Getting to Know 18-Year-Old Singer-Songwriter Grace Amos

If you love Kacey Musgraves, Phoebe Bridgers, and Olivia Rodrigo, you'll love this young queen.

Picture this: It’s 2020 and a 16-year-old is busking in Tamworth. Sounds like a pretty ordinary day in the life of a young muso, right?

But, as Grace Amos strummed along, belting out her favourite Kasey Chambers song, she couldn’t believe her eyes when Kasey herself emerged from the café next door.

She must’ve been doing a pretty good job, because she filmed the whole thing, and asked Grace to please sing it again.

Now, the Sydney-based 18-year-old has just started studying music at uni, released a couple of stunning singles and has a handful of endorsements and festival/gig slots under her belt.

We caught up with Grace between classes in her college dorm, and her face totally lights up when she talks about her musical journey so far.

“My parents tell me that when I was like two, I was already singing around the house!” she says.

By four, she was in singing and piano lessons and she eventually went on to play almost every instrument under the sun – she even captained her super successful competitive choir group in high school.

Like most talented young musos of our gen, Taylor Swift has been a massive influence on Grace.

“I’ve been to every single one of her concerts and I have all of her albums on vinyl,” she says.

Alongside T-Swift, Grace also grew up on a lot of the rock music her dad loved which she says have influenced her musical direction.

Grace's shift toward rock translated in an epic way – a beautiful, delicate cover of one of her dad’s favourite bands, The Foo Fighters' classic track, "Everlong".

On the inspiration behind the cover, Grace says, “[The song is] so beautiful, and so well known that I was confused as to why I couldn't find a cover of it that really showcases the lyrics.”

 “I wanted to flip the song a bit, so it represented what it was meant to be saying. It became something that was gorgeous, and we just felt like it was something that needed to be released,” she says.

The cover’s release came on the back of another beautiful single from Grace called "Decide" – a Kacey Musgraves-esque track that sees Grace grapple with the first time she had feelings for a woman, and the confusion and liberation that followed that realisation.

She wrote this one while in peak Sydney lockdown at boarding school, “which was just not it for year 12!” she says.

Writing "Decide" and the other songs she’s worked on is particularly therapeutic for Grace.

“I have anxiety and have struggled with mental health issues in the past. I’m not a very vulnerable person, so music is my way of opening up without having to really talk about anything,” she says.

Given how helpful music has been for her and those around her, she wants to turn that into a career beyond just singing and performing into the music therapy field.

Grace’s younger brother has autism, and she was so inspired by his occupational therapists, she began considering it as a career for herself.

“I did work experience in year 10 at a therapy centre that included music therapy, which I’d never thought about before," she says.

So, after finishing up a contemporary music degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she plans to do a postgrad in creative music therapy so she can work with children with learning disabilities.

“I love little kids and it’s amazing to see how much it has helped my brother,” she says.

In the meantime, it’s set to be a busy, exciting year for Grace.

There’s another single on the way, and an EP slated for August/early September – just in time for her epic festival slot at Valleyways, sharing the bill with The Rubens, Skeggs and Middle Kids.

Juggling assignments, rehearsals and gigs has been hectic, but Grace tries not to get herself too worked up about it.

“I love what I’m doing, I just look at it from the bigger picture and remind myself that it’s not too bad!”

Header image: Supplied