Quotes from Grace VanderWaal

Schools should be safe.

I love everything Katy Perry does.

The artist I would love to be is inspiring and strong: show that I can be vulnerable but still independent.

I play the saxophone, and I used to play the piano.

If you will forever remember me as the girl from 'America's Got Talent,' that's cool, 'cause I am. If you wanna look into me and what I've done recently, that's cool, too.

I love colors, but I also love rich sounds. And I feel like when it comes to colored ukuleles, people assume they're cheap or that they'll have a tinny sound. And I feel like it would be really beautiful to have a rich color but also to have a rich sound.

Stars are dull when they're compared to you and I

I always say that you can be polite and nice and still know what you want and still can see your path.

'So Much More Than This' is about just getting tangled up in all of the drama and stuff that really does not matter and probably won't matter in, like, three months.

Honestly, I don't really hear the comparisons to Taylor Swift anymore. I think it's because people are finally starting to see me for who I am and my craft and not being the next Taylor.

I like to make little movies or fake stories about something that happened in my life. I will make a movie in my mind that would translate the same feeling or emotion that I had in whatever just happened.

Record labels and producers are not looking to change you: they are looking to make a star. And what they might think is a star may not be you.

I feel like it's just so important for child and teenage development to have music in your life, honestly. And I just think it's really, really, really rewarding to me, personally, just emotionally, to know that I might have brought that into someone's life. And that just means a lot to me, because I know how important it can be.

I love it when people refer to me as a singer-songwriter. I get flutters in my stomach because they say, 'This is Grace VanderWaal, singer-songwriter,' not, 'This is Grace VanderWaal, winner of 'America's Got Talent.'' I'm so proud of that; it's such a big chapter of my life. But it's nice to kind of not be known as just that.

I want to thank everyone who supported me on 'AGT.' Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today, and I really can't thank you enough.

I do school online. My favorite thing to do with school is to finish things and then watch it go away, especially when I am working on a laptop.

My fans should always be ready for new music.

I'm obsessed with Lorde. Oh my gosh. I'm always listening to Lorde. Her music is so powerful.

I'll forever look at Imagine Dragons and hear them on the radio and think, 'They're great people.'

'Famous' is a very weird word. I feel like - I feel like that's definitely not me.

I had a lot of those fake friends. You just have to realize it's happening. You can't get caught up in the 'Oh, my God, they want to be my friend, finally' aspect.

Every time I do something or release something or announce a new project, there's always that fear that it won't go well.

Don't be afraid to cry. Everyone needs a good cry sometimes. Sometimes I'll feel it in my throat, like, 'Today I'm going to cry about something stupid,' so just to get it out of the way, I'll watch a sad movie or something, accepting that that's totally fine and feels good.

It's always been a dream to audition for 'American Idol.' But you have to be 15 or older.