There’s a hard-earned soul behind Jaycee Grace’s voice, a gravity that extends beyond her 18 years. Ever since realizing her talent for gymnastics at just three years old, the Florida native has found ways to be onstage, whether that meant taking on the lead roles in her elementary school musicals or staging her own living room plays. Along with her sister, she would cut out homemade tickets and dress up in Halloween costumes to perform for her parents.

Despite her diverse interests in all different kinds of performance, music has always been special to Jaycee. Her dad taught her a love of country music early on, introducing her to favorite performers such as Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney.

But the influences Jaycee picked up from her dad aren’t limited to the country genre. One memory that sticks out in her mind is the day he introduced her to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” sharing with her the song’s iconic music video.

The music stuck with her.  “So later on that night I asked him, ‘Who was that singing?’ He told me, ‘Michael Jackson,’and introduced her to many more of his songs over the years,  some of which are steady listens on Jaycee’s own playlists. “It was a really big influence; it was huge.”

Maybe that’s what laid the groundwork for Jaycee to incorporate influences from a lot of different genres into her own musical identity. She started sampling more recent artists, from modern country juggernaut Luke Combs, to alternative rapper 6lack, and everything in between. No matter what their stylistic background might be, Jaycee’s favorite artists have always been those who told their stories in their own way, getting to the heart of some deeply personal emotional truth.

Those are the kinds of songs that she picked out for herself when she started recording covers like  Benny Blanco’s “Eastside,” and Kodaline’s “All I Want”.  Jaycee gravitated towards the kind of lyrics that draw in a listener.

That’s a common thread in her original material, too. Jaycee floats easily between pop melodies like her “Goodbye Looks Good on You” and the more weighty piano ballads, such as “Now That I Don’t Love You.”

To this day, Jaycee prefers to turn the lights down when she’s singing in the studio. It’s in that state that she can focus on connecting to the lyrics and allow them to draw out the emotions that are more difficult to face in daily life.

“Lights down, eyes shut, and putting myself in a world where nothing matters but the song and the story,” the singer comments.

You can hear that soul connection in tracks like stand-out track “What Love Is,” a rippling, ‘60s-inflected ballad that hearkens back to R&B powerhouses like Amy Winehouse and Aretha Franklin, with the kind of vocal precision and depth that comes from being truly tapped into a performance.

As a kid, Jaycee had always been a multifaceted entertainer, as comfortable singing solos in her church choir, as she was in a gymnastics competition.  But soon, she knew she’d have to narrow her interests. She’d already realized that she didn’t want to pursue gymnastics collegiately, and she even contemplated a nursing career. But eventually, she realized that music was her biggest passion.

“This is really weird, but I’ll put on a sad song or a slow song when I’m feeling super anxious, so that way I can control my breathing or connect to the lyrics even more,” the singer says. She bonded over music with her closest friends -- one of whom, in fact, was the person who helped her discover the rapper 6lack and helped her realize that what she loved about music was the powerful emotional depth behind the lyrics.

“At the time I only really liked one or two of his songs,” Jaycee recalls. A friend insisted she listen more closely to the lyrics. “That’s when he became more of an influence for me.  It really made me focus on how important the message of a song can be. You hear that in country music, too”.  From listening to Tim McGraw’s “Don’t Take The Girl” as a little girl, to more recent songs by artists like Miranda Lambert, Cam, Carly Pearce and Luke Combs, the message is what makes a connection. People want something that makes sense to them and their lives. “There’s a story in the lyrics and those are the kinds of songs that I’m drawn to and want to sing.”

As she began to sift through songs and started assembling original material, Jaycee came to realize the emotional weight of grief over her cousin Kari’s passing in 2015. Her periods of anxiety helped her connect to certain songs more deeply. One particular song, “Best Friend,” speaks most directly to the loss of her cousin, even though the lyrics could just as easily be about a romantic relationship.

“‘Best Friend’ was the song that stuck to me and gave me the emotional ability to relate to both Kari and the song, at the same time,” Jaycee notes. She’s speaking specifically about the song’s message of realizing the full weight of caring for someone, and how the prospect of losing that person forces you to never take that relationship for granted. It reminds her of her relationship with Kari during her illness, Jaycee continues, and how her cousin was often in and out of her life due to frequent hospital stints. The ups and downs of loving her while she was sick were difficult, but taught the young singer an important lesson.

“Each time she came back, I realized you can’t take those moments of taking risks and sharing each other’s secrets for granted.” Jaycee goes on to say, “Kari always told me, ‘Lil bug, if I could sing like you, I wouldn’t be here -- I’d be going after that dream of yours.’” She felt comfortable confiding in her cousin and fondly remembers, “Knowing that she was older than I [was], but close enough to understand, I was able to pour my emotions into her.”

In putting together her selection of songs, Jaycee had a wealth of talent from which to choose. The songwriters credited for her six-track project include an impressive roster of Nashville names, including singer-songwriters like Lynn Hutton, Tammi Kidd, Brent Anderson, Emily Falvey and Sam Ellis. The names Jaycee has worked with run the gamut from mainstream country to bluegrass to popmusical blends, and that’s fitting: Jaycee’s voice has the range to wrap diverse genre elements together, ending up with a style that’s all her own, defined by lyrical depth. 

Feeling music deeply comes naturally to Jaycee and her experiences have only deepened the connection she has to her craft. It’s no surprise that the singer puts such a premium on soulful, emotive singing: music has always eased her mind during difficult times. She hopes her songs will do the same for whoever hears them.

Still, Jaycee’s love of music and performing isn’t ultimately about sadness: It’s about connection. It’s about the electricity between performer and listener, and the power of music to ease pain.

“Being little, looking out in the crowd and seeing a smile or tear drop down someone’s face...[that] made me push harder,” the singer reflects. “Because I knew I was making a difference.”