Earlier this month, the 21-year-old artist from Harlem made her hometown debut, bringing the sold-out, six-hour "MERMAID BALL" - complete with four opening acts, floating sea creatures, a mermaid costume contest, and scads of cotton candy and balloons - to New York City's Bowery Ballroom.

"Banks entered her ball as any semi-aquatic celebutante would: flanked on either side by her girls, and wearing nothing but seashells, jewels, some well-placed pasties and her milky, mischievous smile," said RollingStone.com. "Banks' penchant for foul-mouthed fun and sticky hooks are unstoppable: during her rising B-side "Liquorice", fans eagerly belted the harmonious bridge without her help."

The Interscope/Polydor recording artist topped NME's Cool List, ranked in the Top 3 of the BBC Sounds of 2012 poll and was the subject of two features in The New York Times - all before her debut EP, 1991, had even been released. In just over a week, her latest video, "Liquorice", racked up over a million views. Banks' previous clip, "212 (featuring Lazy Jay)," has more than 21 million views. Both tracks are from 1991.

Banks is making plans to drop Fantasea, her upcoming mixtape, on July 11. Her full-length debut album is due out this fall.