{"id":664388,"date":"2026-05-12T12:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664388\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T12:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:10:09","slug":"i-think-the-realest-version-of-myself-is-what-people-respond-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664388\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI think the realest version of myself is what people respond to\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Grace Ives<\/a> appears on NME\u2019s computer screen from her San Francisco hotel room, head framed by an untidy halo of pastel pink hair, it\u2019s a few days after some big news has been shared with the world. The former bedroom pop artist and current indie-pop darling will open for Olivia Rodrigo<\/a> in 2027, getting her first taste of arena crowds at already sold-out shows in Stockholm, Amsterdam, Munich and London next March and April. Right now, she\u2019s feeling \u201cpretty ecstatic\u201d, she beams, her eyes looking off into the distance as a grin paints her face.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like the biggest present I\u2019ve ever gotten in my life,\u201d she continues. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the appropriate reaction is. I\u2019m overwhelmed by the vision of what that looks like when I close my eyes. It feels so massive and exciting, like what I\u2019m doing right now, but times 200. It\u2019s the final stage artists work towards, and I get to try it out for a week or two. It\u2019s the ultimate validation, like the biggest person in the world being like \u2018I fuck with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Big things have been bubbling up for the 31-year-old Ives, even before this announcement. Her third album \u2018Girlfriend\u2019, released in March, was met with new levels of critical acclaim, following the release of her second studio album \u2018Janky Star\u2019 in 2022, and her debut \u20182nd\u2019 released in 2019. It\u2019s a peak moment for the artist, who got her start releasing music from her dorm, first sharing ringtones, then an EP of nursery rhymes.<\/p>\n

Her current headline tour might be taking her to smaller rooms than the upcoming dates with Rodrigo<\/a>, but still reflects the demand for her live show \u2013 her London date next month is already sold out.\u00a0At these gigs, she\u2019s playing a mix of songs from her past three albums \u2013 music that, in her opinion, is a bit messier than Rodrigo\u2019s sonic palette, something she sees as positive foreshadowing for the pop star\u2019s impending third album, \u2018You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to hear the rest of Olivia\u2019s new music because it feels like this [opener] lineup is pointing to something a lot dirtier and grungier than I would associate with her and her work in the past,\u201d she says, pointing to fellow tour openers like Wolf Alice<\/a> and Die Spitz<\/a>. Though Rodrigo\u2019s music of late leans into the rock category, the \u2018Driver\u2019s License\u2019 singer got her start with purely pop hits. \u201cIt\u2019s cool that this is the music she\u2019s excited by. It\u2019s not super clean, and the landscape is sonically pretty diverse.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising that Ives would be drawn to a \u201cdirtier\u201d sound from Rodrigo, since \u2018Girlfriend\u2019 came about thanks to a period of life she bluntly refers to as \u201cgross.\u201d In a manifesto written about the album, she identifies as a bad daughter, shitty girlfriend, and a disaster who had abandoned herself and her music. That \u201ccrash out\u201d outlined in her statement followed the success of \u2018Janky Star\u2019, which served as a critically-acclaimed introduction for most listeners and saw the Brooklyn act merging the synth and electro-pop of her homemade debut, \u20182nd\u2019 with pianos, guitars, and her ethereal vocals claiming \u201cwhat a mess, what a lovely mess,\u201d like in the standout track \u2018Lullaby\u2019.<\/p>\n

With her third album, rather than sitting in that mess, she was pulled towards the idea of cleaning things up, brought on after time spent \u201cin a desperate search for a sense of self\u201d. \u201cI would find myself catapulted into things that have nothing to do with me,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I needed to test things in order to see who I am. It\u2019s the whole writer joke of doing it for the memoir. I feel like that might just be a thing that women go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

