Teen Vogue is excited to share our music issue — Pass the Mic. In our June cover package, we profile young women disrupting the music industry, how they are doing it, and why it matters.

On “Burned,” one of the early songs off of her first full-length album, Just the Beginning, 14-year-old Grace VanderWaal sings a line — in her signature exuberant voice — that could easily be the mission statement for not only the record, but also the stage of life she’s in right now. “Oh, how I’ve grown,” she intones, and there’s really no better way to describe what Grace is going through at this moment in time. And as the singer tells Teen Vogue in a new interview, the change has been physical, as well as metaphorical.

“I had this crazy growth spurt, so none of my summer clothes fit me — well, they do, but they're a little inappropriate,” Grace says in May, a few days after attending the Billboard Music Awards. For the awards show, she wore a loosely tailored Hugo Boss vintage-style suit, complete with an undone bow tie and pin curls. The look was a world away from the sweet Peter Pan-collared sweater and gold ribbon brooch she wore two years ago on the America’s Got Talent stage, when her audition went viral and her whole life changed.

Photo by Campbell Addy | On Grace VanderWaal: Vivetta Orange Chenille Minidress, €6,900. Not for sale. Reebok Classic Leather Sneakers, $75. Reebok.com.

Grace is not yet old enough to drive, but she is beyond being an up-and-coming talent — she’s proved her capabilities well on national television. To be so young and also preparing for concerts at Madison Square Garden comes with its own set of challenges, but Grace is pulling it off with plucky finesse.

“I think everyone's just trying to be someone else nowadays,” she says. “The world is so big and there’s so many people and there's only one you, and that's so special and unique to think about.”

The young musician, who lives in Suffern, New York, with her family, was catapulted to Internet fame when she performed an original song, “I Don’t Know My Name,” on AGT and went on to win the 11th season of the reality competition series. On YouTube, the clip of 12-year-old Grace belting away while playing her signature ukulele has earned more than 83 million views.

As anyone who watches AGT, American Idol, or The Voice knows, winning the show is one thing, but actually going out and making music without a weekly platform that has a built-in audience is another. And coping with a new level of fame while trying to create work you’re proud of, at age 14 (or any age, let’s be honest), can be an obstacle. Grace has been open about how much of a learning experience her post-AGT life has been. In an interview with Teen Vogue last year, Grace said, “Whenever I'm traveling, it's a switch of, like, adult, mature Grace VanderWaal answering questions. Sometimes it's hard to get that balance of old, normal me as well.”

Photo by Campbell Addy | On Grace VanderWaal: Luisa Beccaria Midi Coat in Pink Eyelet, price upon request. Luisabeccaria.it. Vans Era, $50. Vans.com. Crap Eyewear The Ultra Jungle, $79. Crapeyewear.com.

Since that interview, Grace says she’s adapted better to this new stage of her life, which includes a lot of going in and out of school (she just graduated from eighth grade) and music studios. “At first it was so overwhelming and I had no idea what to do, and now I feel so much better about my life, because, number one, I feel more headstrong about what I want,” she says. “I was having a really hard time last year and the year before about what I wanted to do with my life, and I was just so confused and so overwhelmed by it. I didn't know if I wanted to pursue this and make a living off of it.”