Grace VanderWaal on Body Image and Why Her New Album Really Is "Just the Beginning"

On September 15, Grace VanderWaal released "So Much More Than This," the new single from her upcoming album, Just the Beginning. And the 13-year-old singer-songwriter is the first person who will tell you that she was nervous about the drop.

"I've been wanting people to know about this for so long and it's finally happening," she explains about her new work, which will debut in full on November 3. So it's understandable when she tells Teen Vogue she's been "refreshing" her social media feeds and "looking at people's responses and comments. It's all very positive, which I was very happy about. I was really nervous about the response."

The album follows an EP, Perfectly Imperfect, that was released shortly after she won first place on America's Got Talent. But even after a golden buzzer and Simon Cowell's support, the singer is still trying to navigate the voice in her head that second-guesses her musical instincts.

"Not really when I'm making the song but when it's starting to get close to the day it's going to be released, I'm like, 'Oh my God, are people going to hate it?'" she explains. "I wish I had advice for myself. I don't know. I'm still trying to get through it, I guess. We're all in the same boat."

Teen Vogue caught up with Grace to talk about where she found her inspiration for Just the Beginning, as well as how she's grown in the year since her first America's Got Talent audition went viral. She also opened up about her choice to go back to the same school she was enrolled in before she appeared on AGT, and why her being awkward isn't only relatable — it's real.

Teen Vogue: First of all, what was the inspiration behind "So Much More Than This"?

Grace VanderWaal: "So Much More Than This" is about just getting tangled up in all of the drama and stuff that really does not matter, and probably won't matter in like, three months. It's about thinking that [something is] the end of the world when there's so much more you can be thinking about. There's so much more than that, I guess. And being able to try it and see what will make you happy.

The day I was going to that producing session for the song, I [was listening to] the radio. Song after song after song after song was about [relationship drama with] boys. I'm like, "This is so dumb." There's too many songs about that. I feel like there's so much more than that. I was telling the producer about it and he said, "That's a great title."

TV: That's definitely something a lot of people focus on, especially when they talk about female artists and women in general. They focus on "Who's the new boy in your life?"

GV: It's so annoying. There's so much more to be focusing on. There's so many more topics than that. Obviously that's not what the song is about but it as definitely what sparked the inspiration to write it.

TV: Where did you find the inspiration for the rest of your album?

GV: My life, I guess. I like to make little movies or fake stories about something that happened in my life. I will make a movie in my mind that would translate the same feeling or emotion that I had in whatever just happened. So [my inspiration was] a bunch of stories in the form of a song, I guess.

TV: Has that process evolved from when you were writing songs at home, to now when you're working with a team of people?

GV: It's grown tremendously. I definitely am a lot better at it now. Before [America's Got Talent], I couldn't say, "I'm going to write a song." I needed to wait until something happened where I got inspiration to write a song. Now I can sit down and be like, "OK, I'm writing a song." That's about it.

TV: As the album rolls out, is there any one thing you're most looking forward to?

GV: To see [fans's] smiles, and to perform it. This is definitely a new chapter. I'm really excited. I can't wait for everyone to hear it. I want anyone to take something out of [the album], whether it's like, "oh, that was pretty cool" or it actually made a difference in their life. It's like that extreme. I'm really excited to see the responses, whether you're 12 years old or you're 23 years old. There's always that same message and I try my best to spread that message.

TV: It's been a little over a year since you first appeared on America's Got Talent. Do you think you've changed since we caught up with you at your house in New York?

GV: It definitely does not feel like one year whatsoever. Way shorter. One year sounds long; it feels like maybe couple months back. But I stand by the same things that I did [last year]; I might for the rest of my career. I always say that you can be polite and nice and still know what you want and still can see your path. I lived by that then and I live by that now. It's so important for anyone going into the industry to know that because I am 1000% sure at least one person will tell you otherwise. But, no.

TV: When you first auditioned for AGT, did you expect to see yourself here a year from now?

GV: NO! I was literally doing it to people-watch and see weird talents. Then I ended up getting on the televised show, and I can't even believe what happened. I was preparing myself to get four Xs because my family prepared for the worst. Because you don't want to do anything on TV that you would regret. I ended up winning the whole thing.

TV: Now you're performing in these major concerts with other huge-name performers. What has that been like?

GV: It's so crazy. Shawn Mendes tweeted me this morning, like, "'So Much More Than This' is awesome. Great job." He is, by the way, is the sweetest guy in the entire world. He's such a good guy. It's unbelievable that people like him even know who I am.

TV: Shawn gave you a guitar in the past. Would you ever collaborate in the studio?

GV: Absolutely. We've talked about it before. We even sent over a couple of ideas and tunes but there hasn't been that idea yet. I would definitely love to.

TV: Is there anybody else you'd like to collaborate with?

GV: I need to make a new answer for this question, because my old answer was always Jason Mraz and that happened, which was amazing. But now, I don't have an answer for that question because it already happened. I guess my new answer is Shawn Mendes.

TV: Which other artists are you listening to right now?

GV: I'm obsessed with the song "Wish I Knew You" [by the Revivalists]. It's a great song. It's always stuck in my head. I love the Greeting Committee. They're amazing. Lorde! I'm obsessed with Lorde. Oh my gosh. I'm always listening to Lorde. Her music is so powerful. I personally think she is one of the most talented artist celebrities out there right now.

