“America’s Got Talent” season 11 winner, 13-year-old Grace VanderWaal has a new album, new single and her same winning, youthful charm. The preteen graced the stage of the nation’s biggest talent show singing a song she wrote and accompanying herself on the ukelele.

Grace VanderWaal unveiled

I saw Grace VanderWaal’s televised audition on “America’s Got Talent.” She looked like an ordinary girl with her bobbed hair, blue sweatshirt, and yellow pants. VanderWaal’s strummed her small, stringed instrument and sang in a voice that was sweet but cracked in all the right places. Her songs often cover the trials of being misunderstood and disliked by others. It is the kind of thing that people should expect from a girl in middle school. And that was one of the winning things about VanderWaal – – she is unabashedly herself. Without pretensions, and without precocious sexuality, VanderWaal is a breath of fresh air.

VanderWaal’s performance on “America’s Got Talent” was a complete success. All of the judges loved her act, including typically disagreeable Simon Cowell. VanderWaal was even awarded the show’s coveted golden ticket. She stood on the stage overwhelmed by the gold pieces of confetti raining down on her. VanderWaal’s demeanor was part of what marked her as a winner weeks before she was named the overall winner.

“So Much More Than This” by Grace VanderWaal

The song features solemn lyrics on a theme familiar to VanderWaal. She sings about what people worry about, and how other kids now act as though she’s cool, whereas they didn’t before. None of it matters, VanderWaal informs audiences. There is so much more than this. Without being weirdly didactic (she is, after all, a child) VanderWaal shows audiences natural happy things they could fill their lives with.

When the song is in its early, solemn parts, the young singer is inside, in a dim recording studio. VanderWaal appears to struggle with writing a song. Then she escapes into the great wide open and finds the natural world that is so much more loving and accepting than anything the human-constructed world has to offer.

Watching the adolescent singer go from crouching in the semi-darkness to running frolicking through various natural settings is enough to lift spirits that weren’t even low. Her exuberance is good to watch.

As of right now, I can’t think of any other child performers who have the sheer talent and clear message that VanderWaal has. Right now, she creates her art with a child’s heart. Time will tell if life or the music industry will make VanderWaal jaded. For now, she has created a beautiful set of songs and people should appreciate the young, innocent, and talented performer she is now.