Christina Grimmie: One Of My Idols, Gone Too Soon.
WARNING: This is going to be a very long post, so unless you have the time or patience to read it all the way through, I suggest you keep scrolling.
Christina Victoria Grimmie was an American singer who started off on YouTube. She and I both grew up in New Jersey, she lived only a few miles away from me, before moving to Los Angeles. She was only a couple months younger than me. As I’m typing this, it’s been over a week since the 2-year anniversary of her untimely death in Orlando, Florida. I’ve been having a hard time getting her off my mind all week, so I figured the best way to get this off my chest would be to just let it all out. Share my story about Christina, like how I was introduced to her, what I liked about her, and how I heard of her tragic passing. So, here goes.
I first heard of Christina some time in 2011, when I heard that she was touring with Selena Gomez on her We Own The Night tour. At the time, I was obsessed with Selena, so when I heard of her, I looked her up, and sure enough, I came across her YouTube channel. In her first couple years on YouTube, Christina just uploaded song covers on YouTube. Some of my favorites were her covers of Skyscraper by Demi Lovato, My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, We Found Love by Rihanna & Calvin Harris, Impossible by Shontelle, and of course, Just A Dream by Nelly with Sam Tsui. Before I looked her up, I realized that I had seen her YouTube videos before, her videos at the time were titled, “Me Singing _____,” so I didn’t really think about checking them out at the time. I’m glad I finally gave her a shot. When I watched her more and more, and followed her on more social media sites, I realized that she had more than just a beautiful singing voice, she also had a heart of gold, and was very goofy. She loved making people laugh, and she participated in many charity events that she could. In fact, her last video before her death was her asking her fans to participate in this charity for animals in need that she was a part of, called the Humane Society of The United States (HSUS).
When I heard that she had made original music, I knew I wanted to buy them myself. I remember waiting to receive an iTunes gift card, so I could download her music, Throughout her music career, she had released two EPs, a studio album, and a few singles. Some of my favorite songs of hers are: Liar Liar, Counting, Advice, With Love, Get Yourself Together, Make It Work, The One That Got Away, My Anthem, and more.
One of my favorite segments on her YouTube channel was her Above All That Is Random series, that she would do with her friend, Sarah. In those videos, they would sing just a bunch of random, goofy things in autotune. For the last 3 episodes, they asked the fans to write down some lines that they could use in the final cut. Her sense of humor also consisted of posting April Fool’s videos. Her first one was her crying, saying that she had enough of people harassing her, that she was giving up music, and moving back to New Jersey from Los Angeles. She almost got me, but when I saw the date on the video, I was like, “OK, say [April Fool’s].” She did manage to get many of her fans, some of which posted videos begging Christina not to give up, and that they were there to support her. Later that day, she did release another video, saying that the first one was a joke, and she apologized for freaking her fans out.
In early 2012, Christina introduced in a new video this new hand gesture for her fans, who she called, Frands (friend and fan), and Team Grimmie. The hand gesture was simply holding up 3 fingers, as if someone was saying they wanted a quantity of 3 of something. She called it, “RAWWK Fingers.” No, that wasn’t a typo. Christina loved misspelling words, she would often say on social media, “Team Grimmie RAWWKS,” that’s what the hand gesture was supposed to represent. For my high school graduation later that year, I actually did the RAWWK Fingers when posing for a few pictures. My friends thought I was throwing gang signs.
In early 2014, Christina auditioned for season 6 of NBC’s The Voice. Her blind audition was her singing Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball, and within 10 seconds, she had 3 chairs turned for her (Usher, Shakira, and Adam Levine), however she did manage to make Blake Shelton turn his chair at the end. Christina ended up joining Adam’s team, and the two of them became inseparable, he even went backstage to hug her mom, who Christina said on stage was her inspiration, and had battled breast cancer 3 times. I never watched The Voice before, but when I heard that Christina was going to be on it, you bet I watched the entirety of that season. I did everything I could to help Christina win, I called the phone number that they showed us to call to cast a vote, and I even helped save her on Twitter, with the hashtag, #VoiceSave. Unfortunately though, I didn’t have the money to buy all the songs that she sang on the show at the time, so I couldn’t do much to vote for her there. Me watching The Voice was how my family was introduced to Christina, they said they loved her, and were rooting for her throughout the season. She made it all the way to the finals, but in the end, she only got 3rd place. I was a little disappointed, but I was happy that she at least made it that far.
Then, in the morning of July 11, 2016, I heard of the tragic story of Christina’s death. I was on YouTube, and I saw a video from Keemstar’s Drama Alert titled, “Christina Grimmie Shot.” Seeing how that was from Keemstar, I knew I couldn’t trust him for accurate news, so I looked it up on Google, and unfortunately, Keemstar was right. Christina was performing at The Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida, opening up for the band, Before You Exit, and after the concert, she had a Meet-and-Greet, and one of her fans took out a gun, and opened fire on her. Her brother, Marcus, tackled the gunman, who then killed himself. The police later reported that Christina was rushed to the hospital, but died there. I was utterly shocked, I couldn’t believe it. I thought, “Who would kill such an innocent, fun-loving, caring girl like Christina.” I later realized that the guy who killed her was an obsessed fan, who fantasized of marrying her, but then found out she had a boyfriend from one of his coworkers. What’s most disturbing is that the guy actually had 2 guns on hand, 2 fully loaded magazines, and a hunting knife. I was disgusted to find out that The Plaza Live at the time had no metal detectors, and no pat downs, they just checked people’s bags. Of course, many people, including myself, were outraged that this happened, and part of me felt like suing The Plaza Live for having inadequate security. All this happened only a couple days before The Pulse Nightclub shooting in the same town.
