Grace VanderWaal

No matter what, your words belong to you. Grace VanderWaal forever treasures her connection to words. As a kid, she always held them close, clung tightly, and never let go. As a woman now, she finds the ultimate freedom in those words, speaking her mind, heart, and soul without filter through her songs. The singer, songwriter, actress, and phenomenon amplifies the sound of healing scars, shedding skin, and stepping into her power on her 2025 full-length LP, Childstar [PULSE Records].

With a pen in hand (literally), she’s writing the next chapter of her story—on her own terms.

“I love writing lyrics with a pen and paper, because my thoughts flow better,” she notes. “If you grew up in a very high-pressure household, there’s no time for emotions. You can’t cry or breakdown when you have an interview in fifteen minutes. I always appreciated this sacred connection to words, because it was a space nobody could take from me. It allowed me to flourish, connect to myself, and be unapologetically sad, dramatic, or happy. When you’re writing, you’re in control.”

Speaking of, she took the reins of her destiny in 2024. Audiences initially got to know Grace at just 12-years-old when she parlayed winning America’s Got Talent into her rapid rise as an international artist. Between releasing music, she notably toured with everyone from Florence + the Machine to Imagine Dragons. Among many accolades, she earned a Teen Choice Award in addition to receiving the Billboard “Women in Music” Rising Star Award and becoming “the youngest person ever” to be featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 music list. Not to mention, she starred as the title character in the Disney+ film series Stargirl and later in the acclaimed Megapolis from legendary Academy® Award-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

However, she found herself at a crossroads during 2024. Independent once again, she dove into creating what would become Childstar, following her internal creative compass.

“I felt this intuitive voice from inside telling me I should make a proper conceptual album,” she recalls. “I believe in myself artistically and wanted to finally fulfill my potential. So, I just started writing from the heart. Naturally, Childstar unveiled itself to me.”

She found the perfect collaborator in producer Eren Cannata. Together, they wrote and recorded the bulk of the material at Facet House in Los Angeles.

“I was focused on how far I could go with my writing,” she goes on. “I’d look at Fiona Apple, Björk, or anyone else who is so uncomfortably strange and honest and be like, ‘I want to do that’. Eren played into that. He really heard and saw what I was saying. He’d say, ‘Let’s go even further. I think this is possible. You’re capable of it’. It was crucial to get this reassurance to the point of believing in myself.”

She initially teased this chapter with “What’s Left Of Me,” setting the tone and earning critical acclaim in the process. Of the latter, The Honey Pop raved, “She’s back and better than ever.”

However, Grace opens up the world of the album with the single “Babydoll” [feat. Aliyah’s Interlude]. Her raspy vocals float over a buzzing synth line until a pulsating beat kicks in. The track’s head-nodding hook takes hold, and she remains ready to “Throw a tantrum like a babydoll.” Aliyah’s Interlude pulls up for a knockout verse dripping with confidence and charisma.

“In the studio, we were talking about acting bratty, going out, wanting everything, and being a diva,” she recalls. “Effectively, this personality comes out when I’m drunk, and her name is ‘Babydoll’,” she laughs. “Aliyah is awesome, and she gave me exactly what I envisioned.”

An old music box plays a lilting lullaby for the opening of “Proud.” Grace practically gasps for air as she sings, “Promise I’ll be small. I won’t take up space at all…Ground yourself. Remember your place. You don’t have a voice yet. You don’t get to say.” Strings hang over a wave of distortion, climaxing on an affirmation, “‘Cause you’re so special.”

“As a kid, you have an undying need for validation,” she says. “In some cases, you abandon yourself, and you aren’t granted what you need mentally. You’re choosing to be strong, only because it’s your responsibility to be strong. You’re adopting strength when it’s not appropriate. It was important for me to use phrases like, ‘‘Cause you’re so special’, because they’re weaponized words to control children. Since you’re young, you want to feel strong, mature, and grown up, but no kid should have to do all of those things.”

Bells toll and strings swoon on “Brand New.” Her delivery barely cracks a whisper, overflowing with emotion.

“It’s about me being widely sexualized and objectified at a young age,” she sighs. “It’s important to talk about all of the different layers. You wonder, ‘What if I dream of being a sexy woman? What if it’s that something I want? Am I still just a girl at the end of the day? Am I subjecting myself?’ It’s a love-hate relationship and a commentary on the patriarchy.”

Then, there’s “Homesick.” Against sparsely plucked acoustic guitar, Grace’s vocals quake, “I’m homesick for a day that never happened.”

“You’re romanticizing an unattainable memory,” she says. “For my entire childhood, I thought, ‘When I have an apartment in New York City, everything will be okay.’ Now, I’m grown up, and I think, ‘Everything would be okay if I was just waking up at seven and waiting for the school bus again’. Nostalgia is painful. We always look back at a moment we considered to be the epitome of perfection, but was it ever real?”

Ultimately, Grace’s words are about to make a bigger impact than ever.

“When I started writing the album, I thought it was going to fuck me all the way up,” she leaves off. “I was really scared to open up these memories, because the art was going to be so raw. I realized the majority of the pain was because it was unspoken—like this weird secret I was carrying around. It feels really good to undress the past. It gave me a voice and power when I had felt incredibly powerless before. Maybe these words can give somebody else power.”

Alina