Winnie Honning

Gwendolyn Antoinette "Winnie" Honning is an American musician. She is best known as the lead singer of the Emperian experimental rock band Roses & Razorblades, which she created in 2018 with songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Clover Cielys. The group's numerous releases include music of many genres, and they have received many awards and accolades during their career.

Apart from her work in Roses & Razorblades, Honning has written and produced songs for many other artists. She describes herself as a very collaborative person and has stated that she enjoys working with a lot of different writers and producers.

Early Life
Honning was born Gwendolyn Antoinette Honning on August 30, 1997 to Antoinette Honning. Honning's mother was only 17 at the time of her birth, and Honning has stated that she has never met her father. Her mother and grandmother, also a single mother, lived together and took care of Honning as a child.

Her family was a low-income household, and as a result her mother and grandmother often worked during the day. Honning described herself as someone who was "very responsible early in life" as a result of this. She grew up in the suburb of Laketon, and frequently spent a lot of time outside, due to her family often not being able to afford internet or tv signal. She developed a great love of the outdoors, and has said that she is very adventurous because of this.

In high school, Honning was part of numerous bands and was particularly interested in punk rock music. She learned how to play the guitar and took singing lessons to improve her performing skills, and often participated in school talent shows.

Career
(see Roses & Razorblades)

Public Image
Honning has received much attention for her unconventional public image over the course of her career. She has been described as unglamorous and blunt in her interactions with the public, specifically with the media, and has been noted for often ignoring or circumventing music industry rules and customs.

Honning has attracted attention for her frequent criticism of music industry practices, including award shows and major record labels. When Roses & Razorblades' "3AM" was nominated for record of the year at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Honning requested that it be removed from the list of nominees. In 2028, Distant Fields was submitted for consideration for Album of the Year at the 2029 Grammy awards after fans asked Honning to allow it to be nominated. The album ultimately won the award and when Honning went onstage to accept the award, she famously began her speech with "Bro, this sucks," and went on to say, "I can't believe our album won the Grammy for record of the year. Wow, I don't think we tried enough--we'll try harder next time." Honning later stated that the her decision to not submit Roses & Razorblades' music for consideration at award shows was due to the fact that she "[dislikes] the glitz and glamour and the declaration of one record as 'album of the year.'" She continued,

"The more I think about it, the more it just doesn't make sense. I just like going to see all these amazingly talented people in one room. The awards don't mean shit to me. Its some old white bastards in a conference room picking these winners--thats why I was so disappointed that we won. I was like, 'is that who we're making music for now?' It's sad, really."

Honning also has a large following on Twitter, where she frequently posts uncensored, honest tweets pertaining to whatever topic she takes interest in. She is known for often talking about other famous people and frequently criticizing others. Honning has been noted to "frequently hold grudges". She said of this in an interview in 2026:

"If someone is being disrespectful or closed-minded, then of course I'm gonna hold a grudge on them! People have an issue with me not liking them even after they apologize, but you can't be prejudiced without a consequence. Homophobia or racism or anything of that sort can have a lifelong impact on someone, even if it's just one incident. It can really affect someone. So you being homophobic or racist should absolutely have a lifelong impact on you. You get what you give."

Honning generated controversy on 2025 for releasing a song called "Castle" on Soundcloud. The song, originally written by herself and Fender Kawausoka for Rihanna, was eventually passed to Katy Perry. When Perry's management called Honning to notify her that they had recorded the song for Perry's seventh album, Honning stated that she would not allow Perry to use the song unless she issued an apology for her 2008 single "I Kissed a Girl", which Honning described as trivializing the struggles of lesbian women. When Perry refused, Honning finished the song using a demo that she had saved and released it to Soundcloud. The song ultimately did not end up on Perry's album, although it is unclear whether Honning's intervention had anything to do with this.

Personal Life
Honning is openly gay and married her high school girlfriend, American engineer Lucille Daemoni, in 2024 after 8 years of separation. Honning has one child with Daemoni. She has stated that she refrains from posting about them on social media very frequently, stating that "[her] kids deserve a life of their own before they decide if they want that to be in the public eye."