Grace Vanderwaal

This week on SPIN Presents Lipps Service, host Scott Lipps caught up with pop sensation Grace Vanderwaal, after attending her epic New York City show marking the release of her new single, “Lion’s Den.” Most people know Vanderwaal from winning America’s Got Talent at age 12. Her ukulele performance won over judge Simon Cowell, who called her “the next Taylor Swift.” As Vanderwaal tells Lipps, Cowell’s decree was both a blessing and a curse for the budding singer-songwriter. “It was a feeling I’ve never felt again in my entire life,” Vanderwaal said of the life-changing moment she barely remembers (“I was 12!”). In a lengthy conversation, Vanderwaal spoke candidly about those early years: listening to her parents’ eclectic music picks (her dad loved Jack Johnson while her mom was spinning K...