Interview: Grace Sorensen Gives Insight on Her Creative Journey

During SXSW, UTalent Records External Relations Co-Director Lauren Stephens sat down with rising R&B star Grace Sorenson to discuss how she got started in music, playing Austin City Limits Music Festival, and the exciting things her future holds.

UTalent: Is this your first SXSW?

Grace Sorensen: Second!

Okay, so did you come last year?

Yes.

What has been your favorite part of this year’s SXSW?

Mainly seeing the community that Austin has for art and the respect that it has for music. You really don't see anything like this anywhere else, where everybody shuts down to celebrate music—it’s really beautiful. So, overall, it's been really cool to see that and the variety of bands [that] are a part of it.

It is truly special. And you're from here right?

Yeah, born and raised.

Kinda going back to that beginning, when did you start making music, and how did you get into that space?

Yeah, it was in high school. All my life, I had this feeling that I knew I wanted to end up in music, but I had nobody in music to talk to, advise me, or even tell me it was a real job. So I had this dream, but I didn't know how to do it. So, in high school, I just started posting covers on Instagram, and then I just started emailing studios. I didn't know what types of entities made music and what not. So around sophomore year, I just started emailing people and then started making demos I could send to people. And then it really just became knowing who you know and networking, and one thing led to another.

You also played ACL this past year, and that was your first festival performance. How was that, especially being from Austin?

That was so trippy. Seeing my name on the line was something different. Living here, when the lineup comes out, everybody talks about it. It's a big deal for kids and people my age in our area-–everybody talks about ACL. So seeing that come out was so sick, like, “Wow. I’m on that. That’s amazing.” 

Are there any other festivals that would be a dream come true for you to play at?

Oh my gosh, like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Fools in Love—any of those R&B festivals—would be such a dream come true.

I was also wondering, if you could open for any artist on tour, who would it be?

Brent Faiyaz, Kehlani, Destin Conrad, Kendrick Lamar, Miguel… I could name so many.

In terms of creative influences, would you say that those are some of the top?

For sure. I take [inspiration] from a lot of things I grew up listening to and subconsciously reference people, like D’Angelo and Lauren Hill. A lot of the textures in that music are very lush to me, and I try to strive to sound like that, too.

Do you do a lot of your own production?

I co-produce! So, there’s usually a producer, and we build from the ground-up. So I translate what I want and how I like things to sound, and then they make it tangible and real.

That’s so cool. Do you have anything in particular coming up in the next few months that you're really excited for or looking forward to?

It’s the beginning of an album rollout. So, it starts next month with “Superstars,” the first single, then after that it’ll be single after single, and then my album will drop shortly after. It’ll take some time, but it’ll be worth it because I think the buildup is important for an album. 

Then, going to New York and doing a mini tour in Texas—like Houston [and] Dallas. So, yeah, I have some cool stuff I’m excited for!

You can follow Grace on Instagram and YouTube and stream their music on Spotify and Apple Music.

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.