Pickles, Polka Dots & Perfect Days: Step Inside The Mind Of Grace Enger
Interview by Anna Louise Jones
There’s a shining force about Los Angeles-based musician & songwriter, Grace Enger. At just 23, the New Jersey native has been steadily crafting a space where aching honesty meets a loyal and growing community.
If you haven’t heard her yet, you’ve likely felt her presence. Whether opening for the spellbinding Laufey, the ever-relatable Maisie Peters, selling out her first-ever London-based headline show (over 3,000 miles away from home), or most recently joining the captivating Dermot Kennedy for her first-ever European tour, Grace brings a kind of emotional gravity that lingers long after the last note. With genre-bending releases and vocals that feel both effortless and distinct, she’s quickly becoming an artist to watch — and possibly your new favorite.
Grace Enger is the people’s princess - she’s just as likely to be discovered by new fans through open, post-show conversations at the merch table or through her visible, unwavering support of her friends & fellow musicians. As she steps further into her own spotlight, we sat down with Grace to talk openly about the road so far, her idea of a perfect day, and the inspirations that fuel her. What’s next for an artist clearly on the cusp of something beautifully big?
SOUND STAGE: What would you consider the Grace Enger ‘starter pack’ to be?
GRACE ENGER: Ooo, I mean musically I’d say ‘The Neighborhood’, ‘It’s No Fun’ and ‘Good Stuff’ are probably good places to start. Other than that, I don’t know - maybe a polka dot dress, pickles, and feeling sad over someone you never dated.
SOUND STAGE: Do you remember the very first album or song you truly fell in love with - the one that flipped the switch for you?
GRACE ENGER: I remember listening to ‘Red’ by Taylor Swift when I was like 10 years old and trying to decipher what every instrument was in ‘State of Grace’, while I looked out a rainy window in the backseat of my parents' car. I was very emo. I think that album clicked something in my brain, that these songs were really about her life as a person and not a pop star - that maybe my life was interesting enough to write about.
SOUND STAGE: What’s your go-to cafe order?
GRACE ENGER: Matcha with almond milk and honey. Hot or iced, it doesn’t matter to me.
SOUND STAGE: What does a ‘perfect’ day look like for you?
GRACE ENGER: A PERFECT day goes as follows:
7am - Wake up
7:30am - Journal
7:45 am - Doom scroll
8am - End the doom scroll, put on workout clothes
8:30am - Go for a walk/run around the Hollywood Reservoir/the waterfront in New Jersey, depending on where I am
9:30am - Really long hot shower with all the products that I never use
10am - Cook myself food and make a matcha (I love to cook and prefer it over anything)
11am - Try to write a song
2pm - The song is amazing and the best song I’ve ever written, and it’s going viral on every chart ever
3pm - Make TikToks/respond to everyone’s DMs and see what’s going on in everyone's lives (I love to stalk ‘the neighborhood’)
5pm - Call up Sadie, Bebe, Bailey, Lindsey, Devon, or Stella to beg them to hang out with me
6pm - Eat dinner with them at the girls' house
8pm - Go home and watch something (guys, watch ‘Hundred Foot Wave’, I promise it’s amazing)
SOUND STAGE: What 3 words would you use to describe your fandom, the ‘Neighbors’, to a complete stranger?
GRACE ENGER: Kind, creative, devout.
SOUND STAGE: What 5 songs are currently on repeat in your headphones?
GRACE ENGER: I’m going to literally give the top five of my ‘on repeat’ Spotify playlist because I can’t trust myself not to try to sound pretentious and cooler than I am:
‘Nice To Each Other’ - Olivia Dean
‘do good for me’ - Ella Woolsey
‘get a grip’ - ALINA
‘Think Twice’ - Grace Enger 🫣
‘The Subway’ - Chappell Roan
honorable mention:
‘Don’t Panic’ - Coldplay (I watched the movie ‘Garden State’ and it’s been on repeat ever since).
SOUND STAGE: If you could swap setlists with any artist for a night, who would it be and what would you want to perform?
GRACE ENGER: Sara Bareilles or Adele. Their songs are all-time favorites, and they taught me how to sing. To this day, ‘Chasing Pavements’ and ‘Love Song’ are my go-to karaoke songs, so probably one of them. Ugh, yeah, just so many good songs.
SOUND STAGE: What was the turning point where you started to really realise that your music was connecting with a wider audience?
GRACE ENGER: It’s so funny because I find my reach still quite small [laughs]. When I posted ‘19 and lonely’ to TikTok, that was definitely an “oh shit” moment. I also think going to Europe on this tour, and for my headline show in London a few months ago, having people show up even though I've never played here is quite insane to me. I think it always will be.
SOUND STAGE: When fans look back on this chapter of your career, what do you hope they’ll say about it?
GRACE ENGER: I hope they see this period in time before its release as the calm before the storm and an essential building block towards the future of who I want to be as an artist. I obviously always hope this project is one where people say, “oh yeah, that’s how I discovered her.” Right now, I feel brave, and I hope it shows other people they can be brave too. I'm pushing myself more than I ever have and I hope people can feel that I eat, sleep, and breathe it.
SOUND STAGE: Have you ever had a song that almost didn’t make it out, but fans ended up loving it?
GRACE ENGER: Probably ‘A Year From Now’. I wanted to pitch that song to a country artist, but after much convincing, I decided to take it myself. I really do love that song, and I'm glad I put it out.
