Single Review - Shut Up: Greyson Chance
Oh, Greyson... It's been a good ten years since I've been listening to Greyson Chance, beginning with his Waiting Outside The Lines EP, debut album Hold On Till The Night (2011) and of course the forever fave, Truth Be Told (2012).
Greyson's music and life has changed and evolved so deeply over the past decade. From having music videos with stars such as Ariana Grande to having the industry make him do things he necessarily didn't agree with, to finally be reaching a point in his career he feels he has full control and is making music that he wants to and being completely honest with himself and fans.
I was fifteen when I started listening to Greyson Chance, in high school, going through all kinds of damage. Greyson and Justin Bieber were my absolute favorite artists to listen to at that time... And did I get demolished for it. I had this thing when I was younger (which has definitely carried into adulthood) where I would wear certain shirts, or have a purse, or wear bracelets that had either Greyson or Justin on them because since those were my favorite artists at the time, they made me feel safe and comfortable. I was terribly bullied in both middle school and high school, (and way before) and something that was pulling me through, even nowadays, was music and I loved expressing myself in that way and showing off the artists I loved. I was always wearing Justin Bieber and Greyson Chance shirts so of course, I was getting made fun of basically everyday. It got to me so bad. In my sophomore English class one day, we were doing some kind of project where we were making like an album songbook becuase it was music week or something in school. The project was to include ten songs that we really loved. I don't even remember any of the other nine songs I had in it, but number one was an unreleased Greyson Chance song called "Purple Sky", that I'm sure you can find on YouTube still. What stuck with me about that song was the chorus, "Another day we will survive, another day is worth the fight, today we will rise, we will walk the rainbows and take over the sky, don't let them change you no, 'cause you are beautiful, just like the purple sky". That was the first ever song to save my life. To let me not change who I am. Purple is my favorite color so that made it even better.
So enough about me and my sob story, let's talk more about Greyson. I absolutely love his 2019 single, Shut Up, yes it's 2021 now but better late than never for talking about it. I don't have a deep personal connection to the song, but I'm so obsessed with it. It's got such a good vibe, and it was one of the first songs of his I listened to, post-Truth Be Told. This song kinda makes me feel like I'm in a club, but I've never been to a club and I don't know if I would wanna go to one... Unless Greyson Chance was there. And he could protect me from people. Because I don't like people. But it has that low-fi vibe, that's sexy, it's mature, it's modern, it's all of your feelings in your 20s in one song. It's somewhat calming in a way, especially when I hear the piano, Greyson's always played piano music, so that's how I know he's staying true to himself.
Greyson Chance has a new album titled Trophies that drops June 25, and also starting June 25, is a world tour kick-off. You can buy tickets here and you can follow Greyson on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.