Welsh pop-punk storyteller Hannah Grae is carving out a bold, rebellious world of her own.
Words: Ali Shutler.
Photos: Lola Websiter / Megan Winstone.
"I just create weird fireworks out of a tiny feeling," says Hannah Grae. "Some of my tracks have been written from such small fragments, and then I just milk it," she adds with a grin. This approach of blowing her own diary up seems to be connecting, though.
Hannah Grae's debut EP 'Hell Is A Teenage Girl' was a snotty, revenge-fuelled drama played out over snarling guitar riffs, leading to a busy summer spent touring countless European festivals. Coming from a small Welsh town, Hannah found the whole experience "strange", but that didn't stop her from throwing her all into every set. Seeing people sing along "was kinda unbelievable," she says, while winning over new fans felt more like a game.
Playing those vulnerable songs about her less-than-ideal teenage years to crowds of strangers was "incredibly cathartic," says Hannah, who's driven by being as raw and honest as possible. "I've moved on from whatever I was feeling back then, and now I just want the audience to feel some kind of way," she says. "I want people to feel alive when they listen to my music, basically."
When she first wrote 'Hell Is A Teenage Girl', a record that doesn't shy away from being petty or pissed off, Hannah had dreams of playing London's massive O2 Arena. You can hear that ambition across the EP's nine theatrical tracks that channel the likes of My Chemical Romance and Olivia Rodrigo, but at the time, Hannah had never performed live. Sure, she had a blossoming following on TikTok and YouTube that she engaged with regularly, but finally getting able to play gigs changed almost everything for her. "Seeing five people on the front row give it their all is incredible," says Hannah. "It's more than enough for now," she adds, those arena dreams postponed rather than cancelled.
