MIA - You’ve been releasing music on Spotify since 2019 and have garnered over a hundred and thousand monthly listeners? When you first started releasing music did you feel you’d get those numbers?
GRAE - I always wanted my music to reach it's target audience but I didn't think it would so quickly. When I released my first EP, it started to gain quite a bit of attention, so I was really glad.
M - How do you feel you and your music have changed since your first EP?
G - My first EP was kind of R'n'B inspired, but my most recent music is much more indie inspired, and the next one is inspired by something different too! It's kind of like era's, I'm sort of growing into them.
M - How would you describe the Canadian music scene?
G - I'm not sure what it's like elsewhere but it's kind of like everyone knows everyone here. It's really nice because there's a lot of support and you feel it. It's like you know a lot of people have your back.
M - Pink seems to be a significant colour to you/your aesthetic. Is there any specific reason why?
G - I kind of just fell into it! I've always had brown hair, only wore all black clothes, and then I dyed my hair red. I went to my hairdresser, one of my best friends, and I told her I was bored of the red and she suggested I do pink. I haven't changed it since, and I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon! I never really liked any colours strongly but once I dyed my hair I found I really liked pink.
M - where did the name GRAE stem from?
G - I felt like my actual name didn't suit the kind of vibe I was going for. Then, I was with my family and someone wrote GRAE on a piece of paper and just slid it over to me. Then, when I made my first EP, those I worked with said that the sound was very 'GRAE'. Some people think that it comes from my middle name Grace, but it doesn't, it's completely random.
M - Who would you say have influenced your music the most in your life?
G - I would definitely say my dad. When I was in school, I was flunking, and I knew I wasn't going to university or anything. I've added some lyrics in some of my songs about how we'd just laugh about me failing. At some point he was just like okay you're going to be an artist, you've got this music thing, that's what you're going to do.
M - And what about other musicians?
G - Robert Smith from the Cure because I think he's a great lyricist, and also Prince! I've got loads, I think that behind every artist is a hundred other artists and behind those artists are another hundred. We are made up of who inspires us, I think.
M - Your aesthetic and stage presence have an arguably empowering sexual presence. Was this done on purpose?
G - I'm glad it's come through as natural and not forced, because just like the pink thing, I kind of just fell into it. I think that it's genuinely just a part of me, it's who I am, and I'm this kind of era now.
M - What is something you want fans to take away from your music?
G - I say this in a lot of interviews but I want people who listen to my music to think that they have a friend there, someone who understands them. I have songs about heartbreak and deep, emotional, personal things, that I hope they feel they aren't alone in through my music.
M - I like to end on a fun one. What is a song/musician you have on repeat at the moment?
G - Miley Cyrus I've been listening to a lot since Flowers came out, I think everyone's listening to her at the moment, Rêve, a Canadian artist, Prince, the Cure, I should probably change it up but they're constantly in rotation!
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