INTERVIEW: Graace returns with new EP 'afterimage': "I've waited two and a half years for this and it just doesn't feel real yet."

Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: David Reiss
Published 21 August 2024

Australia’s Graace first shot to fame in 2017 as the featured vocalist on the Hayden James single ‘Numb’. The song went triple platinum in Australia and the following year Graace launched her solo career with the single ‘Kissing Boys’.

She launched her debut EP Self Sabotage in 2018, which was followed by Self Preservation in 2022. After an absence of two years, she has now returned with her third EP afterimage. Co-written by Graace and produced by top tier Australian producers including Xavier Dunn and Chris Collins, the EP is a triumphant return for Graace with a soundscape across seven tracks that includes synthpop, indiepop and pared back ballads.

First single ‘Jealous Type’ opens the EP and is a buzzy pop track with rock undertones that takes an honest self reflection on your personality traits, in this case a controlling jealousy of your partner when you are in a relationship. ‘When you signed up / I was the jealous type / Don’t ever cross that line / Never forget you’re mine’, she sings.

‘Her’ is a dreamy ballad that gradually builds its electronic foundation throughout the song as Graace ruminates on a relationship that fell apart, and again explores the concept of jealously. ‘You used to say that we're forever love / I guess forever to you ain't that long…Does she feel anything like us? / Cause now you got me thinking about her touch / And why shе got you.’

‘Love Is Just Getting Wasted’ is a highlight on the EP with with’s hypnotic combination of pop, rock and hints of country with some incredibly rousing melodies, while ‘Toxic’ takes the EP down an experimental electronic route with sounds that lean into trance and techno.

‘Downgraded’ follows with a more heavy, darker electronic feel, while ‘Miss You Babe’ takes a different direction into indiepop.

The EP ends with the biggest sonic outlier on the EP, ‘Honey’. A moody combination of electronica, rock and hip hop it is a bold statement to finish the EP on and showcases just what a brilliantly versatile artists Graace is, as well as how magnificent her voice is.

Ever since her first appearance Graace has always had a special something about her. Her music is a remarkable combination of all your favourite genres while still remaining unique and effortlessly fresh. Coupled with her honest and vulnerable lyrics and life stories, her songs are infinitely relatable and a joy to have in your life. We recently caught up with Graace to chat all about the creation of afterimage and what is coming up next for her music.

Hi Graace, it is so lovely to catch up with you again. My god, afterimage - what an absolute corker of an EP. You must be stoked. How are you?
Oh my gosh. I'm so stoked. I’m so excited. I've waited two and a half years for this and it just doesn't feel real yet.

It's such a collection. You mentioned that is captures heartbreak and falling in love and lingering memories, which I just love. Did these themes come to you after you created the songs, or did you go into the process with an intention or a through line?
It's funny because the EP actually changed quite a lot throughout the process, interchanging songs and the direction that I wanted it to go. And it wasn't until I had maybe three of them together that I started to see that vision. I'd been sitting on it for about a year, I already had the songs, and then just as soon as I had the creative idea, I was like, ‘Oh my god, that song is perfect for it, this song is perfect’. It just came together so beautifully.

Oh, I love that. I want to talk to you about ‘Downgraded’, because it’s a corker. It's really eclectic, indie pop, but not quite, it's a little bit of an obscure with its delivery. Talk to me a little bit about this track.
’Toxic’ is the oldest track on the EP, I wrote that back in 2017, but ‘Downgraded’ I wrote back in 2018 so I've been sitting on this song for so long. I’ve obviously re-recorded vocals and everything, but I've just been wanting to find a home for it so badly for so long, and it wasn't until this EP that I felt it was perfect. And I'm so glad that I waited for that. Writing it was crazy. With my vocals, even if the production is very pop, with the tone of my vocals, it's never going to sound too pop, and it will bring that indie element, no matter what. That really helps with stripping it back and acoustic versions, and live versions, really flipping it around. It has a lot of ways that it can go, which I'm really excited to explore.

I think that's what it is. With your songwriting and your delivery, there's such gravity to it. I was thinking about recent single ‘Honey’. It’s's so fun and you toy with this character, but at the same time it's very clear you're owning the exposed nerve of the facade.
Definitely. Somebody told me once listening to my music is like reading a diary that I'm not supposed to read!

I think that's what it is, that's a really beautiful way to look at it. And I feel with afterimage, you're really leaning into that.
Definitely. Even just leaning into the duality of each song and the whole EP is just exposing different sides of myself in different but also fun ways. It's really easy for me to fall down into a more melancholy kind of songwriting, because that's how I started writing. But it was just so fun with this EP to play sonically and with the production and everything, but obviously the vocals just bring it back into that Graace world.

