Grace Mitchell’s Raceday
V Magazine – THE ENIGMATIC 18-YEAR-OLD FROM PORTLAND HAS JUST DROPPED A NEW SINGLE AND EP THAT PROVE THE SINGER-SONGWRITER HAS A STYLE AND VOICE THAT’S ALL HER OWN. DOES SHE HAVE ANY JITTERS? NOT REALLY
Grace Mitchell seems relatively calm for having just released a brand new EP, her second at only 18 years old. The nonchalance comes in part from tenure: she has been writing and recording music since she was 14 while flying back and forth between her home in Portland and recording studios in LA.
Ten years ago this sort of teenage experience might have been unimaginable to many, but Mitchell belongs to a new generation of young artists to whom anything seems possible, having grown up in an age where 13-year-olds can be discovered on YouTube and become megastars, and high schoolers in New Zealand can release albums and win Grammys.
Luckily for Mitchell, the young singer-songwriter has reason to be confident. While her first EP, last year’s Design, left audiences wanting more and wondering exactly who Mitchell is, the new EP serves as a definitive answer: She’s Grace Mitchell, she’s exactly who she wants to be, and she’s coming for you. On holiday before her big move to LA, Mitchell talks to V about growing in Oregon, making music in high school, and what exactly sets her generation apart. Check out the exclusive interview below.
Tell me what your new EP, Raceday, is all about.
GRACE MITCHELL It’s been a long process; several years’ worth. When I was creating it, I wanted something that would be like the more abrasive b-side to my first EP, Design. It’s a little bit more electric, and I kind of explored more non-appealing qualities of myself: indulgence and excessiveness, recklessness and youthfulness. Whereas the first EP was kind of more about being vulnerable and emotional, the second EP was developed as a contrast—an evolution of the first one.
Who are some of your musical influences?
GM Growing up I was heavily influenced by hip-hop music, and still am today. I wanted to learn more about the culture and the history of hip-hop and integrate it into the second EP as much as I could…I listen to a lot of Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette, and Kanye West. I’m really into Death Grips too.
I think aside from “Jitter,” “Bae” has the potential to be a huge hit. How did the collaboration with Spri Noir come about?
GM I knew I wanted to have a feature for the song as soon as I wrote it. I tried to find somebody who could fit the dark, but also melodic style of the song. So we found Spri Noir and asked him. At first he didn’t really think it was a real offer, and then was really excited when he found out it was. I’m really happy with how it turned out.
And while you were recording it, was it difficult balancing school and being a teenager and all of those things?
GM I was living in Portland the whole time, and when I came to LA to record the music I was just living a different side of myself, so it didn’t really feel like it was difficult to maintain both sides of myself.
On “Breaking Hearts,” you talk about staying out all night and living the DJ life, but also being on the honor roll. How much of the music is inspired by your actual life?
GM I wrote that song during a particularly heavy EDM phase. I was under the impression that I was, in fact, living the DJ life, and that I was staying out every night. But in retrospect I was probably just, like, doing very mild teenage partying. I mean, I tend to party every once in a while, but I would say the “DJ life” character is more of a fictional entity than my actual self.
The juxtaposition in that song seems to speak a lot to you and your generation in terms of not conforming to labels. Is that something you thought about while making it?
GM Yes. The whole idea through the EP is ambiguity. There’s not really a definite genre, besides the fact that it’s pop music. It’s about how you can be whoever you want to be, you can have confidence in being whatever you want to be. It’s the idea that you don’t have to put yourself into a definitive box. And that is like, a huge thematic thing of my generation, is just like everyone can be completely satisfied having many different emotions, and many different identities. That’s perfectly normal and human, and that’s what you’re supposed to do is have many different identities.
How do you think social media culture plays into that?
GM I’ve been hearing a lot recently that people display certain realities on social media that are inaccurate and how that affects us all. But I think it’s a really interesting statement, because Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr, they’re all expressions of art in a way. You’re compiling a bunch of images and thoughts—poems, really—and putting them on the Internet. So when I look at someone else, I’m more thinking that this is that person expressing his or her form of art perception.
Do you feel like growing up in Portland influenced your own perception of art?
GM Definitely. There’s a lot of music and experimentation going on in Oregon. I think that the standard idea of what music should sound, the algorithm of music, was definitely broken down by all of the art I saw growing up. The biggest thing I can thank Oregon for is the nurturing quality that it gave to my art. I was really supported in creating more abstract and creative work.
What will you be working on when you get to LA?
GM The next step is to pump out a bunch of visuals and work on a full-length LP, writing and collaborating with artists in LA. Letting it all happen organically.
Will you be doing more live shows?
GM Yes. I love performing live. It’s one of the places I feel most confident and comfortable in my skin. It will start happening more once I move and the touring process for Raceday starts happening.
Raceday is out now from Casablanca/Republic Records, a division of UMG Recordings Inc, available now on iTunes and Apple Music
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