Grace VanderWaal on Debut EP & Being Called The Next Taylor Swift

Grace VanderWaal captured the hearts of my many people across the country when she won the most recent season of America's Got Talent, and now, the 13-year-old is well on her way to a promising career in music — she was dubbed "The Next Taylor Swift" by Simon Cowell while on the show, after all. 

After America's Got Talent, Grace not only released her debut single "I Don't Know My Name," but she also released her debut EP called Perfectly Imperfect, which showcases five new songs, and debuted on the Billboard 200 chart in the top ten at No. 9, as well as No. 4 on the US Digital Albums chart.

Grace recently stopped by iHeartRadio HQ in New York City where she taught us how to play her single "I Don't Know My Name" on the ukulele, talked about her new music and future plans, and being named the "next Taylor Swift." Read on below.

How Grace Learned To Play Ukulele

Grace learned how to play the ukulele by watching YouTube tutorials at home at just 11 years old. "I didn't teach myself. Like, I wasn't like, 'Oh, that sounds good.' YouTube taught me. The internet is an amazing place nowadays. I first started off on YouTube tutorials, and then I started to recognize the chords. So, I more learned it at home, rather than myself."

Ukulele isn't the only instrument that Grace knows how to play. She recently started to learn to play the guitar. But instead of YouTube, she got herself a teacher this time. And she has a great guitar to play now, because Shawn Mendes recently gifted her one.

"I didn't [want to learn at first]. But then I have a teacher who taught me how to play a song and a few things on the guitar, and I actually really liked it. I didn't want to admit it, but I did. So, it's really nice. It's definitely easier having a teacher rather than [learning] online because then when I learn a song, and there's something I'm having trouble with, I can be like, 'Hey, I'm having trouble with this. Can you help me?'"

The Recording Process for Grace's First EP Perfectly Imperfect

For her debut EP, Grace tells us that Perfectly Imperfect was a lot of fun to put together. "I thought it was gonna be so much more stressful and [more] work than it was. I didn't realize that it would be so much fun. Obviously, there was hard work that got put into it from me and Greg [Wells], and everyone who was involved. But it was a lot of fun in the making."

Many might already be familiar with Grace's single "I Don't Know My Name," and as you're exploring her EP, you will definitely want to give her song "Gossip Girl" a listen -- it's Grace's favorite. She tells us of the track, "I like all the little different effects it has with the whispering. I like the sound of it. It's also always been my favorite, even before we recorded it, because I really like how kind of dark it is, rather than a lot of my other songs."

Her Plans on a Full-Length Album & Jingle Ball Experience

With such tremendous talent at such a young age, the future looks extremely bright for Grace. During America's Got Talent, Simon Cowell called the 13-year-old (12 at the time) "the next Taylor Swift." Grace says of the compliment, "Hearing, 'You're the next Taylor Swift,' at first, I didn't realize when it was happening, how big of a deal it was. And I was just like, 'Okay.' And then it spread like a wildfire, and I'm so grateful. It's like the best compliment anyone could give you."

So what's next for Grace? She hopes to put out a full-length album at some point and go out on tour. She already got a taste of performing at New York City's iconic Madison Square Garden where she treated the crowd to a quick version of "I Don't Know My Name" during the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour. She says of the experience, "Since there's a crowd behind you, and everything, it's like echoing in your ears, everyone. And that's why it was so amazing. I could hear all around me, everyone singing. It was a really amazing experience." She adds, "I felt like a superstar."