LOS ANGELES, CA- There was a time when Grace VanderWaal was a wide-eyed tween with a ukulele, charming her way to a win on America’s Got Talent and earning headlines as the precocious “next Taylor Swift.” But if you haven’t checked in since those days, brace yourself: you’ve missed the transformation of a girl into an artist—one whose new material is as emotionally raw as it is musically daring.
Her latest single “Proud,” the fourth from her forthcoming sophomore album “Childstar” (out April 4 via PULSE Records), is a chilling, beautifully fractured track that lingers like the ghost of childhood expectations. It opens with a delicate, music-box melody before unraveling into waves of static and strings, where intimacy and distortion clash with intent. “Promise I’ll be small. I won’t take up space at all,” VanderWaal sings in a voice that’s both fragile and knowing, capturing the paradox of growing up under the weight of adult expectations.
It’s a harrowing theme, and one VanderWaal knows all too well. The “golden child” archetype she confronts in “Proud” isn’t just conceptual—it’s personal. “You’re choosing to be strong, only because it’s your responsibility to be strong,” she explained in a statement, pointing to the emotional burden shouldered by young prodigies. Here, she strips away the pageantry of precociousness and lets us hear the cost.
The production is nothing short of sublime. It veers between glitched-out art-pop and orchestral swells with Björk-like volatility, yet it never loses its emotional thread. It builds to a climactic drop—and then, with aching restraint, stops short. You wait for another hit, another rush, but it doesn’t come. That absence? It’s deliberate. It’s the silence after applause, the void left when someone has given too much. Wield absence as power is a very powerful approach.
“Proud” follows a trio of other singles—“What’s Left of Me,” the brat-pop banger “Babydoll” featuring Aliyah’s Interlude, and the vulnerable, yet defiant title track “Childstar.” Together, they suggest an album that will grapple with the complicated legacy of early fame. Where her debut album “Just the Beginning” (2017) hinted at promise, “Childstar” sounds like it might deliver the full story—one forged in the crucible of adolescence, but filtered through the clarity of an artist who’s just stepped into adulthood.
If “Proud” is any indication, “Childstar” will be an emotionally potent, sonically adventurous album—something you don’t just listen to, but “feel”. And for those of us- like me- who may have written her off as a novelty act during her ukulele years, consider this your boarding call. Grace VanderWaal has evolved. And the train is already pulling into the station.
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