Just the Beginning
In 2016, Stevie Nicks introduced then 12-year-old Grace VanderWaal during the season finale of *America’s Got Talent*. “We like to be different,” Nicks said, “Not like anybody else.” It was high praise, and after winning the competition, VanderWaal got to work on *Just the Beginning*, her magnificent first full-length. A daring and gifted singer, she stretches her charismatic voice into hard-to-reach notes and octaves, exploring plucky textures (“Moonlight”), plush production (“Insane Sometimes”), and breathtaking acoustic balladry (“A Better Life”). She’s a natural, and startlingly fully formed. The album could easily be the product of someone twice her age and experience, and, to echo Nicks, it certainly couldn\'t be anybody else.