America’s Got Talent season 11 winner Grace Vanderwaal released her second album Just the Beginning Nov. 3.

Vanderwaal’s raspy voice accompanied by her ukulele gives all of her music a warm, soft acoustic sound. While Just the Beginning stays within the acoustic genre, Vanderwaal experiments with new instruments and tones.

“Moonlight” gives off the softer acoustic sound but a stronger beat pushes through during the chorus and the bridge. Vanderwaal also shows off the strength that her thirteen-year old voice possesses. Adding a bass guitar to her ukulele, Vanderwaal delves into her deeper range as she sings about wanting to live her life her own way in “Sick of Being Told”. Vanderwaal’s voice takes on a mysterious tone as a piano plays in the minor key during “Burned” creating a darker sound than her usual songs.

In, “Just A Crush”, Vanderwaal uses her youth to her advantage. She sings about how someone she likes is just a crush and how she doesn’t want a long commitment in a relationship. Drifting back to her typical acoustic sounding music, Vanderwaal sends the message that there’s more than just social media and what today’s society views as important in “So Much More Than This”. Using her ukulele to create a lighter tone along with a piano, Vanderwaal channels that thirteen-year old crush feeling as she sings about a crush that she can’t stop thinking about in “Escape My Mind”.

“Talk Good” slows down the beat as Vanderwaal wishes she could get her point her across the way she wants when she talks. “Florets” and “City Song” drift into the pop genre more than Vanderwaal’s previous songs but she manages to still keep her unique sound. Getting a little more sad, “Insane Sometimes” goes through needing to rely on music to get you through the craziness of life. “A Better Life” is very reminiscent of Vanderwaal’s time on America’s Got Talent as she produces the same sound and tone from her songs that she performed on the show. Singing about trying to fight the darkness and hard times in life, Vanderwaal made a soft, relatable song about depression and mental illness with “Darkness Keeps Chasing Me”.
Needless to say, many eyes are on the talented thirteen-year old as she goes on a nationwide tour in 2018 and fans are anxiously awaiting to see what she does next.