SOUND STAGE: How different has the reality of being a musician been from what you imagined when you were starting out?
GRACE ENGER: I think it’s emotionally a lot harder than I thought it would be. This path makes you confront every insecurity possible, almost especially when things are going well. I think in some ways I thought having positive attention would maybe melt some of those calloused voices away, but if anything, it’s forced me to face them head-on, which I'm ultimately grateful for even if it’s painful. That and how weird the business of it all is - everything we do is basically on the highest interest loan you’ve ever seen. It doesn't really make sense from a business perspective at all.
SOUND STAGE: What’s a piece of advice you wish you had gotten earlier in your career?
GRACE ENGER: No one else makes you special. You are what makes you special. Don’t forget that.
That and probably trying to be cool is the most uncool thing you could do. Take time with yourself to figure out who you are - when you are yourself, you don’t have to compete.
SOUND STAGE: This is your first Europe tour. What’s been your favourite place to visit so far? Are there any specific spots in that city that you’d recommend?
GRACE ENGER: I loved Amsterdam. We went to this little bar with the best apple pie I’ve ever had (and I hate pie), Café Papaneiland. Saint-Jean, I’ve heard, is great, but I didn’t get to go. And this bar, Sound Garden, is perfectly divey and on the water.
SOUND STAGE: How do you hope people feel when they see you perform live for the first time, or first discover your music?
GRACE ENGER: When I was younger, I would go to concerts, and no matter who was playing, I would just start sobbing. It could be a happy song, and I would just start uncontrollably sobbing. It happened again, maybe the most intensely, when I saw Joni Mitchell at the Hollywood Bowl last year. It truly felt like God was in the room. It transcended time and space, and I was just there for that moment, completely entranced. It was spiritual. Like the most joy, the deepest grief, the best romance, and the funniest joke you’ve ever heard, all happening at the same time. I left that show thinking that if I can make people feel even a fraction of what I felt, I will have done my job right.
SOUND STAGE: What’s one thing that somebody has said to you whilst on the road for this tour that you won’t forget?
GRACE ENGER: A girl came up to me after the show in Paris, and although she didn’t speak much English, she managed to tell me, “You can feel how much you love it”. I don’t know why, but it almost made me cry. It's almost making me cry just writing this, because I really really do, and I would sacrifice anything for it. I feel like I'm being dramatic in these answers, and I don't mean to be. I have just been having a hard season, and what is grounding is my love in music and my conviction in the power of music.
SOUND STAGE: Do you collect anything while traveling for shows?
GRACE ENGER: I guess I'd say letters. They're my favorite thing to receive, and different local sour candies.
SOUND STAGE: What’s the prettiest venue you’ve been to on this tour?
GRACE ENGER: The Olympia theater in Dublin was gorgeous. Amsterdam was beautiful too.
SOUND STAGE: What are your dream venues to play, outside of America?
I hope one day I'll get to come back to Dublin and play the Olympia. It would be a dream to play the Royal Albert Hall as well.
SOUND STAGE: What’s the most unexpected place you’ve written or come up with a lyric?
GRACE ENGER: Probably while I'm driving or from watching Twilight.
SOUND STAGE: What’s your favourite lyric you’ve ever written?
GRACE ENGER: ‘I am The Alchemist, I can turn rust to gold, take out the bitterness and leave in the good I know is there’ - just kind of perfectly encapsulates my brain 24/7.
SOUND STAGE: If your latest EP, The Alchemist, were a dish at a restaurant, what would it be?
GRACE ENGER: Maybe a chicken curry? Kind of warm and spicy; you don’t know what else it has under all the layers. Maybe I just want chicken curry right now, though.
SOUND STAGE: Were there any specific pieces of music, art, or literature that influenced or inspired ‘The Alchemist’ EP?
GRACE ENGER: Fiona Apple, Hailey Williams, and Alanis Morissette definitely influenced some of the darker tracks, and the movie ‘Lost In Translation’ as well. Tim Walker's photography was a big inspiration visually. There’s also this Beatles photo shoot with an organ strung up in a tree that we were inspired by for the cover.
SOUND STAGE: If you had to distill the entire project into one line or lyric that carries its essence, which would it be?
GRACE ENGER: ‘Didn’t mean to hurt me, scary though how well you can’.
SOUND STAGE: If you could borrow any musician’s brain for 24 hours just to see how they create, whose would you choose?
Paul McCartney or Taylor Swift. They are my songwriting heroes.
SOUND STAGE: What did your creative process look like for ‘The Alchemist’ & ‘Well Here We Are’? Looking back, is there anything you’d do differently?
GRACE ENGER: I definitely wrote more songs for ‘The Alchemist’ than I did for ‘Well Here We Are’. I was more unsure of myself the second time around, I think. I don't think I'd do anything differently, though. Every part of this is just a learning lesson, and I learn more every time I put something out into the world.
SOUND STAGE: Are there any themes or sounds you’re excited to explore in your next body of work?
GRACE ENGER: Definitely experimenting with drama and fully live instrumentation, which has been exciting.
SOUND STAGE: What’s next for you? Is there anything we should be looking forward to?
GRACE ENGER: I don’t want to say too much, but I've been working hard on lots of new music for you.
Grace Enger is just getting started — follow her journey and dive into ‘The Alchemist (Gold Edition)’, now available digitally across all major streaming platforms & physically on CD via her webstore.
