Grace VanderWaal Won America’s Got Talent When She Was 12 Years Old – Here’s What She’s Doing Now, Eight Years Later
Have you ever stopped to think about America’s Got Talent winner Grace VanderWaal and wondered, “What is she doing now?” If so, then we’ve got the answers for you here.
Grace VanderWaal auditioned for Season 11 of AGT in 2016. She was only 12 years old at the time.
The young artist played the ukelele and charmed the judges with a performance of her original song, “I Don’t Know My Name.” After her audition, judge Simon Cowell declared she could become “the next Taylor Swift.“
Simon wanted to press the Golden Buzzer for Grace, but Howie Mandel got there first. She couldn’t believe her eyes as golden confetti rained down and covered the stage.
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Fans grew even more impressed with Grace’s talent as the season progressed, and she continued to advance through the competition. She eventually made it to the finale and was crowned the season’s winner.
At only 12 years of age, Grace is one of the youngest performers to win AGT.
What Did Grace VanderWaal Do After America’s Got Talent?
After winning AGT, Grace signed a record deal and released her debut EP, Perfectly Imperfect, in December 2016. The EP reached the ninth spot on the Billboard 200 chart. Her AGT audition song, “I Don’t Know My Name,” was the first and only single from the EP.
She released her first full-length studio album, Just the Beginning, in November 2017, when she was 13 years old. It reached the 22nd spot on the Billboard 200 chart.
Grace wrote or co-wrote every song on the album, including “Moonlight” and “So Much More Than This.”
Grace kept busy with live performances after the album’s release. In 2019, her song “Hideaway” was featured on the soundtrack for the animated film Wonderpark.
Later in 2019, Grace released her second EP, Letters Vol. 1. The EP contained the single “Ur So Beautiful.”
She Appeared In Her First Movie In 2020
Grace made her acting debut in 2020. Her first movie, Stargirl, premiered on Disney+ that year and featured Grace in the lead role as Susan “Stargirl” Caraway.
She reprised her role in the film’s sequel, Hollywood Stargirl, which premiered on Disney+ in 2022.
While Grace hasn’t released a new album in a few years, she’s still acting. She played a teen pop star named Vesta Sweetwater in the Francis Ford Coppola-directed film Megalopolis, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2024.
Now 20, Grace also maintains an active presence on social media. She has over 6.6 million followers on Instagram, where she posts videos of herself singing and shares photos.
Grace recently posted some pictures from the Cannes premiere of Megalopolis, which you can see below. She’s all grown up now!
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Grace Has Opened Up About How She’s Doing Now & The “Mental Repercussions” Of Being A Child Star
As she’s grown, Grace has reflected on how child stardom affected her well-being. She says she’s dealt with the “mental repercussions” of finding fame at a young age.
“Looking back, I have definitely faced the mental repercussions of that growing up,” she once said in 2022. “I feel like I’m still struggling…I feel like I keep learning about how to take care of myself better…“
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Grace also opened up about the negative comments she received in her youth and how those helped her face criticism later in life.
“I feel like I’ve been doing this for so long that you get desensitized to hate online,” she said. “I went through a ton of hate online when I was really young. I’m happy it happened though because it prepared me for this life.”
Watch Grace sing in one of her most recent Instagram videos to see how far she’s come since she won AGT in 2016. We wish her the best of luck in all of her future endeavors!