Ayman Khan
Mar 16, 20222 min
Updated: Jun 6, 2023
GRAE's mesmeric vocals blended with her unique and authentic lyricism come to life in her new song, “Forget You.”
I look up to many artists, Janet Jackson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Norah Jones, Prince, But the artists I draw inspiration from for my music are The Cure and Tame Impala.
When I first started writing ‘Forget You,’ I was excited to bring it to my producer. I was in a nostalgic mood, as per usual, and decided it was time to let go of this person/relationship I romanticized. At the time, I still hoped we’d work out, but after writing the song, it felt this emotional release, and I realized many things. I brought the music into the next session with my producer Connor Seidel and writing partner Willa Milner, and they loved the chorus I wrote, which is the one we recorded. We then refined everything else lyrically. When I was recording the vocals, I was highly emotional, and I had to take breaks in between to collect myself. The result was a raw, emotional and honest song, and I’m super proud of it.
I, unfortunately, haven’t performed enough yet (due to the pandemic) to have gotten a good ritual down, but typically if I get performance anxiety, I tell myself it’s excitement. I once heard that your brain doesn’t know the difference between nervousness and excitement, so I turn the feelings into something positive!
Most definitely. There's always an evolution with each new project. You grow and realize a lot in the process, and I feel, personally, that I'm forever changing. Musically my style has developed into something I'm proud of; I've started incorporating my influences into my sound, and that's been pretty cool. I better understand what it means to be GRAE and what I'm trying to achieve as an artist. This album is a version of myself that is more confident and sure in who she is. I'll likely have a more solid and recognizable music identity in the future, but there will always be an evolution and this need to explore with different sounds. I like doing that, but it's nice to feel like I have more of an idea of who I am now.