By Mimi Chen
Ten years ago, Australian-Filipino artist grentperez (real name Grant Perez) began posting videos of covers on youtube at the age of 13. Unexpectedly, his videos and following began to build, so much so that he now commands a following of 614K subscribers on Youtube. His breakout single “Cherry Wine” became an international hit, charting #1 on the Spotify Viral Charts in Australia, Canada and Singapore.
Currently, he’s on an extensive tour in the US, (tour schedule at end of article) but today marks the release of a new EP, When We Were Younger, via AWAL & Fast Friends. The EP centers around the concept of nostalgia and the carefree creativity of childhood, and explores a wide variety of sounds: bossa nova, Philadelphia soul, the swelling strings of golden-era Hollywood, and even the vibe of 90s rom-coms. AsAmNews garnered a few Q&A’s via email.
**When you started posting to YouTube, how much time were you spending on your videos and was it your goal to earn such a large following or were you surprised by it all?
When I started on youtube, it would usually take 3-4 hours recording the audio alone and then another half hour editing roughly.. it still takes that long nowadays. My goal at the time was to honestly be a source of smooth versions of songs, I never really expected for it to grow to the size it did.
**When did you decide you needed to write your own songs & why?
It had been bugging me for a while, from the ages of 14 upwards because my siblings wrote songs and always encouraged me to. I never really did, until I entered this songwriting competition for my youth group, to which I lost… but that’s not the point, the song was actually pretty decent so I thought “hey I might have a shot in this”.
**What is the inspiration behind your stylistic artist name (grentperez)?
Haha! It started off as a joke really, I prompted myself to change the ‘a’ in Grant to ‘e’ and at the time I didn’t realize Instagram had a rule where you couldn’t change your name for another 30 days. So I was stuck with ‘grentperez’, after a while it grew on me and I liked the way it looked; as one word, all e’s so I decided to keep it.
**What were your inspirations for your latest release?
When The Day Is Done was heavily inspired by disco hits from Michael Jackson, stuff from Stevie Wonder, and general dance disco music. I really just wanted to write a song that my parents could dance to as well haha.
**How does this release compare to your previous releases, sonically, lyrically, etc?
This release is a lot more disco centric, it focuses a lot on the falsetto too which makes it a little more fun haha. Also with the four on the floor rhythm, it really showcases that disco feel.
grentperez Growing up? Tour tickets available here:
https://www.ticketmaster.com/grentperez-tickets/artist/2917022
JUN 6
Tue • 7:00pm
The Echo – Los Angeles, CA
JUN 7
Wed • 7:00pm
The Echo – Los Angeles, CA
JUL 20
Thu • 6:00pm
Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
Cavetown: Bittersweet Daze Tour
JUL 21
Fri • 6:00pm
Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU – San Diego, CA
Cavetown – Bittersweet Daze
JUL 28
Fri • 6:00pm
Saint Louis Music Park – Maryland Heights, MO
Cavetown – Bittersweet Daze Tour
JUL 29
Sat • 5:00pm
The Salt Shed – Chicago, IL
Cavetown- Bittersweet Daze
AUG 4
Fri • 5:30pm
Skyline Stage at the Mann – Philadelphia, PA
Cavetown- Bittersweet Daze
SEP 17
Sun • 7:30pm
Melkweg – Amsterdam, Netherlands
SEP 20
Wed • 7:00pm
O2 Academy Islington – London, Great Britain
SEP 24
Sun • 7:00pm
Green Room at The Academy – Dublin, Ireland
OCT 30
Mon • 7:00pm
The Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, Canada
NOV 10
Fri • 7:00pm
The Cambridge Room at House Of Blues – Dallas, TX
NOV 11
Sat • 7:00pm
The Bronze Peacock at House of Blues Houston – Houston, TX
NOV 12
Sun • 8:00pm
Antone’s Nightclub – Austin, TX
grentperez: growing up? tour 2023
