Interview on Indonesian podcaster
Grace was interviewed by Chris Cantada, AKA Cantadaforce, on his "Once and Always a Fanboy" podcast.
Chris Cantada is a Filipino musician, vlogger and cosplayer. He was the drummer for the Pinoy Rock band "Sponge Cola". Each week he interviews actors and artists about their new projects (profile on The Podcast Collective)
In the interview, they talked about her latest song, "Proud", and how her music is her safe space to express herself without barriers. They talked about the theme of the album and about making the visuals. And Grace revealed that of her older songs, her favourite was “Ur so Beautifull” as it reminded her of a good time in her life. She also talked about her Recent visit to the Spotify Offices in New York.
About "Proud"
"Proud is about taking on weight, and kind of putting yourself through pain or hell or these like exaggerated experiences, to feel like you’re deserving of someone being proud of you. I think that it was a really important song to introduce, “Childstar” because that’s kind of the heart of everything that I wanted to do. When you develop a relationship with validation like that, it really stems into every single side of you. So, there are a lot of different songs that are still based in the mentality of Proud. There is not really a message; it's more just a story."
The album and the visuals
"It’s a very transformative album. There are some songs that are more Baby Dolls still, but there are a lot of darker themes. Someone teeing up their childhood is not the most exciting and happy, unfortunately. Making the album video was extremely challenging – a lot of tears. I have always been a part of every single visual that you see, and I am a very visual person. I feel that when I write something I can immediately see what it looks like, and with that comes a lot of frustration because it’s incredibly tedious to try to create something that literally I see in my mind. And also, really unsatisfying when it’s like ‘No! in my fantasy, the light was here and not there and …’. So, it’s been really challenging but also extremely rewarding, and I’m just so, so connected to the visuals of this project."
Music as a way of free expression
"[My music] offers a sense of a safety net to just say whatever. And [when making music] I genuinely feel like I have disappeared, and I have no fears, and I can say whatever I want, you know? It's so funny because I'm so honest in songs. And then people will ask me things and I'll be like, ohh, I don't know. I feel like I'm such a different person than when I'm writing and making music."
Ur So Beautifull
"Maybe because of the experience shooting the music video, experience writing it, or because of how much it means to a lot of people: You're so beautiful. Like I wrote about my high school boyfriend, it was such an era in my life. Like even the music video, I remember it was just like me and him were running around. I got a freaking tattoo matching with my band that says USB for you're so beautiful. And also, I feel like that's one of the only like super old songs that I still think is really, really good."
Visit to Spotify
"I've just recently been to the Spotify offices and I was genuinely like rolling around on the carpet of this meeting room explaining what the visuals and the plan are going to be. And everyone was just kind of, I think in shock. So it's been really fun, honestly, just to do something so free."