Q&A: A New-Wave of Music for Our Generation From GRAE
BRINGING BACK THE ALLURING AND UNCANNY VIBES OF THE 70’s, 80’s, and even 90’s into 2022 - GRAE has an unstoppable beat to her presence - and her music - that is essentially unmatched in our generation of music.
While her desired journey with music and songwriting began at the young age of 10 after receiving her very first guitar, it was almost a given for GRAE to fall in love with 70’s Rock and 80’s New Wave, considering that is what she grew up listening to as a way to bond with her dad.
Now, intertwining that childhood inspiration into her current growing music career, GRAE has accumulated over 15 million streams on her music, 120,000 followers on tiktok, 45,000 on instagram, named Apple Music Canada’s Artist of the Week and her song “Permanent Maniac” was named in Billboard's Top 30 Pop Songs of the Year. Only just naming a few of her accomplishments, it is safe to say she is pushing her way through the alt-pop world and visibly thriving while doing so.
With her new single “Room In The Desert” out now along with the corresponding music video, the 23-year-old Toronto-based singer/songwriter previously released two EP’s over the last handful of years and is now bringing her debut LP, Whiplash, to her fans on April 15th.
With the themes of the songs on Whiplash changing throughout the course of the album to reflect GRAE’s mood during the writing process, the title suits the project almost as much as her pink hair suits her. Read below to learn more about her upcoming projects and what we can expect in 2022 from GRAE.
LUNA: With your new LP coming out, do you believe it is bringing along a whole new era to your identity?
GRAE: I think with the creation process of an album, it always is like a whole new identity because it's like “BAM! Here I am, here’s my album, here is what I've been working on during the past year or year and a half.” It is a really big deal for me, like releasing an album like that. It definitely is coming with a whole new identity, there's some different songs on it in terms of style. I think this album and the creation process of it really helped me find who I am as an artist because I had to really think about what I wanted and the style and the genre and sonically how everything was going to come together.. I had to really think about that kind of stuff. So it definitely is a new version of me for sure, and I'm really excited for this to be out.
LUNA: With that, could you talk a little bit about your journey with self discovery and finding your identity as an artist?
GRAE: I always reference my first EP, New Girl, because I was around 19 at the time of recording and had no idea what I wanted. I went into the studio with this producer and I said “here's my ideas, here's my songs” when he created the sound for me. It was mostly his influences and what he thought would suit me. When I moved on from that working relationship with that person, I then had to come to terms with the fact that I don't have them anymore which left me wondering who am I without them. That was like an identity crisis because I was so used to them just creating the instrumentation, making the music and having those choices over what it sounded like. I wrote most of the lyrics but they produced it. We never dived into my influences and my inspirations, it was kind of what they thought would be cool for me. The reason “Permanent Maniac” was a bit all over the place was because I didn't know if I wanted to go more indi-pop or if I wanted to go more new-wave, I was very stuck. When I wrote “Permanent Maniac,” the song itself, I realised that that was the vibe I wanted. I was super inspired by The Cure, who is like my favourite band ever. So the self-discovery process was as if a lightbulb went off over my head and I knew I wanted my album to sound similar to how the song “Permanent Maniac'' sounds. It was very easy to then go forward and say my influences are bands like The Cure and Tame Impala. I wanted a lot more instruments to be involved, overall it was honestly a really fun album to create.
There were a lot of moments of writer's block because there wasn't much inspiration going on as I wasn’t travelling or being able to live my life in the way I wanted to. A lot of times when I did come into the sessions, I had absolutely nothing to write about which sucked, but sonically and production wise, it was just me staying true to my own influences. I had to come to terms with the music I grew up listening to so that I could honour that and what I wanted.
LUNA: Why do you think that all the tracks on this album work so well together?
GRAE: I think having that idea in my head of a song that I wanted to reference back to and properly develop that sound really helped. I was in the studio with my producers, who 100% get me and want me to do my own thing. It wasn't like the other relationship where the person was doing the production and I only wrote the lyrics, instead we all collaborated together. They know I want to stay true to my influences, so we listened to some Tame Impala and The Cure, even trying to find something in the middle in order to create GRAE’s sound. I had a vibe that I wanted to go for and my producers are absolutely brilliant and got it right away, from there it was a very easy process.
LUNA: How do your lyrics reflect who you are, if it was such a collaborative project?
