Gordi (musician)

Payten began receiving both national and international attention after playing independently across Sydney whilst at university and releasing tracks online through government-funded national Australian radio station Triple J's Unearthed radio. Payten was nominated for the 2015 Unearthed Artist of the Year J Award from Triple J,^[3] the 2015 Next Big Thing SMAC (Sydney Music, Arts & Culture) Award from FBi Radio,^[4] and was dubbed one of the 40 best new bands of 2016 by Stereogum.^[5] Payten signed record deals with Jagjaguwar in the United States in February 2016 and Liberation Music in Australia in April 2016. Payten then released her debut EP Clever Disguise in May 2016.^[6] The EP was written entirely by Payten, collaborating with producers and mixers Ben McCarthy, Alex Somers and Francois Tetaz.

Payten has toured with Bon Iver,^[7] Of Monsters and Men,^[8] The Tallest Man on Earth,^[9] Highasakite,^[10] and Ásgeir.^[11] Payten also sang backing vocals for Bon Iver on their appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in September 2016.^[12]

Payten's debut LP Reservoir, released on 25 August 2017, was co-produced by Payten in part with Alex Somers in his studio in Iceland, Tim Anderson in Los Angeles and Ali Chant in New York City. On the album track "I'm Done", S. Carey is a featured vocalist. Payten is credited with singing backing vocals on S. Carey’s 2018 album Hundred Acres. She is also featured on "Postcard" from Troye Sivan’s 2018 album Bloom.

Throughout 2019, Payten worked at Prince of Wales Hospital as a junior doctor, after completing her medical studies at The University of New South Wales in 2018. She quit the position in January 2020 to work on her second studio album, Our Two Skins, but went back on call in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[13][14]

In January 2020, Payten released her first single in almost three years called "The Cost", with profits going to the 2020 Australian Bushfire Relief. She also released a single "Indifferent" with Willaris. K, which appeared on his EP Lustre.

Payten released five singles ("Sandwiches", "Aeroplane Bathroom", "Volcanic", "Unready", and "Extraordinary Life") ahead of the release of her second studio album Our Two Skins on 26 June 2020. The album, co-produced by Payten with Chris Messina and Zach Hanson, was recorded in a cottage on Payten's family farm in Canowindra.

Payten released her EP Inhuman on 19 August 2022.^[15] It was Payten's first non-remix, live, or acoustic EP since the release of Clever Disguise in 2016.

Payten featured on John Raymond and S. Carey's 2023 album Shadowlands, including on the single "Steadfast".

In March 2023, Payten released "Broke Scene", which was co-produced by Ethan Gruska,^[16] followed by her single "Lunch At Dune" (with SOAK) in October 2024. Both singles appear on her third studio album Like Plasticine, which was released on 8 August 2025. Singles "Alien Cowboy", "Peripheral Lover", "Cutting Room Floor", "PVC Divide", "GD (Goddamn)" and "Head Rush" also appear on the record.

In August 2023, Payten was appointed as one of eight members of the newly-formed Music Australia Council, a division of Creative Australia (formerly Australia Council for the Arts).^[17]

Payten has been in a relationship^[18] with singer-songwriter Alex Lahey^[19] since 2017.^[20] In 2021 the two released a single, "Dino's", with a music video directed by Nick Mckk.^[19]

Payten's 2020 single "Sandwiches" was dedicated to her late grandmother.^[18][21]