Grace VanderWaal, only 12 years old, was one of the youngest contestants to win America’s Got Talent. Tens of millions of people voted; it was the most votes the show has ever received and it was also the highest rated season they have had in five years. The singer-songwriter first aired on America’s Got Talent season 11, during the week three auditions.  During her first audition, she sang an original called “I Don’t Know My Name” and received Howie Mandel’s golden buzzer automatically moving her to the live shows in Los Angeles, at the famed Dolby Theater. At the end of her first audition, judge Simon Cowell predicted that she will be the next Taylor Swift. During an interview with Mario Lopez, Grace revealed what it was like when Simon compared her to Taylor Swift: “Honestly that was an amazing comment…it is amazing to be compared to her,” replied Grace.

After her big win on September 15^th, Grace has been congratulated on social media by some of her biggest idols. Stars like Katy Perry, Reese Witherspoon, and Ellen DeGeneres have taken to Twitter to congratulate her. Perry tweets, “Congrats! You have it. Protect it and keep [play]ing and [writ]ing…it will always serve you.”  Reese Witherspoon expresses that she has been a fan since her first performance after tweeting, “CONGRATS, on your win! I loved you since Day 1.” Ellen DeGeneres tweeted, “You are so amazing, America picked right. See you next week on my show.” Taylor Swift congratulated Grace by sending her a large bouquet of flowers that was later seen in a video posted by Grace, who could not contain her excitement after finding out who the flowers were from.

Grace is from Suffer, New York, and she began singing at the age of three and loved performing her original songs for her family. Piano lessons at the age of four gave her a great foundation and knowledge about music. At age ten, she learned to play the saxophone and continues to play in her school’s marching band. In an interview with Access Hollywood, VanderWaal talked about how she first got inspired to play the ukulele, “We actually had a family friend from Brazil stay at our house and she played the ukulele and so I wanted one because she played one and because her hand looked so cool when she played it,” said Grace. For her 11^th birthday, she asked for a ukulele but ironically her mom never bought her one because she thought Grace would never play it. Grace ended up buying her first ukulele with money from her 11^th birthday. She learned to play the ukulele by watching YouTube videos and it has been her instrument of choice for all her songs. Before performing on Americas Got Talent, Grace performed at open mic nights around New York and New Jersey. In April, Grace took music theory lessons from a local musician which help her expand her knowledge of music.

For winning Americas Got Talent, Grace received a $1 million reward and a three-day headline show at “Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Grace told Lohud during an exclusive interview that she will be performing in Las Vegas with Tape Face and the Clairvoyants; the runners-up to Grace. Shortly after the announcement of her win, Grace knew what she wanted to do with her prize money. VanderWaal told ‘Entertainment Tonight’ that she plans to go on Tree House Masters and get a tree house. Also in an interview with PEOPLES, Grace told them she wants to give her money to charity, most likely a music related charity. In the same interview with Entertainment Tonight, the host of AGT, Nick Cannon, said “Her vibration, her energy is real. That light is all over that girl.” All four of the judges agreed that it was no surprise that Grace won.