Muscle Shoals, Alabama native Taylor Grace is only sixteen, and her perspective matches her age. But her first release to iTunes, “Far From Perfect” contains a maturity and reflection not often found in a writer so young.
Her writing isn’t perfect — she’s young, it’s not meant to be. In some ways, her imperfect writing only serves to prove the point of the song further: sometimes things that aren’t perfect are the most beautiful. Her words have a sort of unfiltered honesty that’s hard to find in music these days, as so many songwriters turn to writing songs they know will be popular instead of songs that are important and honest. That makes sense, as music is a business and songwriting is a job. But Taylor Grace hasn’t been tainted by the realities of the industry yet. She’s only sixteen. Her perspective is fresh and fitting to her role in society as a teenager, but she’s critical in a way many new artists are afraid to be.
Grace didn’t write a childish love song, or a song about going honky-tonking with her friends on Friday night. She wrote an important song about the ways that society can harm and damage young women. The first verse alone tackles the unrealistic standards that the media expects of women. The song reads like a diary entry of a teenager, frustrated with the way she feels about herself. In some ways, this song seems to be a way for Grace to reassure herself that she is normal, she is beautiful, and that she doesn’t need to be a size 0 or have a thigh gap to see herself as such. By convincing herself of it, she reminds her listeners that they are worth it as well.
This song likely won’t get much airplay on country radio, and it likely won’t break on any charts as Grace is a very young, unsigned artist. But with a song like this, that doesn’t matter. If Grace is even able to reach a small group of girls and women her age and remind them that it’s okay to be far from perfect, that’s enough.
Overall rating: 4 crowns
Grace didn’t write a childish love song, or a song about going honky-tonking with her friends on Friday night. She wrote an important song about the ways that society can harm and damage young women. The first verse alone tackles the unrealistic standards that the media expects of women. The song reads like a diary entry of a teenager, frustrated with the way she feels about herself. In some ways, this song seems to be a way for Grace to reassure herself that she is normal, she is beautiful, and that she doesn’t need to be a size 0 or have a thigh gap to see herself as such. By convincing herself of it, she reminds her listeners that they are worth it as well.
This song likely won’t get much airplay on country radio, and it likely won’t break on any charts as Grace is a very young, unsigned artist. But with a song like this, that doesn’t matter. If Grace is even able to reach a small group of girls and women her age and remind them that it’s okay to be far from perfect, that’s enough.
Overall rating: 4 crowns
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