Molly Grace: an up-and-coming pop princess
Molly Grace takes the stage in her sparkly high heels and flashy signature red one-piece with her flashy and sparkly pop star persona, just as she dreamed of in elementary school.
Hot off her first tour, Molly Grace was able to squeeze in a fun conversation with ION Indie Music Magazine’s Kira Doman, about what brought her to the stage, what her tour life has been like, and what it’s been like to be an emerging LGBTQ+ pop star with the rapidly rising popularity of Queer Pop.
Coming into her confidence
Molly Grace has been a performer since before she was 10 years old, bringing classmates to her impromptu stage on the playground in elementary school, and writing her own rhymes that would go on to be the start of something huge for the little celebrity.
“I used to make up cute songs on the playground,” the pop star giggled, “I’d have to let my fourth-grade fans down by telling them I couldn’t perform at their birthday parties because I was busy writing music and being a small business owner.”
For her tenth birthday, Grace received her first guitar and from that moment the dream was solidified in her mind.
“I learned the basic four chords on my new guitar and started seriously writing music from that moment on,” she said. “I was always a huge Taylor Swift fan as a little girl, and I still am! She inspired a lot of my writing throughout middle and high school, but when I went to college, I really saw this as my future and started releasing music!”
Grace’s first song released on streaming platforms, ‘Here I Am,’ was released on March 5th of 2021, and while her sound has certainly shifted to a more polished and confident level of performativity today, elements of her original sound can still be heard in her new releases. Grace leans into the sound and rhythm that shapes funk, soul, and R&B, which certainly radiates in her stage persona.
“It took me a little bit to build this stage presence and persona,” Grace confided. “My music has obviously evolved since 2021, and I feel like I've finally settled into the most authentic 'Molly Grace' persona. My on-stage persona is pretty true to who I am offstage, just a little bit more animated because it's on stage and larger than life.”
While confidence seems to be of no shortage for the singer now, she didn’t use to feel so comfortable on the stage. A brief encounter with stage fright was something Grace was dedicated to ensuring she didn’t experience it again.
“I was in a local community theater production of A Christmas Carol when I was maybe seven years old,” Grace laughed as she recounted the story, “my only line was ‘Oh my,’ and as soon as I said it, I ran off-stage and began sobbing. I kicked that fear by the time I was eight and have been performing ever since. I now feel my most authentic and confident when I'm on stage, which I’ve noticed has bled into my life, especially in terms of having confidence in myself and what I have to offer.”
Grace emphasized the importance of confidence in a profession, while also pointing out how frequently women tend to devalue their worth to society and their passion within their profession. With her live shows, Grace intends to build a warm community of people who are proud to be whoever and wherever they are in life.
“Something I've noticed in women of all professions, specifically through my experience as an artist, is the tendency to want to downplay what you do,” she frowned. “For example, I'll tell people I’m a singer in an off-handed and underestimated manner, but I am a performer! This isn't a hobby this is a profession, I am an artist, and finding this persona and energy I perform with has made me feel alive. We should declare proudly what makes us, us.”
Grace gained this extra boost of confidence throughout her time at Belmont University of Nashville Tennessee, when she realized she was exactly where she wanted to be with her career. Entering college, Grace was still battling with the concept of truly releasing her music in the musically saturated scene of Nashville, but as she wrote more and lived through more life experiences, the confidence slid into her personality until it was part of who she is now.
“I got my degree in May, and with that truly felt like I’ve come into my own as an emerging popstar, but I really struggled with that feeling when I first enrolled in Belmont University,” Grace admitted. “I had no idea how I was going to make things happen, I would look enviously to people who had music out and a good following already established, and just wonder how I was going to get there.”
“However, as my time in college was drawing to a close, I realized I had become exactly who I was trying to be. I was touring during my last semester of college, I have a following base with fans who attend multiple shows, I’ve played festivals! Now that I’m a college graduate, I feel like this is truly my job. When people ask me what I do for a living, I no longer tell them I’m a student first, I get to tell them I’m an artist, a performer. It gets more real every day and I’m so proud of all the hard work I’ve put into this lifestyle within this small window of time.”
A soul full of pop
Molly Grace finds a great deal of inspiration amongst the 70s funk and R&B genres, as well as an adoration for performing the music vocally. She finds the confidence dripping out of the music infectious to her own lyrically and performatively.