TV: When you first appeared on AGT, a lot of people compared you to other artists — especially Taylor Swift — while trying to nail down what your style is. How do you navigate all of those comparisons?

GV: Well, everyone has their style and it'll happen. It's totally fine. It's something humans do, they can't help it. On the album, I have almost full-blown pop songs and than I have super indie songs. I even have a song that almost sounds a little punk, which is strange, but it happened. It's all over the board.

When I try to figure out why people do that, I think people are still getting to know me. People are still figuring out who I am and what my style is but I don't think they really know that I'm trying to do the exact same thing at the same time. I'm still trying to find out who I am and what my style is. I'm definitely experimenting a lot.

TV: Do you ever think those "next Taylor Swift" comparisons are going to stop?

GV: I don't. I don't think that would ever stop. Sometimes you just gotta accept the things that you cannot change and embrace them because it's either that or be a baby about it and make yourself throw a tantrum and make yourself upset about it. Which way would you want to go? You obviously want to accept it and be happy about it and embrace it. When you look at Arianna Grande, she always had the Mariah Carey comparisons and that's kind of followed her throughout her career. She still made her name though, and I admire that. I would want to mirror the same thing.

TV: You're balancing a new album with going back to school. How are you handling that?

GV: It's busy and it's hard but it's worth it. Right now, I'm Grace VanderWaal. Whenever I'm traveling, it's a switch of like, adult, mature, Grace VanderWaal answering questions. Sometimes it's hard to get that balance of old, normal me as well. That's why I wanted to go back to school and also because home school is literally the hardest thing ever. But it's going well. I've only been there for like three days, but it's going really well.

TV: How do your friends feel about this dual life?

GV: I don't have many friends. That's also a lot of motivation to go back to school. I want to be social. I want to have that experience. I want to grow up with yearbooks and stuff like that.

TV: That's a far cry from what a lot of people might think, looking at your social media. Like, "You have all of these followers, isn't that better than friends?"

GV: Yeah. But it gets old. When that first happens, you're constantly refreshing. You're like, "Oh my God. I feel so popular and accepted." And you have all the people like, "Oh my God, you're so beautiful. You sound great. Be my best friend!" and all of that. But after a year of that, it kind of turns into words that are going right around you. And you're reading them but you're not really taking them in. It's something you can't change. Comments will never replace friends. That's the main thing.

I'm an indoors person. I always have been. I've always liked to be alone, I like silence. But it's made me extremely socially awkward with children my age that aren't fans. It's so strange. If I meet another 13-year-old and they are a fan, I am somehow Grace Vanderwaal and perfectly know how to deal with them and how to hug them and talk to them and take a photo with them. But the second I meet someone who isn't a fan and is a normal kid, I get extremely awkward. This isn't me trying to be relatable, it's an actual problem.

I guess that's another reason why I wanted to go back [to school] because it's so bad. I'll be at the movie theaters and there will a kid I don't know and they're like "Hey." I'm like, "Hi, I'm new, I'm g-o-n ..." I want to get over it. It's already getting better and it's by surrounding myself around people and getting used to it and building up that confidence and personality again.

TV: You recently posted two side-by-side photos with and without makeup on Instagram. What inspired that?

GV: I've very recently, along with my sister ... my sister used to have confidence and self-love issues, like every teenage girl out there. It's because you always see these teenage goals pages: hashtag goals, eyebrow goals, eyelash goals, body goals, booty goals, guy goals... It literally could be anything. Whether you say it does or not, it actually makes you look at yourself differently and you may not even realize it. I just realized this because when you look in the mirror and you look at that photo and you're like, "God, my face needs to be slimmer, my lips need to be bigger, my booty needs to be bigger, my waist needs to be more cinched."

At a certain point, it's a little too much to exploit, to young girls. I felt like with the platform I had, I wanted to share that. I don't think any girls look up to me. I want girls to know that, for the girls that they look up to, to know that they probably look just like you. And they're, I don't know, not showing it. I feel like that's so important to do. That day that I [posted those photos], I unfollowed all those goals [accounts] and all those Pinterest boards. I already feel better.

TV: So many people think that self-confidence is something that older teenagers deal with, but so many younger people are affected, too. How do you deal with those images and standards?

GV: Especially with this generation, girls are growing up with such unreachable standards. I guess that's another thing that I don't understand. Because with our generation, we [talk so much about] self-love and body confidence, yet I believe we have the most unrealistic standards of any other generation. It hurts me so much to know that girls are growing up with [these images], thinking "That that's what a great body should look like."

It's so hard because [there are] such extreme opposites for this generation. There's one extreme of loving yourself and everyone's body is perfect and different and then another extreme of these [unrealistic] body standards. It's so weird that that's happening at the same time. It's confusing for young girls growing up.

TV: You also had a zit in your photo, which is so common, yet it's something we rarely see. And it's like, why are we shaming acne?

GV: I know. It's so normal. It's like, everyone wants the same thing. Everyone, I think, wants that perfectly smooth skin. Everyone wants all these physical things that don't matter at all. That ties into "So Much More Than This," actually. There's so much more than that. It doesn't matter at all.

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