1.1* GRANT PEREZ & HIS SINGLE "CONFUSING GIRL"
photo credit to Gemma Chua-Tran
Name: Grant
Age: 18
Ethnicity: Filipino
Pronouns: he/him
WHO IS GRANT?*
With over 222K subscribers on YouTube and 15.7K listeners on Spotify, Grant shares his dreamy voice through covers and original music. He was born in Sydney, Australia, and was raised a filo boy; Grant describes Australia as, "[having] its quirks [and] can sometimes be a bore, [but] luckily [his] mates and the people keep it interesting." Aside from music Grant also has a passion for arts, in particular, pen sketching and painting. Though, he also enjoys playing sports, such as basketball and footy, and skateboarding!
CONFUSING GIRL*
Initially, I discovered Grant through his YouTube channel at the beginning of quarantine when I clicked on his "Sing U to Sleep Series", and from there I was under the spell of his lulling voice. For about five months now Grant's sing you to sleep series soothes me too sleep better than my melatonin gummies. So, I guess you could say his singing is my source of both melatonin and serotonin. Since March my whole family has become huge fans, and knowing that Grant was Filipino, my family was happy to see a representation of our ethnicity. My mom was overjoyed to find out that he had a Tagalog cover, and that he was sharing it to his thousands of subscribers.
Keeping up with his discography, his latest released single on Spotify is "Confusing Girl". The pulsating guitar riffs take you to a drive around town with the complement of the hi-hat to drive your thoughts forward. "Confusing Girl" invokes a feeling of distant nostalgia in that the scenario of the spur of the moment love inflicted confusion feels so relatable. I find this song stuck in my head all the time, and I'm not complaining it can live rent-free in my mind anytime.
I was able to ask Grant what inspired him to write the song and he said, "For the most part it’s an imagined situation. I think I came home frustrated from something that day and I thought about how it would be like to be toyed around by a girl; not knowing if she were to like you or not."
INTERVIEW*
by Chloe Docto
TB: Initially, what drew you to music?
G: Initially! I grew up in a family that loved to do karaoke, and my parents used to bump to ‘the eagles’, ‘bread’, and other oldies jams. With that my siblings used to encourage me to sing as they did too! so you could say that my biggest inspos would be my Kuya (Older Brother) and Ate (Older Sister).
TB: I’m Filipino too, and I know that in our culture growing up we’re surrounded by karaoke and singing Titas, Titos, and cousins. Would you say that our culture has influenced who you are today? How so?
G: Yep! If I had to be serious karaoke kind of opened up my eyes to see the differences between people's voices. you got the softer singers and those who love those seriously belted ballads. They also opened up my vocabulary when it comes to songs from the 70s-90s.
TB: Who are some artists that inspire you?
G: Rex Orange County, Daniel Caesar, Mac Ayres, Tom Misch, Bruno Major, Bread
TB: What is your creative process behind writing songs like? Like what do you draw inspiration from?
G: LMAO, I'm so inconsistent with writing songs at the moment, so it comes with the feel and the occasional fiddle with chord progressions on my guitar. If I find one I like, it usually just all comes out. If I had to draw inspiration from something; I sometimes imagine what it would be like if I were in that situation, other than that I like to think of things that relate to me in my life and whatnot. But it’s easier to imagine.
TB: With how much I’ve seen you floating around on Tik Tok on fashion compilations we can’t ignore your impeccable sense of style. How would you describe it and what/who do you draw inspiration from?
G: Hmm, with fashion I thought I had a certain direction or Instagrammer that I drew inspiration from, but nowadays I'm more so just experimenting with the clothes I thrift. My game is mainly through colours and the fitting of clothes; if those two are set then Bam I got myself a fit.
photo credit to Gemma Chua-Tran, Dylan John, and @16771tm
STREAM GRANT'S MUSIC*
SOCIALS*