I want to ask you about another track, which might be my personal favourite, ‘Miss You Babe’. It's such a gorgeous track. It's almost got this coming of age film sound to it.
Oh I love that, because a lot of the time when I'm writing music,I put on movies in the background and I just picture it being part of the soundtrack. I was actually writing with Chris Collins, I was up in Byron Bay, and I think the reason why I love this song in particular was because I wrote it with my best friend from when I was like 12, who happens to be a musician as well. She's in a very different world, her name is Ruby Fields, and it felt like the song fell together so perfectly because I was able to be vulnerable in the lyrics. Chris came on, and he's like, ‘we're gonna make this 80s fun’. And we were talking about the visuals the whole time we were making it, he was like, ‘ I'm picturing glitter, and you running, holding hands with the guy’. I was like ‘I love this much!’

You've never shied away from exploring the darker sides of your thoughts, and also the darker sides of your interpersonal interactions. You break them down, and you look at them from all different angles. What role does that play in your own emotional growth or processing of a situation? Particularly when you've written a song years ago, it could have come from one perspective, and then a couple of years later, you turn it on its head and go, I've moved on emotionally from there, but I can see it from another side.
It's very interesting that you ask that, because as much as it is fun playing into this ‘after image’, they still draw from a lot of personal experiences. So no matter what, even playing stuff from Self Preservation, it's gonna take me back, even though I've pretty much emotionally and physically moved on, but I get taken back in that moment. Songs draw such a different meaning the more that I listen to them and throughout the years, and the reason why I wrote it, or why I thought I wrote it, at the time, just changes. And I feel like that's a constant change with the way that I'm evolving emotionally and being able to interpret the situation on different sides. It is really weird listening back to my older music, when I sound so young. It’s a wig out!

Does it feel a little bit like reading your diary and going, ‘what the hell was I talking about?’
Yes, it just feels like I shouldn't have all that young me, it's so crazy that I can have that in reach. It's a blessing and a curse that I am very vulnerable. I definitely am like that in my personal life as well, I don't shy away from just being myself, and it's very similar with my music. I am very transparent.

We're hearing some new sounds for you on this EP, I don't think we are at the same time. It's very much you we've just got some different accompaniments in the background for afterimage. I want to know where you think you've pushed yourself out of your comfort zone in the creation of this EP?
Going into this, I was thinking a lot about the live aspect. I've been lucky to have two really amazing support slots this year, and I'm really glad that I had afterimage under my belt and I had the idea of wanting to go into it with that live vision. Making sadder, music, it is hard to translate it with a crowd. When you're trying to build a fan base, if it's sadder music and they don't know it, they kind of lose interest. But production wise, I went into this with ‘I want something that people can fucking dance to, but also cry in the club too’. And I'm so glad that it's translated with these support slots, it's definitely what I went into the whole EP thinking about.

I love that. On that note, what was your most tear stained banger on afterimage?
I mean, maybe all of them? ‘Her’ was a tough one for me. It was a very vulnerable time, going through a breakup, it was a long term relationship that was coming to an end. He'd always been with girls that were quite opposite to me and that continued after we broke up, and that was a tough pill to swallow, because I was like, ‘what does she have that I don't?’ Comparison is something that I think everyone struggles with, especially in your 20s. The production brings a beautiful, soft side to it, but when I'm playing it just alone on the keys, I'm like, sobbing!

That's so true, because usually when we get those kinds of songs, they are often delivered quite aggressively, because when you're writing them and remembering the breakup, there is often a lot of rage behind that. But there is a real softness to ‘Her’, it leans into the reflection, which is one of the strengths in your songwriting. It’s very effective.
Yeah, the reason why I wanted to have that character being pink as well was the idea of the rose coloured glasses. Is she the most beautiful person in the world? What the fuck does she have that I don't? And you're kind of lusting over this girl, and I've done it many times. But I think it brought a really beautiful softness and vulnerability to the song, and the feeling.

Apart from this gorgeous collection, what else are you looking forward to this year?
I've already been writing for the next project, so that's been really exciting, keeping myself busy with that. Hopefully some more shows coming up. And I'm just really excited to see how everyone receives this EP, and I'm excited to see where it goes and how ‘Downgraded’ goes, - because that's my sister's favourite song and she told me if it flops, she's not gonna talk to me again. So I've really gotta push!

afterimage is out now via Sony Music Australia. You can listen here.
To keep up with all things GRAACE, you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Listen to our podcast with GRAACE here.
Read our four page feature on GRAACE in issue 9 of Women In Pop magazine