Grace VanderWaal

“I remember I asked my mom for a ukulele, and she said no because she thought I would never play it. So then I got my birthday money up, and I bought my own. It was the most rebellious thing I've ever done.”

“What I think is cool about Fender, and what originally drew me to them, was the Fender electric guitar headstock, which I've never seen on another ukulele. I feel like a rock star when I'm tuning it.”

“I want my music to evolve to become more me.”

“I started writing once I got the ukulele.”

“Don't be afraid to cry. Everyone needs a good cry sometimes. Sometimes I'll feel it in my throat, like, 'Today I'm going to cry about something stupid,' so just to get it out of the way, I'll watch a sad movie or something, accepting that that's totally fine and feels good.”

“I feel like my fans and I are all friends.”

“I always say that you can be polite and nice and still know what you want and still can see your path.”

“I do school online. My favorite thing to do with school is to finish things and then watch it go away, especially when I am working on a laptop.”

“I always want to stay true to who I am, and if people don't like that, then that's okay. I think fans appreciate when you're genuine and honest, and that's how I try to be through all of this.”

“I've become a ukulele hoarder.”

“'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.”

“If you will forever remember me as the girl from 'America's Got Talent,' that's cool, 'cause I am. If you wanna look into me and what I've done recently, that's cool, too.”

“My advice for someone just learning the ukulele would be to have fun with it and not take anything too seriously. Some songs that I think are great for beginners would be, 'House of Gold,' 'Riptide,' and 'I Don't Know My Name.'”

“The crowd really controls how I am onstage. One show, it might be a lot of young people, super-high-energy dancing. I mirror that. Other shows, it's much more calm.”

“Honestly, I don't really hear the comparisons to Taylor Swift anymore. I think it's because people are finally starting to see me for who I am and my craft and not being the next Taylor.”

“I had a lot of those fake friends. You just have to realize it's happening. You can't get caught up in the 'Oh, my God, they want to be my friend, finally' aspect.”

“Record labels and producers are not looking to change you: they are looking to make a star. And what they might think is a star may not be you.”

“I'll forever look at Imagine Dragons and hear them on the radio and think, 'They're great people.'”

“Always be kind, but kindness doesn't mean that you have to not say what you think.”

“I play the saxophone, and I used to play the piano.”