Grace VanderWaal adjusts to the growing pains of her teen years in the desolate, moody video for her new single “Stray.” This is the 15-year-old pop prodigy’s first new single since last March’s “Clearly.”
On “Stray,” VanderWaal ditches her signature ukulele in favor of showing off her voice over a grittier guitar sound. “I wanna feel the way I used/I wanna move the way I used to,” she sings on the tune’s somber chorus. VanderWaal appears alone in the Blythe Thomas-helmed visual, roaming the desert and riding her bike blindfolded.
“’Stray’ is close to me,” the singer said in a statement. “Not because it’s the re-start of my continuing path, but because it explains the exhilarating fear and freedom of growing up. Growing up feels like a storm you weren’t prepared for. But how do you prepare? By practicing and appreciating you.”
In 2016 at age 12, VanderWaal won America’s Got Talent. She released her debut EP Perfectly Imperfect soon after and unveiled her debut full-length Just the Beginning in 2017. Outside of music, she will soon star in Disney’s adaptation of Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl in the titular role. It will be the first original film to premiere on Disney’s streaming service in 2020.