Ann Gray is a 16-year-old indie pop and indie folk singer/songwriter from Norfolk, VA. Her songs are beautifully composed, pairing the whimsy of youth with the complicated nature of growing up in the modern age. Her voice carries the depth of an Olivia Rodrigo. She’s soulful beyond her years.
She just released her indie pop single “Teenage Rebel,” inspired by her experience as a modern teenager. She started writing this song two years ago, at a sleep away camp where one of her responsibilities was being a waitress at meal time. Ann Gray found herself humming and laughing along to lyric ideas as she wiped tables or filled water jugs.
“Teenage Rebel” answers the question that adults ask kids all the time: “What could you possibly be worried about at your age?” The answer is – a lot! Ann Gray was annoyed by how easy some adults thought that kids must have it, simply based on their age. So, she took all her pent-up angst and wrote a song about it. The tension builds through the song, culminating with Ann Gray rapping at the end.
Ann Gray says: “It was all sort of based around this gag that my friends and I had created. See, I’m the type of gal who, for my entire sophomore year of high school, no matter the circumstances, always tried to go to bed at 9 pm. I was also always incredibly obsessed with grades, had just started going to therapy and for once actually dealing with my mental health, and pretty much just had this big ball of teenage angst building up inside me, which I found incredibly funny. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.”