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"\"My name is Banks!\" a then 25-year-old breathtaking brunette shouted to a crowd of curious ears at Radio City Music Hall. At the time, the singer, who was the opening act for The Weeknd, was still relatively unknown.\n\nCut to eight months later, at Banks's sold-out Irving Plaza headlining show with a throng of worshipping fans chanting her lyrics, and it's clear that this soulstress now needs no introduction. \"Up until a year and a half ago, I was playing in my room for myself,\" admits the Los Angeles-bred up-and-comer\u2014real name: Jillian Banks\u2014on the eve of her return to New York City. (Why the moniker? \"It's short and powerful, and that's how I want my music to be.\") But the emerging voice of the SoundCloud underground couldn't keep her secret hidden for long. \"The second I realized how powerful music was to me, I knew that it would be the biggest thing in my life,\" she says.\n\nfacebook dialogPinterest\n\nBy way of a Victoria's Secret commercial placement during the 2013 fashion show, a Katy Perry tweet of approval, festival stops, a successful EP, and joint efforts with Lil Silva, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Sampha, and others, this DIY success story has become the most sought-after PYT. She cites Fiona Apple, Tracy Chapman, and Lauryn Hill as industry idols, and Missy Elliott, James Blake, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar as her dream-collab deities. For the goddess that is Banks, her sultry songs are \"like a bruise that feels good.\"\n\nfacebook dialogPinterest\n\nThis month the singer, who's always clad in red, white, or black, releases her debut album, Goddess. With bewitching bass lines, haunting hooks, and voluptuous vocals, it's a comme-ci, comme-&amp;amp;#xE7;a nod to '90s R&amp;amp;B. \"My music is a representation of where my mind is at that moment,\" Banks said the night of her Radio City performance. \"I wonder what it's going to be like in five months.\" One thing that's certain either way: Banks is setting the sounds, not chasing them.\n\nTake a listen to Banks' \"Waiting Game\" below:\n\n\n\nWhat's your favorite Banks track? Tell us in the comments!\n\nTo see more of Banks, grab our September issue on newsstands August 19. And to have Teen Vogue delivered every month, subscribe here!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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