“My favorite genres to sing are funk and soul, and bluesy R&B,” Grace smiled. “I loved to sing that style when I was alone in my room growing up because I could really belt it out, it uses my whole voice, and I still do that, but now it’s on a stage. It's so fun when I'm on tour, and I get to perform a more vocally challenging song than some of the others in my lineup. I love to sing soul and R&B, but just as much as singing the fun, pop stuff too!”
“I love reimagining old funk classics and making them a little gay and fun,” she grinned. “We did a mashup of ‘Blame it on the Boogie’ and ‘She's a Bad Mama Jama’ on tour, and it was so fun to Molly Grace-ify those. In the future, I’d love to take a super pop song, something by Sabrina Carpenter for example, and funkify it a little bit. I want to let my band have fun with it.”
Along with the clear influence of funk and R&B in her music, Molly Grace loves the bright, sassy, boldness of pop music, and her personality is pure pop star!
The music scene lately has seen quite an influx of female artists reaching streaming highs, specifically pop stars with many albums released within the past year, and Grace has had many of them on repeat.
“Chappell Roan has recently been inspiring me so much, I love her music production, the playfulness of her songs, and her writing style as well,” she raved. “In that way, I am also currently inspired by Sabrina Carpenter, similarly, due to the playfulness of her lyrics, as well as her stage presence, it’s so captivating. I also love how Bruno Mars marries retro, funk, and soul with pop, it’s really cool. I'm always getting inspired by different things I hear.”
Grace began her schooling at Belmont University with the dream of finding this stride in her career before she had released any sort of music on her own, and in her time learning about the process of writing music, she also received the opportunity to start collaborating with other artists in the Nashville area.
“I wasn’t very versed in the process of co-writing music, and my only experience in writing music before was unreleased, so I was a little scared when I first got to Nashville,” she admitted, “But now I've been pushing myself to write with other people, and I’ve realized writing with others brings out different ideas I might not have thought of on my own. I’m finding different flavors of my own music!”
“For example, I typically write songs on guitar, because that's my main instrument, but I've been writing with my friend Claire Ernst, an amazing pianist, and they’ve led me to a more soulful sound because they use a Rhodes piano. My sound has started to find its shape in a combination of pop and funky R&B.”
Grace is now consistently integrating these influences into her own music, blending feminine pop with the soul of the 70s. Looking and listening to Molly Grace’s discography, her influences and admiration for the styles can be heard as she takes her place in the music scene.
“I’ve been writing some of my future releases with the vibes of my two songs ‘Lover (Love Her)’ and ‘Lady Lady’ in mind because they’re definitely favorites of mine to perform, but also favorites of the crowd to watch and dance to,” Grace explained. “What I love about my music, and I think what separates me from other artists right now, is that it's pop music with strong funk and soul influences under there. My other slower and more challenging song, ‘If I Never Told You,’ features strong funk and soul influences and is very emotional, but I love to perform it.”
Throughout 2023, Grace released 11 songs and reached new heights of following on her social media accounts, and as of 2024, she performed her first solo tour, booked for the Bonnaroo lineup, and even a Times Square show in New York City!
“This process of being more consistent on social media and releasing the music I might be too afraid to release has forced me to figure out and face exactly who I am,” she said. “I feel like I’m prepared for my next project, and am very excited to show people ‘Here I Am.’”
Sing, dance, and feel liberated!
It’s not only Molly Grace’s personality and music that shout, “Here I Am,” but also her now iconic red, flashy, and tassel-lined bodysuit. While this look has quickly become the Molly Grace staple, Grace wasn’t even the one to find or pick out the getup.
“Funnily enough, my mom was the one who chose my iconic red romper,” Grace revealed. “I arrived home one day in Nashville, and my mom had this package ready for me. She told me she found this outfit online and thought it might be what I was looking for, and to be completely honest, I was a little afraid she didn’t understand what I was going for before I saw it, but then I tried it on and it literally fit me perfectly. Mom, you nailed it.”
Grace now has one of these bodysuits in every color they come in, adoring the sparkly and form-fitting style that is reminiscent of a show at the Moulin Rouge, and that displays to her crowd how she truly feels just as confident as she presents.
While she loves wearing these outfits for her shows now, Grace also dreams of the day to have a custom-made body suit by other talented artists.
“For the future, I'd love to get a few student designers involved in helping me create a completely new and customized look,” she said. “A custom bodysuit for me, a unique Molly Grace look that no one else has! I’d love to build other small artists up in this opportunity just as they would be helping build me up. I want to play with my style; I love the glitter and the sequins, and I love that my style is showgirl with nods to 60s and 70s fashion, I love feeling glamorous.”