GRAE: I do write with Willa Milner, who is somebody I've been writing with since my EP Permanent Maniac. I think of ideas and come up with a lot of lyrics, then we sit down and brainstorm what is going on in GRAE’s life? What's happening and what do I want to write about? Sometimes I will come in with no ideas from lack of inspiration but I just start talking while Willa sits there with her computer writing down everything I'm saying, almost like a therapy session. She will say “that's a song! Let's write about that!” That's why I love the collaborative process. I used to be very adamant that I write my own music because I thought I couldn't be an artist if I wasn’t the only one writing the lyrics. Then I started working with Willa where she taught me so much about writing. I love writing with her since she really pulls the best out of me whether it be song ideas or inspiration especially when I have none. Sometimes I come in and have my own ideas of what I want to write or have a song that's basically done and just needs some tune ups, however, a lot of the time it's me coming into what feels like a therapy session and that's kinda how it relates back to me since we just talk about my life. While in isolation, I came into a session and just cried. I had no inspiration, nothing to say, nothing to write about. I was in a happy relationship, which isn't good for writing. I just had nothing for them and that was really hard because as an artist, you feel like you're supposed to have ideas just pouring out of you all the time. Like you're supposed to be writing or creating constantly and if you’re not, you're not good anymore. Every time that has happened though, we’ve managed to create something. Some of the ideas are on the album whereas some might never see the light of day.
LUNA: Was “Room In The Desert” the most vulnerable song to write off of this album?
GRAE: “Room In The Desert” was honestly not the most vulnerable song. I wrote that song and it meant nothing to me, it was actually one of those songs that interestly enough I was in the session and had nothing to write about but I was thinking that maybe we should make a song that is Tame Impala inspired. There's also this band from the 80’s called Cocteau Twins. They have this song called “Cherry-colored Funk” which is just a bunch of random words put together that make absolutely no sense, yet the song is so cool. I wanted to put random words together that didn't really mean much to me but it would sound cool. When we just started writing, it randomly came to be. It was the first song I have ever written that wasn't from personal experience but I found meaning in it afterwards, which is interesting. The song that was the most vulnerable to write was probably “Don’t Know How To Girlfriend,” it's an acoustic track I wrote when I was in a relationship with somebody and I remember saying to them “I don't know how to girlfriend. I don't know how to do this. Am I too anxious? Am I too stressed out all the time?” I was going through trust / anxiety issues. When I went into that session I told them that I thought this was a song idea and they also thought it was cool.
LUNA: Could you talk a bit about the visuals behind this album and how it reflects the songs themselves?
GRAE: For “Room In The Desert” as well as my next single that will be coming out, I had the absolute pleasure of working with an amazing director, Gemma Warren. When we had our zoom meeting, I got more and more excited with all of the amazing visual ideas she had, and we had such open conversations about what things meant to me, so my team and I trusted her so much. All I wanted for the “Room In The Desert” music video was a tarantula, a snake, a parrot, and sand. Since she has such a creative eye, she really nailed it. I couldn't have expected anything better.
LUNA: If you could give a message to anyone who will be finding your music for the first time with this album, what would you say?
GRAE: I've never had this question before..but I think it's important to experience this album how it is. Artists create albums and put songs in a specific order for a reason, for fans to get the full experience instead of hitting shuffle. Since it can be very emotional for artists and even the listeners, I think that is something I would greatly appreciate if someone was wanting to get the full experience of this album as it really reflects the emotional rollercoaster that I was going through at the time. If someone needs to lean on music for emotional support like I do, I hope that my music is something that they can go back to to help them get through whatever it is that they are going through. That is something that I’ve always strived for.
LUNA: Why did you decide to put this album out to the public at this point in your career?
GRAE: I don't know if I have one definite answer for that but I do think that it was a really natural process. When I released my EPs and after permanent maniac came out I wanted to just write a body of work. At first I thought we should write two separate EPs but as we continued to write, I realized that we should do an album.
LUNA: Do you think you would be satisfied with where you are now in your career, if you were to go back in time with the knowledge you currently have?
GRAE: When I think about my younger self I get very emotional because that was a very angsty, outspoken, confident girl. I knew I wanted to do music when I was 10, but it got a bit more serious when I got into my teen years. That version of me tried so hard to prove her musical abilities to everybody, all the time. I was very outspoken and confident that I was going to do this, so when things started happening and I made my first EP by myself, I found these people and connections. My dad helped me create this body of work which was sent to someone, who was sent to someone, who was sent to someone who sent it to my now manager and that's how my career started. I think I would be very satisfied with where I am now, obviously if it weren't for COVID I would probably be touring and doing a lot more, which is difficult to come to terms with. I just think we need to have gratitude for where we are at any given moment.
LUNA: Do you have any future artistic bucket list ideas?
GRAE: I want to meet and do a song with Robert Smith from The Cure, that's it. I just love him so much. There are other artists that I think are cool like Beba Dubie, and I would love to do a song with her one day, Tame impala. I have so many bucket list ideas, I want my first headlining show. There are smaller goals, bigger goals and ones in between.
LUNA: That plays into my last question, at what point do you think you would feel completely content with everything you have accomplished?
GRAE: I don't think there's ever a moment where I would be completely satisfied, but I think if I could get to the point where I am a touring artist and be able to quit my day job yet still make enough money to support myself, that to me is success. That has always been the goal for me. I also want my music to reach whoever and whatever audience it’s supposed to by getting out there and having a moment to be something or just exist. I think with everything I am doing to promote my music is helping me get to that goal. At the end of the day, artists want to leave behind a legacy because it's nice to know that there is longevity to what you're making so people keep coming back to it. That's something that Prince taught me.
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