixes Radiowave'TURBAN RADIOWAVE 'MINEGALA SET' 'SPINEE & GFOTY'S HALLOWEENIE 2019 PARTY MIX - NTS'

Singles

Featured singles

Other appearances

Music videos Title Year "Bobby" 2013 VIPOTY2016 "Heaven" "The Argument"2017 "Month of Mayhem" "Poison/Tongue" "Lemsip" "USA" "Don't Wanna / Let's Do It" "Boy Next Door"2018 GFOTV2019 "I Am The Champion" "Here With Me"2020 "Stupid Horse (Remix)" "Rid of All" "FISH IN LAKE"2021 "KOOKS SONG" "BRAND NEW BRA" "Tamagotchi" 2022 "CONGRATS..." 2024 "GRWM (eww)" 2025