Life is Cool Sometimes

HIIIIII!!

    Wow, this week has been so exciting. First, WHAT!! MY FIRST PLAYLIST COVER. What the heck? That’s been on my bucket list/manifest list whatever you wanna call it for a while now and I’m so happy and grateful that the first one is down in the books. If you didn’t know, Fresh Finds is especially for artists with no label (independent) and it’s a really big place where people find new music. It makes me proud to know that everything that’s happening is the result of basically me and four people on my team which is amazing to me. It’s like basketball kind of. And I have the best starting line-up ever.*

    Since it’s the one-week anniversary of WIWO (my mom always told me to celebrate every milestone ok), I want to say thank you so so so much for listening and I’m really happy that it’s become one of your guy's favorite songs. I also want to say, there’s a Bunch of new music cominG very very very soon. Like def sooner than a lot of soon things. AND thank you guys so much for making the shelf project and tiktoks and cakes for WIWO it was the cutest thing ever.   

 

 a turtle we saw during the WIWO photoshoot

me with dirt on my nose after rolling
around the grass in prospect park for an hour

the photo from the cover!!!!

   

   

    Besides music I’ve been good, going back and forth from LA to NY a lot to see my family and friends from college and high school. They are all graduating next year so it’s kind of the last guaranteed time we’re all gonna be together and I want to be there for that. Even though I am on a veryyyyyy extended leave from college, I am definitely going to visit them (especially Ella) this year when I get off from tour to get at least a little bit of the college experience. Maybe I’ll go back at some point, but I really like life right now and where it’s headed.

    Love,

    Grace xoxo

*if you didn’t know I was my high school team all-star and played varsity all four years of high school. Every boy wanted me and was definitely not scared I would beat them in one on one.

 

WIWO Release Chronicles

 Release Week!!

    “When It Was Over” is maybe the most conviction I’ve had in a song since “The Neighborhood.” I remember the week I wrote it I showed the song to two friends and they definitely did NOT like the beep boops. They have since come around (it is now their favorite song), but to be honest I really didn’t care whether or not they liked it because I loved it deep down to my marrow. I think I like the polarizing nature of this song because if you love it I know you really love it. And that makes me happy. There is no passive opinion on “When It Was Over.” I’ve never heard a song quite like this one.
    I wanna talk about the visualizer now too - Basically, it's a car driving over a road made up of calendar-month-squares with trees that lose their leaves and have them grow back. The idea came to me in a half-awake half-dreaming state of three mornings while my best friend Ella was staying with me in LA. Normally I might just forget about it and go back to sleep but I wrote it down in my notes and that Day we bought watercolors, which I used to create a mock-up. The trees are in the style of Shel Silverstein, “The Giving Tree,” which was one of my favorite books as a child. 

    This song was just an ongoing exploration of creativity. It makes sense to me that “When It Was Over” and its visuals have so many pieces of my childhood woven into them because of how new and unfamiliar the writing and producing process was. I pretty much never write to production. Usually, my songs start on acoustic guitar or piano, so the fact that we wrote this over the beep boops (sorry I don't know what else to call them) was totally uncharted territory. I felt like I was in kindergarten again learning that I can finally count to 20 or draw a dog that actually looks like a dog - that feeling of unadulterated, unwavering pride. Maybe I’m making irrelevant connections, but maybe that’s whY it got me to paint after not painting in so long.
    I’m happy it’s out in the world for all your ears to hear and whether you love it or hate it, thank you for listening (I hope you love it). Release weeks are my favorite weeks and there’s so much I wanna tell you but you’ll find out soon enough. Life is exciting! 

Love,
Grace

thoughts from home

Back in New York. Feeling oh so right. I swear to god I breathed in the Newark New Jersey air and my serotonin sky rocketed (no one has ever said such a nice thing about New Jersey).

It’s been three months of living in LA and honestly I don’t think I’ll ever get used to sitting in my car for at least 2/24 hours in the day. That’s 1/12! Which is kind of a lot when compounded over an entire lifetime. It’s been said time and time again but there is something so special about the energy of the east coast, specifically New York. I think the essential difference between here and la is in New York, you are rewarded for individuality. Almost to a fault. Everyone is trying to out-weird another. And there is no time to think about how you are perceived because in that split second you are looking at someone else you will probably be hit by a biker.  I feel so present, looking high and low for the next fun thing that is - literally - right around the corner. In a single night I was pulled into a woman’s gallery opening after lighting her cigarette with matches, dancing at a birthday party in Manhattan to then be invited to a 2am concert in bushwick where we were asked to dress up like nuns so we could sneak in. Polish it off with a 4am bacon egg and cheese (hold the bacon) and you’ve got yourself a great night.

