Heather Baron-Gracie Explained

Heather Baron-Gracie
Birth Date:17 January 1995
Birth Place:Preston, Lancashire, England
Years Active:2014–present
Current Member Of:Pale Waves
Partner:Kelsi Luck

Heather Baron-Gracie (born 17 January 1995) is a British singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the guitarist and vocalist for the indie rock band Pale Waves.

Life and career

Early life

Heather Baron-Gracie was born in Preston, Lancashire.[1] Around the time she started secondary school, Baron-Gracie experienced a debilitating back injury: "I didn't have an accident. It just happened," she told the Evening Standard in 2018. "I was complaining for ages that my back was in pain but people just thought I was just growing. I was doing sports with a broken back for ages." The injury which was severe enough that Baron-Gracie required spinal fusion surgery very nearly paralysed her, and it forced her to miss an entire year of school.[2] It was during her recovery that Baron-Gracie got deeply invested in music: "I was always into [music] ... But when that happened, I was staying in my house and wrote music loads. And ever since that, this is what I want to do."[3]

Baron-Gracie attended the British and Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM) in Manchester, where she met future Pale Waves drummer, Ciara Doran.[4] The two connected via a college-sponsored Facebook group and, thanks to their similar aesthetic and personality, they quickly befriended one another.[5]

Pale Waves

Originally called "Creek", Pale Waves was founded by Baron-Gracie and Doran in 2014.[6] The band later expanded to include Hugo Silvani and Charlie Wood.[7] Pale Waves is signed to the independent label Dirty Hit and has released an EP, All the Things I Never Said (2018), and three albums, My Mind Makes Noises (2018), Who Am I? (2021), and Unwanted (2022).[8] A fourth album, Smitten, is scheduled for released on 20 September 2024.[9]

Artistry

Influences

Much of the music Heather Baron-Gracie has written has been inspired by musicians from the 1980s, including The Cure, Prince, and Madonna.[10] When discussing Pale Waves's second album Who Am I?, Baron-Gracie further cited Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, Courtney Love, Liz Phair, Michelle Branch, The Chicks, and Kacey Musgraves as inspiration.[11] [12] In terms of specific albums, Baron-Gracie has also cited The Cure's Disintegration (1989), Paramore's All We know Is Falling (2005) and Riot! (2007), Lucy Rose's Like I Used To (2012), Daughter's If You Leave (2013), and Muna's About U (2017) as inspiring both her and Pale Waves's musical style.[13]

In an interview with The Irish Times, Baron-Gracie cited Dolores O'Riordan as her main vocal influence, saying: "I love The Cranberries. They were amazing. I definitely looked up to Dolores O'Riordan. She has one of my favourite voices of all time. She gave off that attitude – she was totally herself. I loved her fashion sense, she was such a cool person".[14]

Musical equipment

Baron-Gracie is known for playing Vox Phantoms. She received her first of these guitars as a birthday present from Matty Healy of the 1975. However, due to the guitar's size, Baron-Gracie struggled to play it during live shows, telling Magnet magazine: "It sounded amazing, it played amazing, but it was a 12-string, and it was difficult to play live. I'm a tiny person and this guitar was just as big as me. It kept falling down." Jaime Oborne, the head of the record label Dirty Hit, subsequently reached out to a guitar enthusiast that he knew. This individual built Baron-Gracie a custom black Vox Phantom six-string that she could use during live performances.[15]

Visual style

Baron-Gracie's visual aesthetic and fashion sense has often been described as "gothic".[16] [17] [18] [19] In an interview with the Evening Standard, Baron-Gracie explained: "I've always been into dark fashion, the gothic side of things and vampires ... I like funeral clothes more than summer clothes. It comes from feeling like an outsider."[20] The juxtaposition between Pale Waves's "high-fidelity pop exuberance" and Baron-Gracie's "obsidian gothic aesthetics"[21] has engendered critical discussion: Owen Tanner of the Milwaukee Record described her look as "Taylor Swift going as Beetlejuice for Halloween"[22] and Jessie Atkinson of Gigwise called it "Avril Lavigne Gothicism".[23]

Baron-Gracie's aesthetic has often led many to assume she performs in a metal, metalcore, or screamo band—an assumption that Baron-Gracie has deemed "one of the biggest misconceptions" about Pale Waves. The contrast between Baron-Gracie's visual style and the style of her band has occasionally resulted in accusations of "goth-baiting"—"on the first album," she told Nylon, "we received so much shit for basically ... wearing eye shadow and then playing essentially like pop music"—but Baron-Gracie has rebuffed these criticisms many times: In the aforementioned Nylon interview, she emphasized, "I don't have to wear anything to play the kind of music that I want to play", and in an interview with Magnet, Baron-Gracie further stressed, "If I want to look like a moody vampire, let me!"[24]

Personal life

Baron-Gracie is an open member of the LGBTQ+ community, and in an interview with Vanity Fair, she exclaimed: "Too many people think I'm straight ... I'm not straight ... I've always been gay. When I came out of the womb I knew I was gay." Baron-Gracie is in a relationship with singer and songwriter Kelsi Luck, who served as Baron-Gracie's "muse" when she was writing the lyrics and themes for the Pale Waves album Who Am I?[25] [26] With Baron-Gracie, Luck co-directed the video for Pale Waves' single "You Don't Own Me", and the two starred together in the video for the song "She's My Religion".[27] [28]

