Grace VanderWaal told the inspired crowd at Rolling Stone‘s Women Shaping The Future Brunch how excited she was to be there (and to miss school), before serenading the group with an acoustic rendition of “Valerie” by The Zutons. The 15-year-old America’s Got Talent winner opened up to HollywoodLife.com in an EXCLUSIVE interview ahead of her special performance, revealing the woman in her life that has been a big inspiration lately. “Lizzo has changed my life. She inspires me so much,” she said, almost speechless before continuing to say, “I honestly have friends because of her. She’s so inspiring.”
Grace praised Lizzo, an American rapper, singer, and songwriter, for her recent Playboy feature, during which she made history as only the second plus-sized woman to be featured in the magazine since its founding 1953. “We gotta be undeniable,” Lizzo said in the feature. “We gotta fix ourselves in the culture so that we’re unshakable. Body positivity has to be mainstream.” “It was so beautiful, I really love her so much!” Grace complimented her idol. We’d love a collab between these two!
The “Moonlight” singer did promise that she has new music on the way, telling HL, “My manager and I were talking about future plans, how we’re going to execute things… There’s a new song and it’s a really really really good song.” She added, “I don’t want to hype it up too much, because I don’t want to set people’s expectations too high, but it’s really good.”
The Rolling Stone event featured a panel of Planned Parenthood President Dr. Leana Wen, Connecticut Congresswoman Jahana Hayes and News Anchor Tamron Hall, celebrating the magazine’s new issue on groundbreaking women in culture.