The bold red and pink colors Molly Grace gravitates towards are perfect for signifying her flirty and fun stage persona, bringing confidence to her performances, and showing her audience that she is proud to take up the stage.
“Red and pink are my favorite colors, as well as great representations of themes of love and passion, and being fun and feminine, which are all very core personality traits of mine,” said Grace. “I knew I wanted to take up the stage as a glittery pop princess, and something that I really loved about this outfit is that I felt confident in it. I never want to hide behind clothes, I’m proud to be a bigger woman and I shouldn't have to hide my body to exist.”
“I think that makes my audience feel very welcome, gorgeous, and safe, and that’s really what I want for my fans,” she explained. “So, I want this to show off my body, I want to feel like the personification of the phrase 'razzle dazzle', we're not hiding anything here! I also love the heels because I'm short, I'm 5'2" and I want to stomp around in big heels because I can.”
Working to make her audience feel supported and safe is one of Grace’s top objectives for each show and is part of what makes a good performance in her eyes, along with a few other notable qualities.
“To me, a good performance is all about connection,” Grace started, “connection between the artists and the music they’re singing, connection between the artist and their band, connection between the artist and the audience…a good performance flows cohesively in all aspects in my mind. A pillar of a Molly Grace concert experience is the crowd connection and crowd work, it's what makes me love a show, both from the artist's and the audience's standpoint.”
While Molly Grace was finding her sound in her music, she was also finding herself and who it was that inspired her in life. On her first EP, Everybody Wants to Know Molly, released in 2021, Molly sings of her past relationships that primarily included men, and in 2022 her music and heart saw a shift.
“If you haven’t picked up from my music yet, I am Queer, and a large portion of my audience identifies within the LGBTQ+ community as well, and I think it’s so important for us to have these safe spaces where we can feel comfortable to be super gay and purely us,” Grace declared. “Sing, dance, dress how you want, kiss your partner, and have fun in this atmosphere of love and acceptance! I want my listeners to feel liberated, exhilarated, and re-energized for life when they come to have fun at a show of mine.”
Summer of 2024 has seen a rise in mainstream popularity for Queer pop, see Chappell Roan’s quick surge to fame since March of 2024 for example, and Molly Grace has been more than enthusiastic in experiencing this rise of mainstream popularity amongst Queer pop artists.
“It's so exciting to not only have this job but to be involved as Queer pop is making its way to mainstream levels of popularity,” Molly Grace gushed. “Someone once said luck is when preparation and hard work meet opportunity, and I've been working at this for a while, as have Chappell Roan, Renee Rap, and so many others, that I’m simply feeling lucky and honored to be along for the ride of it. I'm so ecstatic that Queer music is going mainstream, instead of staying niche. I love that everyone is enjoying this great music.”
Lovesick for Molly Grace
As Grace’s streaming numbers rise and her following base grows, she’s begun booking venues and shows much larger than she’s played in the last three years, taking steps to take her place headlining on a big stage.
“Recently, I played my largest scale performance to date at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee, which was such a huge deal for me,” she smiled. “I’m so proud of my Bonnaroo performance because it was my first festival and my band really stepped up, bringing that star quality, and owning the stage. This was the biggest opportunity we’ve been given so far, and it was truly in a league of its own. I loved discovering the fun of drawing in an audience rather than knowing how many people have already purchased a ticket for one of my shows specifically.”
Aside from her eye-catching performance in the Bonnaroo lineup, Grace completed her first headline tour this spring of 2024, where her confidence in her career truly took root.
“My Lovesick tour truly solidified the confidence within myself as a performer, and also in the reality that I could make this career happen,” she said proudly. “People are coming to the shows, people like the shows, I like performing at the shows! We got a good thing going, we could keep doing this.”
Grace specifically had a lot of fun performing on the East Coast, as she was born and raised in New England, and even got to perform her first Times Square show and second New York City show.
“Boston basically feels like a hometown show, so I absolutely love performing there, but I think one of my favorite places to perform is New York City,” said Grace. “I’ve performed there twice now, once for my Lovesick tour in Brooklyn, and for my first Times Square performance a few weeks ago, which was rained out about halfway through.”
What may be a bummer for other emerging artists, Molly Grace took this rained-out situation in stride.
“We were about halfway through the set when lightning struck and it started downpouring,” Grace laughed. “We had to stop the show because it was outside, but we still got a good set in! I feel so welcome in the large Queer community of New York, the audience is so fun, and I just loved the vibe.”
