To inspire people. That’s all I want to be… It is something I care about, about moving people

By the young age of 15, she has become a YouTube sensation, with countless covers of songs, each over a million views. In 2013, she stole the limelight of the American reality programme, The Voice, and propelled to fame with her debut album, With Love. This year, she is the winner of Macy’s iHeartRadio Rising Star and will be opening the music festival in Las Vegas. Yet despite having all these musical achievements as an artist with a growing fan base, Christina Grimmie stays true to herself and aspires to be even better as an artist and as a person in life.

Last Friday, Christina Grimmie was invited to Singapore to perform at NUS Rag and Flag 2015. The Fifth Parlour is honoured to have the privilege to meet and chat with her. As she walked into the venue dressed casually in a simple black jacket and pants, something else caught my attention. The jacket had League of Legends printed in gold on it. It is no surprise that video games are things she would “never ever ever ever give up” in her life. But there’s just more to who Christina Grimmie is~

First up, set to be opening iHeartRadio music festival in September, Christina shared that she would definitely be performing Shrug, her latest single released in July. She was thankful to her fans and other listeners who have responded well to this catchy song which was composed by her and her companions. What was her inspiration behind this song?

I know a lot more people who are having situations where a friend of theirs or someone they know, [who are] just trying to be “What’s up?”, just wanna be mean for no reasons. And this is kinda like the shrug.

This year, Christina has dropped three singles include Cliché, Stay with Me (in collaboration with Diamond Eyes) and Shrug. Speaking of her upcoming album, she held high expectations for herself and her album. As she called it herself, “I’m a super perfectionist” and “would love to get it out by this year”. She also has her fans in mind, mentioning that

The last stages would be like picking what songs I want to have in the album. Because, like I have so many, but it is about picking the best ones, which ones the fans are going to relate to.

With great assurance from Christina, it is certain that this album will be another huge success.  Get ready, Team Grimmie! During the interview, Christina also expressed that she is a huge fan of Tori Kelly. She showed great delight at the possibility of working together with her, explaining, “she likes to send a positive message and I like to do the same thing. So it would be fun for us to work together.”

Speaking from her own experience, she sincerely recommended for other aspiring singers on YouTube to continue in what they are doing and “do it in a unique way”. She believes that there has to be something unique for the audience, be it a quirky voice or a skill in playing instruments. “Use that to your advantage”, she explained and quoted her own experience saying, “my thing was like “I will be the girl with the piano”. So that seemed to work.”

As the session came to an end, Christina also shared that she really hope to become a better singer and a better person in life. As she went on, “it sounds really basic but it is kinda of really difficult to stay true to yourself in this kind of society”, I truly felt her sincerity in achieving so, which was aligned with her goal in life: “to inspire people”

Through this interview with her, I felt her emotions, excitement and determination to bring the best side of her to her fans (“Team Grimmie!” as she would exclaim now and then during the session) and everyone she hopes to touch and inspire through her music and through herself.  It was a short but insightful session as she shared her personal experience and changes from a teenager to a rising star and an amazing artist.

The Fifth Parlour would like to thank Christina for the interview Alex and Heather for coordinating this interview.