This past Friday I sat down with Indie Pop artist Taylor Grey. She was in town to perform at The Grove on Saturday while on her Spring Break from Stanford! Yes, you read that correctly. Not only is Taylor following her passion of singing and song-writing at just 18 years-old, but she also attends Stanford University. Read her full interview below:
JC: How long have you been in music?
TG: I’ve been in music for a while. My mom has these really embarrassing pictures of me with plastic microphones and everything. But, I started musical theater in Elementary School and then writing songs around that time. I started seriously recording and writing Freshman year of High School.
JC: How did you meet Benjamin Taylor and Bryan Morton, the producers you’re working with?
TG: I met them through a hair stylist, actually! They were her friends and she did my hair for a small time music video I did in my hometown and heard the music and was like, “Hey, I know these guys…I’m sure they’d love it!”. We all met and hit it off and yeah! They’re great! They’re like older brothers.
JC: Tell me how it was filming your first big music video for your song “Love Sweet Love”!
TG: It was insane. It was so fun! There was so many different areas and locations and outfits – and they’re all super cute! Very Pinterest. And I loved it. That was so fun for me! It felt very real. Then is when it [all] started to feel real – cause we had a production team and all that stuff. It was just super fun. It was like taking it to the next level and a really fun outlet to dance everywhere! In the middle of nowhere. Well, Ojai, CA. It was great!
JC: Your upcoming album is called “Fallin”. And you’re wrapping that up right now, yeah?
TG: We’re almost done! We’re just finishing the collaboration I’m doing for the title song “Fallin”. It’s a duet with Brad Simpson of The Vamps – the London / UK band. I’m super excited about that! It’s coming together! It’ll be out pretty shortly!
JC: How exciting!! So, you go to school at Stanford University. Tell me about how you balance your college career and your music career.
TG: It’s definitely a lot of work – but it’s totally do-able. Things take a little longer sometimes. But what I use for procrastination is song writing! So that helps a lot! I’m productive….but I’m not being productive.
JC: Which is good! Way better than playing a game on your phone.
TG: Exactly! At least I like to think so! But yeah…it can be challenging. There definitely is sacrifices you have to make with other events and not being a part of certain clubs or something just because it’s a big time commitment. It’s definitely worth it. School and music are two of the most important things to me.
JC: Which is wonderful! Because a lot of people your age would say “ Ehhh, I’m not gonna go to college.” So it’s awesome that you’re continuing your education!
TG: Thank you! I definitely prioritize education.
JC: I was reading about you and you are a bit of a feminist! Tell me about how you discovered the feminist movement and what made you want to be a part of it!
TG: I discovered the whole movement going into my Senior year of High School when the #YesAllWomen hashtag came out, following the #NotAllMen hashtag. And I was reading through these [tweets] and I was like, “Yeah! Why doesn’t everybody think this? Why are we even having this conversation?” Cause it just seemed so innate to me that men and women should be equal. So I’m really passionate about trying to re-define the term feminism as equality for men and women of all sexual identities, races, ethnicities, etc.
JC: I feel like that’s a huge thing with our generation. We grew up in a world where we didn’t have the 50’s housewife stereotype. So to us, equality is/should be the norm. And I think a lot of people hear the word feminist and are put off, but really it’s just about equality.
TG: Exactly! So I think it’s all about talking to people and having conversations about it. If you ask most people, “Do you think men and women should be equal?”, they’re like “Yeah, but I wouldn’t call myself a feminist!”. It’s all about re-branding [the term]. It has the word “feminine” so a lot of people are afraid of that, which they shouldn’t be if they really do believe men and women should be equals. There should be no problem with identifying / calling yourself a feminist!
JC: You’re performing at The Grove tomorrow and it’s your first big LA show! How excited are you?
TG: So excited, I mean…so excited!
JC: And you rehearsed yesterday?
TG: Yes! I’ve been doing a couple late night rehearsals. It’s a little last-minute in terms of rehearsals, but this is my Spring Break and I wouldn’t want to spend it any other way!
JC: Last question…what do you do when you’re not doing homework or singing? What’s your fun release?
TG: I have a couple of things! I love the show Dexter right now. Currently watching that! It’s my TV show of the moment. I’m in a leadership group on campus, so that’s fun! Planning events and stuff for our Freshman class! And then I will have dance parties with my roommate. I’ll come in and she’ll be doing work and I’m like, “Stop everything!” I’ll turn on music and sometimes it’ll be five-minute study breaks…other times, they’ll go on for an hour! And we’ll leave our door open so when people walk by they’ll be like “What?” and sometimes they’ll come in and join us and it’s great!!!
JC: That sounds like so much fun!!
TG: It’s a lot of fun!
Make sure to follow Taylor on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook to stay up to date on the release of her new album, “Fallin”! And check out her latest single “Mind of Mine” that just came out on February 12th!
xx
J