In an interview with Ladygunn magazine, Baron-Gracie said that she is "not really religious"; in a later Line of Best Fit interview, however, she did note that she has "become a lot more spiritual" as she has gotten older.[29] [30] Part of this shift was the result of Baron-Gracie having read the work of Alain de Botton.[31] When discussing the use of religious visuals in the music video for "She's My Religion," she explained that the aesthetic was "basically a rebellion against religious and even non-religious people who disregard same-sex relationships".[32]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Stubbs . Dan . The 1975 and Pale Waves: Matty Healy introduces your favourite new pop band . . 8 January 2022 . 20 October 2017.
  2. News: Smyth. David. 2 March 2018. Pale Waves talk stardom, touring with the 1975 and rocking the goth look. Evening Standard. 9 February 2022.
  3. Youngs. Ian. 8 January 2018. BBC Sound of 2018: Pale Waves interview. 9 February 2022. Billboard.
  4. Web site: Turner . Cerys . Pale Waves' Heather Baron-Gracie chats growing up and falling in love for new album Who Am I? . The Boar . 8 January 2022 . 18 January 2021.
  5. Web site: North . Danny . 15 May 2019 . Pale Waves talks about their friendship and life as "gothy" role models . 5 July 2022 . . en.
  6. Web site: Making Waves With Heather Baron-Gracie . . 8 January 2022 . 5 July 2018.
  7. Web site: Hemmings . Jeff . Pale Waves – Interview 2019 . Brightons on Fire . 8 January 2022 . 11 January 2019.
  8. Web site: Thomas . Fred . Pale Waves Biography . . 16 November 2017.
  9. Web site: Hardman . Neville . 12 June 2024 . Pale Waves announce new album Smitten . 12 June 2024 . Alternative Press.
  10. Scott . Jason . Pale Waves on Upcoming Debut EP 'New Year's Eve' & Being a Band That's 'Actually Becoming Something' . . 9 January 2022 . 6 December 2017.
  11. Web site: Smith . Thomas . 20 November 2020 . Pale Waves: "I've been hiding who I am for so long now. I don't wanna do that any more" . NME . 1 January 2021.
  12. Web site: Pale Waves' New Album, Who Am I?, Will Have You In Self Reflection. The Honey Pop. Mar. Maldonado. 20 February 2021. 7 January 2022.
  13. Web site: RIML_TV. 4 June 2018. Pale Waves on Records In My Life (2018 interview). 9 January 2022. Records in my Life. YouTube.
  14. News: Power . Ed . 17 September 2018 . 'I looked up to Dolores O'Riordan. She gave off that attitude – she was totally herself' . . live . 22 June 2020 . https://archive.today/20200529221807/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/i-looked-up-to-dolores-o-riordan-she-gave-off-that-attitude-she-was-totally-herself-1.3628357 . 29 May 2020.
  15. Web site: Fagerstrom. Bruce. 15 February 2021. A Conversation With Heather Baron-Gracie (Pale Waves). 7 February 2022. Magnet.
  16. News: Kochhar . Nazuk . How to stay goth in the summer . . 10 January 2022 . 24 May 2018.
  17. Web site: Kucharski . Eve . Pale Waves Frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie Is the Gay Goth Role Model the Community Needs . . 10 January 2022 . 19 February 2021.
  18. Web site: "This is only the start!" An interview with Pale Waves' Heather Baron Gracie . . 10 January 2022 . 6 December 2018. You've cultivated this amazing Gothic aesthetic. What does the term 'goth' mean to you. ?
  19. Web site: Manno . Lizzie . Love Them or Hate Them, Pale Waves Are Unstoppable . . 10 January 2022 . 6 September 2018 . Pale Waves['] frontwoman and goth goddess [is] Heather Baron-Gracie. .
  20. Web site: Hodgkinson . Will . Dark but delicious — Pale Waves, the goth group with a sweet centre . . 10 January 2022 . 3 April 2018.
  21. Web site: Wang . Steffanee . 2021 . Pale Waves' Heather Baron-Gracie Is Ready To Let You In . 3 July 2022 . . en.
  22. Web site: Tanner . Owen . Pale Waves go goth at Black Friday show at The Rave . Milwaukee Record . 10 January 2022 . 24 November 2018.
  23. Web site: Atkinson . Jessie . Pale Waves continue the Goth Avril Lavigne vibe on 'Easy' . . 10 January 2022 . 14 January 2021.
  24. News: Fegerstrom . Bruce . 15 February 2021 . A Conversation With Heather Baron-Gracie (Pale Waves) . 23 January 2022 . Magnet Magazine.
  25. Web site: Landsbaum . Claire . 12 February 2021 . Pale Waves' Heather Baron-Gracie Is Music's Reigning Queer Emo Queen . . 16 February 2021.
  26. Web site: Balmont . James . Girl to the Front: Pale Waves . . 23 July 2021. 5 February 2021.
  27. Web site: Pale Waves . Pale Waves – You Don't Own Me . YouTube . 12 August 2021 . 1 March 2021.
  28. Web site: Pale Waves . Pale Waves – She's My Religion . YouTube . 12 August 2021 . 22 December 2020.
  29. Web site: Johnson . Ashley Simone . Heather Baron-Gracie Is the Odd One Out . Ladygunn . 18 January 2024 . 12 February 2021.
  30. Web site: Williams . Pip . A Different Kind of Love . . 18 January 2024 . 23 February 2021.
  31. Web site: Lanham . Tom . Pale Waves Back with 'Who Am I?' . . 18 January 2024 . 17 February 2021.
  32. Web site: Roach . Michaela . 'Who Am I?': An Interview with Heather Baron-Gracie . . 18 January 2024 . 8 January 2021.