“I surprised myself during that set,” she smiled. “Getting rained out can be pretty upsetting, you don’t get to finish your rehearsed set that fans came out to watch, but I feel like my band and I responded very calmly to the situation. We just shrugged and said, 'We did what we could, we got a good set in!' A few years ago, I might not have been so relaxed about the situation.”
Although audience members may not have been able to watch Grace’s entire Times Square performance, Grace and her band have begun to see repeating guests and fans at multiple of her shows.
“I played a show in Connecticut recently, and I saw some familiar faces from my Boston show a few days previously,” Grace exclaimed excitedly. “It means a lot to me that people decide they like me enough to come to multiple shows. The fans and the community have been my favorite part of this career, and I want new fans to know that we are building a safe environment for all to enjoy. When you come to a Molly Grace show, you are guaranteed to have a good time.”
While the pop star’s career is certainly taking off to heights she had previously only imagined, she is still at a small enough stage of her success that allows her the opportunity to connect with her fans, something she deems crucial for budding artists.
“I'm really loving this stage of my career,” she revealed, “I'm unsigned and still considered a smaller artist, and so I try to be very active on social media and at my shows, I want to meet and interact with as many fans as I can! I try to respond to direct messages and comments because it’s so fun building relationships with my listeners, in the future that might not be the most realistic possibility. We're such a small group right now, but we're growing, and it's really fun to be a part of this growth.”
The growth of Molly Grace’s fanbase can be detected and seen, especially throughout her live shows, where the crowd is continuously growing bigger.
“I’m used to performing at small clubs, and I’ve noticed I prefer them due to the intimacy within the atmosphere,” explained Grace. “Performing in these smaller venues is similar to how I feel about my small, but growing, fanbase – I can connect and communicate with everyone in the room! However, I’ve already begun booking bigger venues and festivals, such as Bonnaroo, so if I have to sacrifice a portion of that individual connection between my fans and myself, I will at least continue to book venues with standing room, it’s vital to be dancing for a Molly Grace show!”
Life as a performer thus far has shown Grace how perfectly coordinated shows can easily fall apart at the drop of a hat, so keeping herself on her toes and reading the room is something that has helped to keep her head on her shoulders and put on eye-catching performances for her growing fanbase.
“I play with the timing of my shows as I perform, as well as which stories I’m going to unveil to the audience. Some audiences seem to want to connect emotionally a bit more than others, so I’ll tell maybe some more personal stories, and then there are other audiences who clearly just want to have a good time dancing, so I’ll play up my performativity a bit. It goes back to having that connection with your audience because that helps put on your best show. My persona is so larger than life and confident, so I want to make sure I'm still coming through as human.”
Molly Grace: Live!
Balancing this line of pop star persona and grounded human being, Molly Grace is excited to show her fans, old and new, how dedicated she is to put on a show that is uniquely her own, as well as something a tad different every time to shake it up for fans that are following along with her shows.
“It's such a fun and dynamic profession,” she said warmly. “Every day is different, and you're always growing throughout the process, which I find so exciting and fulfilling. There are lots of victories and things to celebrate, but there are also things to work towards, which I find really motivating.”
Currently, Grace is working on her first full-length album, but for the time being, fans can get a taste of what it’s like to hear the stunning performer on stage through her first live album! With a few live songs already released, fans can expect to hear the full project by the end of the year.
“I've gotten a lot of feedback from people wishing I had my live versions on streaming services for the full band sound and because you can really hear the stage persona within the performances. Each song turns into a different piece because of the energy, and it's so much fun, so we recorded all of it!”
“We just released 'A Little Bit of Hell - Live in New York', and you can now view side A of the live album! It will be a double LP, but there will be more and more and more music to come,” Grace said excitedly. “I'm really excited about the stuff I'm writing, it's going to be a good couple of years.”
With Molly Grace’s fame only seeing a rise, she will certainly see a good couple of years in her career as she continues to book bigger festivals and venues, maybe someday soon she’ll be headlining festivals like Bonnaroo!
“It's kind of corny, but I feel like this is it for me,” she shrugged, “I love music and I love performing, it's the greatest joy of my life! This has to be my life because I don't see anything else I would do and feel equally as fulfilled.”
Ready to catch Molly Grace in action? Follow her socials through her Linktree account provided below and turn on show notifications for the artist in your city! Want to keep reading about other artists you may or may not be familiar with? Follow ION Indie Music Magazine on our socials and keep reading for more!
