Working her way towards new EP ‘Vertigo’, due this October, Swedish up-and-comer GRANT spins stories of hope and doubt across vulnerable alt-pop tunes that feel to lay out her emotions for all to see. Her latest, ‘Hell Yes, I’m Betting On You’, out today (Friday, 21st August), is an eminently bopable dance floor hit in a similar vein to Robyn et al, and sees her put forward her own take on relationships. “I don’t believe in the idea of lifelong love but I do believe love can last a lifetime through belief and determination,” she says. Give it a listen below, and get to know her a little better, too.
Hi Grant, how’s it going? Are you having a good day?
Hey! I’m having a very good day so far!
How are you spending your days at the moment, has lockdown impacted you much?
It has, and it hasn’t. I should be doing gigs this time of year, but now I spend my days binging various things. Sometimes I write music. It’s an unpronounced vacation, and as much as it’s comfortable, I long for the new normal to allow dance floors and concerts.
What first got you interested in making music?
I always wanted to sing, but the idea of singing someone else’s words felt very uncomfortable to me. If I was to do music, and there was no questioning that, I would also have to start writing. The thing is I always wrote, and I always sang, I just had to piece these two things together. It was uncomfortable at first, and then it was everything that meant anything to me.
Does writing songs come naturally to you? What’s your process like?
It’s always a bit of a battle, and it begins with an idea – a very clear one or a hunch – and then this idea can take form almost immediately, or I have to work on it for ages. I try to keep the musical process (chords and melodies) very playful, and then I’ll be very serious putting down the lyrics. Production-wise I usually have a clear vision of the mood and dynamics, but I’m very open to happy mistakes, there’s magic to be found in those.
Tell us about ‘Hell Yes, I’m Betting On You’, where did it come from?
Being in my first real and long term relationship I’ve become a sort of pragmatic romantic – there’s just so much hope even as I’m cynical, and the chorus could be ironic, but I’m also absolutely dead serious. It’s the push-pull between these two perspectives that make up the song, and we played around with this in the music video as well – creating a loop of movements repeated with different intentions and intensity.
I don’t believe in the idea of lifelong love, but I do believe love can last a lifetime through belief and determination. I’ve never had this conversation with my partner though, where my last single ‘Words’ was more straightforward and conversational; this is more of an internal battle.
And it’s from an EP, right? How did you go about putting that together?
Yeah! I hadn’t done the EP format before, and I liked the idea of putting together an introduction for the album that is to come, while also building a bridge between my past and future sounds.
What inspires you, both in music and in life?
Small, important gestures of affection.
What else are you working on at the mo?
A driver’s license.
Is there anything else we should know?
It’ll take you more than 150 hours to watch the complete X-Files series, and that means I’ve spent a total of nearly seven whole days watching it during quarantine. But you should know that the last one or two seasons just aren’t worth it.
Grant’s single ‘Hell Yes, I’m Betting On You’ is out now.
