Kina Grannis

Kina Grannis is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist known for her delicate, close-mic'd vocals and folk-pop sensibility. She first drew wide attention in 2008 when her song «Message From Your Heart» won Doritos' Crash the Super Bowl contest, earning airtime during the Super Bowl and a national platform. Rather than sign with a major label afterward, she chose to build her career independently, becoming one of the most recognizable YouTube-based musicians of her generation.

Her sound blends intimate acoustic arrangements with lush vocal harmonies, often recorded in stripped-down home-studio settings that emphasize warmth and closeness over polish. She frequently features her sisters Misa and Emi Grannis singing harmony on her recordings and videos, giving her music a distinct family-band texture. Songs like «Valentine» and «In the Waiting» showcase her gentle melodic sensibility, while her cover of «Can't Help Falling in Love» became one of her most widely heard recordings, used in film and streamed extensively online.

Grannis is also known for her long-running musical and personal partnership with her husband, Jesse Epstein, who records under the name Imaginary Future; the two have collaborated on numerous songs and tours together. Over the years she has released multiple independent albums, cultivating a devoted fanbase drawn to her earnest songwriting and DIY ethos, and remains a notable example of an artist who built sustained success largely outside the traditional label system.