Interview with Apostrophe Magazine
Grace was interviewed by the Australian "Apostrophe Magazine". She talks about holding on to oneself in the experience she has been through, about living in Brooklyn, and (at that time) soon moving to Manhattan, about the Kennedy Centre performance, and about inspirations for her music and her songwriting process.
"I wouldn’t say I’m fully experiencing the 'Brooklyn life' because I live in downtown Brooklyn, near Crown Heights and Brooklyn Heights. It feels more like an extension of Lower Manhattan rather than, say, Williamsburg or Bushwick. But I’m actually moving in the next two weeks to the Financial District. It’s not a huge change, but the demographic there is interesting, to say the least. A lot of Wall Street guys."
"I never felt like my identity was threatened by exposure or pressure. I’ve always been me. If you had a conversation with 12-year-old me, you’d be speaking to pretty much the same person – just as strong-willed, confident, and self-aware. That part of me has never wavered. When it comes to external pressure, of course, it affects you. Growing up in a chaotic professional environment is similar to growing up in a chaotic household. It shapes your attachment styles and your relationship with validation. Maybe I hyper-fixate on people's approval or feel the need to perform in personal spaces. But beyond that, my sense of self has always been intact."
I always say it’s my duty as a woman to be a bit of a menace and throw people off for all the girls who feel like they can't. They should walk away thinking, 'Will that ever happen again?'"
"The Kennedy Awards really threw me. I’d say that’s the biggest thing I’ve done so far. I had no idea what I was signing up for until a few weeks before, when I Googled it. … When I got involved in the Kennedy Awards tribute, I started freaking out, wondering if I had unknowingly signed onto some major political statement. But seeing Robert De Niro there, who has been very vocal about his views, totally reassured me. I’m so glad I did it. I didn't realise until after how iconic it was."
"I’m really inspired by film right now – especially dark, layered, complex stories. I love when art expresses pain so deep that words alone aren’t enough, requiring multiple mediums to do it justice. That’s what I want to create. I feel like I don’t write my songs – my subconscious does. It’s weirdly spiritual. I’ll hear some music, start humming gibberish, scat, and sing until I hit like, a flow state, and then I’ll listen back and try to decipher the words – and then I repeat the process until I have parts of a song … and then you piece it all together. It’s like tapping into something, without overthinking it."