Recently I was scrolling through TikTok when I came across Maisie Peter’s performance at The Late Late Show with James Corden, and I cried. In “Cate’s Brother,” the song she performed on the Late Late Show, Peters is able to narrate an entire love story in only three and a half minutes. That, to me, an aspiring storyteller, was incredible, and it made me emotional.
Maisie Peters is a 22-year-old English singer and songwriter. She recently signed with Ed Sheeran’s production label Gingerbread Man Records and released some of her biggest hits under it. Recently, she was on tour with Sheeran as the opening act for his European leg of the “+-=x” Tour, and soon she’ll join him on his North American tour.
Peters started her music career in 2016 – performing for the Irish music show, The Ayla Show, at 15 years old. Before signing with a record label, Peters independently released her first two songs: “Place We Were Made” and “Birthday,” in 2017. Under her new label, Atlantic Records UK, Peters released a lot more music – including “Favourite Ex,” a single that appeared on Love Island in 2019.
Soon after that, she wrote a song for the soundtrack of Birds of Prey. And, also in 2020, she was announced as the opening act for Niall Horan’s “Nice to Meet Ya Tour” in Europe. These concerts, however, were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
And it was in 2021 that she joined Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records label. Under this label, Peters released her debut album, You Signed Up for This, in August 2021. The album debuted at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. Sheeran is also credited as a co-writer for several of the songs in the album.
Recently, she’s blown up on TikTok. Peters produced her biggest hit, “Cate’s Brother,” on TikTok and slowly released snippets to her fans on the platform. The first clip of the song, written about falling in love with her best friend’s brother– which neither her friend nor her brother had heard – garnered almost half a million views.
Later, she took to TikTok to post a video of her showing the song to her friend. Cate, while on tour with Ed Sheeran, documented her process of finishing up the song. After releasing the song in May 2022, “Cate’s Brother” soon became Peters’ highest-charting single in the Republic of Ireland, reaching No. 29 in the chart.
Earlier this year, Peters also brought her songs to Toronto. She performed at The Axis Club for a crowd of very engaged fans. In September, she announced she would return to Toronto this November, though the tickets are sold out.
Now, after doing a deep dive and listening to everything she ever wrote, I can’t wait to see what else she comes up with.