Interview with Grace Bland
Hi everyone, today I have an interview for you with incredible artist Grace Bland. Her latest single ‘She Kinda Looks Like Me’ is out now and is definitely worth listening to. I was lucky enough to ask her a few questions for After Midnight and she was lovely to talk to.
Hi Grace, how are you?
Hi Elin, I’m good thank you!
How would you describe your music to the readers?
I would describe my music as Indie Pop combined with elements of Rock, Folk and Jazz music.
Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?
Some of my biggest musical influences include Gabrielle Aplin, Harry Styles, Bea Miller and Maisie Peters. However, I also love classical music and film music, so would say that those genres have influenced some of my songwriting as well.
You started writing songs when you were 11 years old, can you remember what some of those songs were like?
My earlier songs were mainly acoustic singer-songwriter style ballads. After being given my first keyboard for Christmas, I started practising simple pieces and quickly found that I loved writing original music.
Your new single ‘She Kinda Looks Like Me’ is out now, I was lucky enough to hear it in advance and I just wanted to say that I love it. The song sounds incredible, what was the process of creating this song like?
Thank you very much, I’m so glad you like it! I wrote ‘She Kinda Looks Like Me’ in 2019 and took it to the studio to work on with producer Matt Parisi over a series of sessions. One of my favourite moments in the creation process was when we recorded the electric guitar part as I really like how it contributes to the overall vibe of the track.
Were there any challenges you faced while making music in lockdown?
I found that lockdown gave me more time to write music and create content which was really useful. However, I missed performing live and being able to work with other musicians in person.
Lyrically you say that the song is an ‘exploration into jealousy using the fictional narrative of a disloyal partner’. What was the inspiration behind writing this kind of song?
I was partly inspired by the idea of a person beginning a relationship with someone who has similar attributes to a previous partner. The events of the song take place in the car of the protagonist. The song alternates between two scenes: the protagonist driving to her partner's house and a day in the near future when she is speaking to her partner about his disloyalty.
What’s something that you are looking forward to doing again once the pandemic is over?
I can’t wait to get back to playing more live music! I have missed gigs a lot - both playing at them and watching them.
Do you have any recommendations for the readers of music they should be listening to at the moment? Or any artists you have been loving recently?
My current playlist contains music from artists such as COIN, Maisie Peters, Declan McKenna and Bad Suns. I would 100% recommend checking out all of their music if you haven’t already.
Lastly, what can we expect to hear from you next?
More music! As well as lots of new content on my social media.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions for me, it’s really appreciated.
Thank you so much for having me!
I am really excited to hear what comes next from Grace, be sure to go and listen to ‘She Kinda Looks Like Me’ out now and follow Grace Bland on her social media pages, which will be linked below.
Thanks for reading, until next time…
Listen to ‘She Kinda Looks Like Me’ on Spotify here.
Follow Grace Bland on Spotify here.
Follow Grace Bland on Instagram here.
Follow After Midnight on Instagram here.
Follow After Midnight on Facebook here.
Follow me on Spotify here.
Follow me on Instagram here.
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