But doing it for the bit got old for Ives, and the decision to stop drinking and to be honest with herself and others felt like relief. \u201cI didn\u2019t realise how uncomfortable [I was]. I think it\u2019s so much nicer to tell the truth, for me personally,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m an anxious person, and adding a fakeness on top of anxiety is just a recipe for bad art. I\u2019ve definitely done that. I\u2019ve made music from a place of not wanting to be true to myself, and it hasn\u2019t turned out the way that I personally wanted it, you know? The best version of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[Supporting Olivia Rodrigo is] the ultimate validation, like the biggest person in the world being like \u2018I fuck with you\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ives worked alongside Ariel Rechtshaid (Charli xcx<\/a>, Vampire Weekend<\/a>) and John DeBold (HAIM<\/a>, Dijon<\/a>) to bring that hard-fought \u201cbest version\u201d to life, penning her shift from murky morals to a clearer conscience and embracing a more expansive sonic palette. \u201cJohn and I definitely did a lot of playing, we\u2019re like two kids in the sandbox,\u201d she says when asked about the album\u2019s sound \u2013 one that\u2019s delightful and light, but still holds the weight of its sometimes heavy lyrical content. \u201cThere was a lot of joy and a lot of acceptance between the two of us. And Ariel, he has a relationship with John where they\u2019re like brothers, and I fit into that dynamic really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she shares that at times the recording process felt like \u201cvulnerability bootcamp\u201d. \u201cAll of a sudden it\u2019s like, \u2018Hey Grace, what were those lyrics that you were saying earlier that no one really liked, including you? Can you read them to everybody?\u2019\u201d she says while shifting her voice into a deeper octave and miming the scene. \u201cI\u2019m reading my bad poetry. That\u2019s where the vulnerability came in. That\u2019s the test of breaking through that wall. If you go through with it, then suddenly you are free to say anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

That no-holds-barred ethos can be heard on tracks like \u2018Drink Up,\u2019 where Ives calls herself a \u201clittle bitch\u201d while she takes little hits of this and sips of that, her voice shifting from confident to petulant, over bouncy, then distorted, then lush walls of sound. \u201c\u2018Drink Up\u2019 exists in three parts and includes tempo changes, starts and stalls. When you try to record that, it can feel heady or like pretentious music theory. I feel like we got it to feel natural, and this song in particular, with all the mood changes to feel natural, it\u2019s ambitious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album plays out that way, never insulting the listener\u2019s intelligence by taking a suspected route. That\u2019s evident on \u2018Stupid Bitches\u2019, as her distorted vocals spin out the words \u201cit doesn\u2019t hurt me anymore\u201d over clashing percussion and strings, or on the glitchy \u2018Avalanche\u2019, where she admits to \u201cfeeling sorry not sorry for the mess I made\u201d, before releasing a siren-like call. On \u2018My Mans\u2019, her voice stands out against the track with the steadiness of a religious chant before she leans into the full pop prowess of her vocals at the chorus. It\u2019s feminine and feral, alluring and scathing, and as she sings \u201cEvery single guy I meet completes me\/ I need a lover who can love me back\u201d over swelling keys, you\u2019re in total agreement with the narrator, despite knowing she may not be a trustworthy one.<\/p>\n

\"GraceGrace Ives credit: Maddy Rottman<\/p>\n

After creating an album from the fertile debris of a short-lived self-sabotage spiral, Ives is decidedly pro-crash-out. \u201cI think crash-outs show people who you are. Or, even if it doesn\u2019t, and it feels like a weird toddler version of you, tantruming that you wouldn\u2019t wanna claim as your own\u2026 It\u2019s easy to be like, \u2018Oh my god, I was so crazy!\u2019 But that was you. It\u2019s good to lose your composure every now and then because you got it out of the way. People are complicated. And people should be allowed to be complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

And even impending success can be complicated. For instance, the buzz around Rodrigo introducing Ives to a new audience has led some publications to name her among indie acts who are about to \u201cblow up\u201d<\/a>. For an artist who has put in the work to shed false pretences, that proclamation is a reminder to remain as authentic as possible. \u201cI have to be very careful to be true to myself and nice to myself and let myself be who I am,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause I think that the realest version of myself is what people respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace Ives\u2019 \u2018Girlfriend\u2019 is out now via True Panther Records\/Capitol Records. She is on tour now and will support Olivia Rodrigo in 2027.<\/p>\n