LA, I’ve found, is very idealistic. Everyone is constantly trying to bridge the gap between who they are and who they want to be. It can be inspiring for sure - manifest ‼️ But it also can be exhausting not only trying to figure who you are but also trying to figure out who other people think you are. I wish I had a more fuck it attitude but as someone who needs everyone to like her, I think I might combust.

But, whenever I get overwhelmed I remind myself why I’m there - not to get a glimpse of some Euphoria extra sipping a negroni in the back corner of Tenants, but to finish my music. I have been working so hard trying to make all of the music and visuals feel like me (aka awesome) and I know when the songs come out it will have been worth all the blood sweat and literal tears. Maybe I even have a special supriseeeeeee for you soon. 

hmmmmmmm

Also shoutout of the week for Anna, Ava, Bear, Chris, Jess, Zoe, and everyone else who drew a little house for the neighborhood. You guys are the cutest best neighborhood I could ask for.

Ily a milly,
Grace

nobility honor righteousness

Hey guys. Blogging from the airport. I’m half asleep, half famished, and still all the fun. Let me just give you a little run down of my day thus far:

12:30am - packed my suitcase for my flight and photoshoot
4:30am - woke up to go get my hair and makeup done
5:00am - had my Uber cancel on me whilst already running late
7:00am - where the fuck is Olivia she was supposed to pick me up
7:15am - she picked me up
12:00pm - photoshoot ends
1:00pm - casually stroll into the airport expecting to get on the plane
2:00pm - delayed flight until 5:30am the next day

It is now when Andrew and I race to try to get on another flight, but I have checked a bag.

3:30pm - Andrew and I part ways and he boards the new plane as my bags are nowhere to be found
4:00pm - I call a man in his 30s an asshole for being rude to the employees. The employees, in return, expedite my bag process (slay) (I included this part so you guys know I’m a rlly rlly rlly awesome amazing noble righteous person)
6:00pm - get to my new flight, departing at 9pm from LAX
8:00pm - still waiting, eating a Greek mezze platter that is surprisingly hitting in all the right places cuz feta cheese fucks

And yeah well here we are. A pita in one hand, a keypad in the other. Yearning for an airport love story. In reality receiving concerned looks from an old man for walking around in circles around seats. Sigh. The world is tough for a 20 year old teenage girl. Kidding honestly despite all the fuckery of this day I kind of was super chill. Probably because I was half sedated but still. Live laugh love. And once again, I'm really nice to airport employees.

Bye,
Grace
 

the naked lady

My Brain This Week: 

• Can you still hit your funny bone as an adult? 

• We should be harvesting coconuts from public palm trees more 

• Uber drivers should have to buy you dinner first before you get in their cars. We’re putting our lives in the hands of random people we don't even know???

• I think if I were to get canceled it would be for punching boys in the arms when I get too drunk 

• “If you’re singing about your ex-boyfriend, I’m gonna need some percussion” - Ella 

• Belly laughs are often silly laughs

• Why is it embarrassing when multiple people order the same thing at your table when you go out to eat

• The easiest daughter might be the most expensive 

• Floss is for people who need their food separate on their plate 

• Tip of the day: experimenting with hair oil before you have to do ANYTHING is not a good idea 

This week I went to the Getty Museum and it reminded me that I really love visual art. I used to paint and draw a lot until high school but I kind of gave up that hobby when sports and music and school got more intense. I think seeing how many pieces one artist makes in their life reminds me of all the songs I’ve made and how many more there are to come. A sketch is a voice note, a song taken to full production being a framed oil painting. 

All of this art was made by Barbara T. Smith (the naked lady) 

There was this one exhibit where the artist sat in the middle of a room naked and had people feed her whatever they wanted as long as they asked for her consent. It was definitely weird but her whole thing was performance art and honestly, I dug it. 

That is all. Hope this weekend an Uber driver buys you dinner or you eat a coconut that has fallen from a tree. Neither of those things will probably happen but I hope they will for you. 

Love, 

Grace