Grace Graber Gives Voice To Social Media Burnout With 'Superficiality'
Grace Graber is voicing the world’s social media burnout with her sassy latest single “Superficiality,” now available on all major streaming platforms and going for radio adds through PlayMPE on September 28. “Superficiality” is a timely commentary on the falseness demanded from digital society.
“I'm someone who constantly has social media fatigue,” Grace Graber admits. “Social media consumes so much of my time. It makes me feel so much less than my life, like I'm not doing enough. Social media points out the inadequacies of being a normal human, like if there is nothing to post about today, then you failed.”
It’s a poignant message from the singer, who has become known for a following on Instagram who eagerly watches her honest takes on mental health, music and life. Graber continues, “It's wonderful to share my life with people who are far away, but the risk and what I lose from that is, essentially, my love of real life. Unfortunately, I've fallen in love with social media and not what will truly satisfy me, which is real life - life with Jesus. And so I think this just pokes at how ridiculous that is. I want to grow, and I want to learn from that.”
Although the song’s message is deeply pertinent to Grace Graber’s own life, she didn’t actually pen the song herself. For the first time, she’s releasing a song that was pitched to her by other songwriters. James and Joelle approached Grace with the song, knowing that she could pull off the punchy pop-punk princess vibe that the track required.
“I think we were all just in a place where we wanted to say how done we are with the upkeep of portraying perfection,” songwriter James Stevens reflects. “This song kind of allowed us to say that in a self-reflective way that hopefully everyone can relate to. The best part of this write for me is that while Grace has the talent to deliver this song, like the rockstar that she is, in the short time I've gotten to know her, I’ve learned that she's truly authentic, personable, fun and real. So I truly think that Grace is someone who can represent this message just as well as she rocks it with her voice.”
Joelle Einerson echoes those sentiments, adding, “It's easy to point out the phony in others, but actually realizing the phony inside of yourself? That’s a whole different thing. Change starts with self-awareness. I think everybody has a chance every decade of their lives to shed a whole new level of artificial. But I think that if the youth could recognize that early on, they could save a lot of heartache in the long run. They could be inspired to live a more authentic life that's more true to themselves and true to God.”
“The reason that we thought Grace would be the perfect for this song and really rewrote it with her in mind is because Grace has used her voice and her platform to reach out to those in the fray,” Joelle concludes. “She's continuously been an advocate for mental health and authenticity, and she really is the perfect voice for this message.”
The song’s deceptively light sound and rock-solid subject matter required equally balanced visuals. With the world currently talking a lot about what it means to be authentically, powerfully yourself following the Barbie movie, Grace Graber knew that “Superficiality” needed to be set in Barbie-esque visuals.
“There's just something about all this pink happening right now where I couldn't deny my love for pink! And so I bought this dress and I booked a photo shoot with my dear friend Austin Markham, and they had pink lights at the studio. There is some mirror stuff that we're using in the music video, like, ‘hey, look, in the reflection, what do you see?’ It just all kind of meshed together.”
Although both the visuals and the fact that she’s singing a song she didn’t write are new for Grace, the result is a striking statement piece.
“Overall, I think this song is just magical and a moment of relief for me and my artistry,” Grace says. “It’s a moment of saying it how it is, while keeping the sound the same. I feel like everyone will enjoy and connect with this.”
