- Words Notion Staff
Listen to Valencia Grace's moving debut single below, and enjoy a gallery of a day in her life.
A debut single is a formative point for an artist – it’s a chance to make the world sit up and take notice of who you are and what you can offer. Valencia Grace has certainly risen to that challenge, making her entrance onto the scene with the assured confidence of someone well beyond her 18 years.
Grace has turned the often challenging experiences of her teenage years into moving and deeply felt art that is entirely stripped of any unnecessary extra accoutrements. Her debut single, “It Was You”, puts everything into the power of Grace’s voice and the thoughtfulness of her songwriting, and the result is a song that quietly builds up a truly impressive effect by the end.
Recorded at her grandmother’s house, it’s a song that announces Grace as a genuine observer of both her own tumultuous emotions and how they relate to the world around her – there’s plenty of promise to come in this newcomer, who is now based in London.
On the song, she says, “This song is about me having the final say in a situation that I had no control over. Every time you write a song you compartmentalise your trauma and turn it into something beautiful that helps you understand it. I love that about music.”
Dive into the track below, and enjoy a gallery of what Valencia gets up to in a day.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to stay still and fight the urge to jump and grab onto these types of trains as they pass slowly.
The options for using this toilet are either; shut the door for privacy and get locked in so you have to awkwardly shout for help, or, leave it open and risk making uncomfortable eye contact with someone.
My friend sent me this because he finally found American Cheetos. We’d been looking everywhere for them. He still hasn’t shipped me a packet. I’m quite disappointed.
Here’s one of my cats, Banjo, who is Jazz (my other cat’s) boyfriend. He enjoys going into people's bags for attention.
Me and my friend wandered into this bar and there were pictures of horses everywhere. I’m not sure what vibe they were going for but anyways, we did a photoshoot on the stairs and nearly fell down them. That would’ve been embarrassing.
Since my discovery and love of sushi before singing, here’s me eating a veggie sushi wrap before my first ever gig. If you ever get this, don’t take the sticker off… it will fall apart and go everywhere.
This is me crying over the release of my debut single “It Was You”. It was a very lovely moment to share with my friends. I kept finding randos on the street and taking their phones off them to stream it. Promotion at its finest.
Here’s me about to eat a poke bowl. They gave me this weird lemon sauce and it was mingin’. So I didn’t have any of the dressing. I wish they gave me more avocado though. This is “extra” so it’s a bit shocking that they think they can get away with giving me only a third of an avocado…
This is me having a crisis while on my Victorian toilet. My heart was lost and uncomfortable, but at least my ass wasn’t.
Here’s Jazz. She’s the size of a Mayo bottle. Bless her heart. She’s so cute and sits on you when you’re sleeping and then forces you to stay too long in one position…so you start to ache but because she’s so small and fluffy, you don’t wanna move her. She has a boyfriend named Banjo. We kind of arrange married them. It seems to be working out. My toilet seat is like some weird massive Victorian style one, so when I’m sat on it, they come sit on it with me and keep me company. That seems an unnecessary detail to have told you. But hey, now you know.
I have this specific journey that I do weekly and it’s literally so easy but I completed it without checking Google maps which was very satisfying. That’s how low my bar is set I guess. There’s two trains that get me there on time. My choices are; rush in the morning and have a slow/relaxed walk to my destination, or, rush in the morning and have a rushed walk. So, either or, it’s not ideal. I really just have to learn to actually wake up when my first alarm goes off.
Every single time I’m on my way to my vocal coaching, everyone on the train has to stand like sardines and hold onto the poles to not topple over each other. Then, we get to this one stop where everyone goes running out and I’m left trying to waddle towards the traffic to finally sit down for another 40 mins.
I always tell myself I’m getting used to all the tube stuff and figuring out how to make my way about however, I still fold and get my dad to send me a step by step list of directions and cry when he doesn’t put the end line…so I can’t find the train and I’m underground and have no service. I’m new to London okay.