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Photo by Chancey Stefanos

Molly Grace is a pop girl through and through. Her music is bold, authentic, and most importantly, fun. In Molly’s world, everything is covered in lipstick, sparkles, and pink, but ultimately, at the forefront of her artistic vision is queer joy. At her shows, she asks everyone to dress up and be ready to dance and belt her songs. Even if you’re not the soprano she is, she swears she’ll make you one!

Molly Grace is currently in the middle of Lovergirls, her tour that doubles as a pride party by uplifting other queer artists and partnering with local queer organizations. We had the opportunity to interview Molly before her performance at Purgatory, a queer bar in Brooklyn, but not until after the New York Knicks won the NBA Championship for the first time in over fifty years, a game Molly so gracefully let us finish inside the venue before our pre-show chat. 

Mere minutes post-game, we ran outside and sat on a stoop (in true NYC fashion). As we began talking, fireworks went off in the distance, and cheers could be heard from blocks away.

OnesToWatch: Hi! Wow. I’m so excited. How cool for you to be here during the Knicks' win. I mean, out of all places you could be!

Molly Grace: It is really crazy, I’m feeling like a New Yorker.

And what a perfect time for your show, right after the game at midnight, nobody is going to miss it!

It's amazing. We had the choice between doing an early show and a late show, and I had picked the late show a while ago, and I'm like, this is perfect, because everyone is going to be able to celebrate the Knicks’ win, and then come dance with me. It's perfect, literally. 

We are in the best place for that! First, please introduce yourself and the music you make, where are you from, what’s your sign? 

Oh, I love getting into that. My name is Molly Grace. I am from outside of Boston, Massachusetts originally, but I now live in LA, I just moved, actually! I am a Sagittarius.

Me too! 

Wait! What’s your birthday?

December 21st, so I’m a cusp. 

Okay, so you’re like right on the end, and I love a Capricorn as well. I’m December 6th, right in the middle. 

I feel like it’s obvious you’re a fire sign.

Thank you. I feel very Sagittarius, I’m a Virgo moon and a Gemini rising. So social social butterfly.

Yeah, okay, we’re balanced! You get me. I feel like that’s kind of perfect.

It's very, it all makes sense, and all three are like mutable, so like they're all very adaptable and spontaneous and all over the place. I love getting into that. I am a pop artist, I make music that is funky and groovy and fun! 

So tell us about Lovergirls, what led you to go this route instead of going straight for the tour? Obviously, it’s a tour in a lot of ways, but it’s also so much more!

Yes! So I just did a big headline tour for my album back in the fall, and I mean, that was so much fun, but it's just like a beast to do a huge headline like that. Because I'm in between projects, I kind of missed being on the road and connecting with fans that way, so I wanted to find a way to still engage with my community, but in a more intimate setting. I just thought pride was the perfect time because, obviously, my music is really centered around queer joy and my identity, so I thought it would be a nice opportunity to get people together to dance and celebrate. In every city, we’re also highlighting a local queer DJ. Like, tonight we have Janae, and she's the best. Then we also have different organizations we're partnering with in every city, so it's just like a pride party, fun, dance, music. 

Do you think there’s a specific song you do that gets the most energy and dancing out of everyone?

I think it has to be “F.E.M.M.E.” “F.E.M.M.E.” is just, the crowd goes wild! I feel like everyone knows the words to that one. I also think “Heaven Sent” is a really high-energy number, there’s lots of dancing in that one. 

And you have backup dancers! 

My backup singers and dancers are my lovergirls; they are also two of my best friends, and they are awesome.

I mean, how fun to tour with your best friends and just throw pride parties every night. 

I’m really spoiled. It really doesn’t feel like work at all. We are always like, “How is this our job?” We’re just visiting cities and singing together, this is fun! A dream.

Exactly as it should be! If we were in LA right now, you would probably be interviewed by our pop girl in residence, Giselle. She has a pop podcast, and one of my favorite questions she asks is, “what's your Mount Rushmore of pop music?” So, name four pop icons from any era, any time that you would put on your Mount Rushmore. 

Oh, excellent question. I'm gonna do Michael Jackson, just like the blueprint. Michael Jackson, I’m gonna say Whitney Houston… then let’s do Lady Gaga and, oh my god, I feel like I’m leaving so many out, but let’s just say Ariana Grande for number four.

Some very popular picks in there, I feel like it’s very well-rounded! 

I feel that kind of encompasses a lot of the vision, but it’s really hard. I also feel like Sabrina should be on there, too. She can be my Lincoln Memorial.

It’s an impossible question. That’s just one of the things I love so much about pop music, how iconic it becomes for people, how these names just completely redefine the genre all the time. [Fireworks and cheers in the distance].

It’s really crazy. Oh my gosh, I just love this so much. 

Look, you can see them! They’re for you!

Aww, go Knicks! I’m feeling very euphoric right now.

The next question is, who are you obsessed with right now? Who are you listening to?

I have an answer. Eli! I'm so obsessed with her. Oh, she's just everything to me. 

Yes! My stage girl! We love Eli. “Fuck the DJ” changed lives.

Exactly, and as a girl who just moved to Silverlake, it is just really, really everything to me. I also am loving the new MUNA record. I'm like, that's on repeat for me. Yeah, that's my answer.

I love that these picks are also so aligned with the music you make. The influence is there. The last question I want to ask is, because we’re OnesToWatch, who are your OnesToWatch? Are there any small, rising artists that you love that we should all be watching?

Oh my god, I’m going to say my bestie, Michael Stolar. He's my good friend, we've known each other for years, and he's like a pop rock kind of diva, and he just released his debut album, which he did like all by himself! It’s just, like, very much giving early 2000s pop-punk realness, and it's so good.

Love it. Thank you so much, we really appreciate it! Happy Pride! We’re about to have so much fun in there!

Listen to Molly Grace below: