GRACE VANDERWAAL RELEASES DEEPLY PERSONAL SOPHOMORE ALBUM, CHILDSTAR - OUT NOW FEATURING THE FOCUS TRACK, BRAND NEW
Grace VanderWaal isn’t interested in playing it safe anymore. With her new album CHILDSTAR, the singer, songwriter, and actress offers a raw and uncompromising look at what it means to grow up under a spotlight and how to survive it.
Far from the polished image of a prodigy, CHILDSTAR is full of bruises, beauty, and truth. It’s the sound of someone picking up the pieces and finding strength in the cracks. Each track pulses with emotional weight, held together by the unique tone that made Grace an international name—but now with a deeper, sharper edge. The album is paired with a short film, CHILDSTAR: Final Act, a deeply expressive visual project co-directed and co-choreographed by Grace herself. In it, she doesn’t just perform—she reveals. Through five haunting vignettes, she moves, sings, and breathes her story into being. These are not music videos; they are moments of reckoning, and they leave their mark.
With CHILDSTAR, Grace confronts the identity she was once assigned the young, composed girl with the ukulele—and shatters it. What remains is someone far more complex: an artist unafraid to tell the truth, even when it hurts. In her own words, this album is about reclaiming something no one else could ever own—her story. And in telling it, she’s created something that reaches far beyond her own experience. CHILDSTAR is personal, yes—but it’s also universal. It’s about growing up, breaking free, and learning to live in your own skin. About power, pain, and the gift of starting again.
This is Grace VanderWaal as you’ve never seen her before. Honest. Unfiltered. Entirely her own.
Photo: Ally Chen