I talked to some of my coworkers about Christina’s death, and as it turned out, one of them actually met her in person one time. This coworker said that Christina was friends with someone in his family (I can’t recall if it was his daughter or niece), he even had a picture of them together, and I asked him if I could see it. He let me see it, and I was delighted to see Christina’s smiling face on that photo.
Adam Levine, Christina’s former coach on The Voice, was of course heartbroken over Christina’s death, and offered to pay for her funeral. Christina was buried in a private ceremony on June 16, 2016 at Berlin Cemetery in Berlin, New Jersey.
In early 2017, Christina’s family released her first posthumous song, Invisible, which would later have an animated music video. That year, Christina’s family released one posthumous EP, Side B, and her 1st posthumous (2nd overall) album, All Is Vanity. I, of course, bought them as soon as I could. A couple of my favorite songs on All Is Vanity are Echo, and Everybody Lies, while on Side B, I really like Invisible, I Only Miss You When I Breathe, and her cover of Jason Mraz’s I Won’t Give Up In April of 2017, Adam performed Hey Jude by The Beatles on The Voice with his team, in memory of Christina.
Earlier this year, Christina’s family released another posthumous single, Little Girl, which I bought only a couple days ago. Christina’s mother actually released a video a day before the song was released to talk about how much that song meant to her, and Christina. She goes on about how Christina was a toddler, she was worried that her mom was going to die because of her cancer at the time. It gets very emotional, and truth be told, I didn’t even watch the whole thing, because I didn’t think I would be able to take it.
A few days ago, I came across this Creepypasta reading on YouTube. It was titled, “Christina Grimmie Final Goodbye.” The story was basically, this guy hears about the death of Christina Grimmie, and a few months later, he discovers this playlist of alleged unlisted videos of Christina Grimmie, and he comes across this one video of hers that was uploaded on that day. He clicks on the video, and he sees Christina in her room, her face covered in blood, she’s crying hysterically, and choking on her own words. Basically, Christina is thanking her fans for all the love they’ve given her over the past few months. She then tells them that she wants them to be strong, that she’ll always remember all the good times she had going on tour seeing their smiling faces, and that she’s sorry she never got the chance to say goodbye. The guy is confused as to how this video was uploaded months after Christina’s death. The video eventually starts buffering, and he reloads the page, only for the video, and playlist, to suddenly vanish.
Of course, people were outraged over this Creepypasta reading, saying that the guy was only profiting off of Christina’s death. While I can understand their point, I actualy enjoyed the video, it felt very uplifting, and truth be told, I wish that story was based on a true story. What that story said that Christina said actually did sound like something Christina would say. I tried looking up the original story, but no luck, it must have gotten removed because of Christina’s angry fans.
A couple days ago, Scribbler released a video on YouTube of a big brony collab cover of “You Will Be Found from the Broadway musical, Dear Even Hansen, to raise money for The Trevor Project, a charity dedicated to help prevent suicide from those in the LGBTQ community. I ended up leaving a comment that consisted of a quote from one of Christina’s songs. The quote was, “You are an extremely unique and individual person. And I’m telling you, don’t let those invalid opinions of others just bring you to the pits, OK? You’re strong, so own it. Love, me.” I also went on about how recently was the 2-year anniversary of her death, that she was my idol, and how I missed her so much. In hindsight, I think it may have been a little bit selfish to talk about Christina on a video that had nothing to do with her. Like I said earlier, I’ve been having a hard time getting her off my mind, and I want to get it off my chest.
We all miss you so much, Christina. Hope you’re singing with the angels as I’m typing this. <3 <3
Love,
Chris
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NBC’s The Voice: Season 14 Premiere
THE VOICE -- Season: 14 -- Pictured: (l-r) Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, Alicia Keys -- (Photo by: Art Streiber/NBC)
The four-time Emmy Award-winning “The Voice” returns with the strongest vocalists from across the country invited to compete in the blockbuster vocal competition show’s new season on February 27.
Superstar singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson makes her debut as a coach this season with season 12 winning coach and musical icon Alicia Keys taking a red chair alongside the show’s returning coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, and host Carson Daly.
The show’s innovative format features five stages of competition: the first begins with the Blind Auditions, then the Battle Rounds, Knockouts, Playoffs and, finally, the Live Performance Shows.
During the Blind Auditions, the decisions from the musician coaches are based solely on voice and not on looks. The coaches hear the artists perform, but they don’t get to see them — thanks to rotating chairs. If a coach is impressed by the artist’s voice, he/she pushes a button to select the artist for his/her team. At this point, the coach’s chair will swivel so that he/she can face the artist he/she has selected. If more than one coach pushes his/her button, the power then shifts to the artists to choose which coach they want to work with. If no coach pushes his/her button, the artist is eliminated from the competition.
THE VOICE -- "Blind Auditions" -- Pictured: (l-r) Adam Levine, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton -- (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC)
Once the teams are set, the battle is on. The coaches dedicate themselves to developing their team of artists, giving them advice and sharing the secrets of their success, along with help from their celebrity advisers. During the Battle Rounds, the coaches will pit two of their own team members against each other to sing the same song together in front of a studio audience. After the vocal battle, the coach must choose which of his/her singers will advance to the next round of competition, while the losing artist is available to be stolen by another coach. Each coach has two steals available during the Battle Rounds.
At the end of the Battle Rounds, only the strongest members of each coach’s roster remain and proceed to the Knockout Rounds. Here, the artists will be paired against a teammate once more, but this time they will select their own songs to perform individually while their direct competitor watches and waits. They are vying for their coach’s confidence and decision to take them to the final and crucial round before the live shows, the Playoffs.
One superstar universal adviser will be on hand to work with all of the coaches and their teams as they prepare the artists for this challenge. But the coaches alone will choose the winner and the artist not selected will be available to be stolen by another coach.
Each coach has one steal available during the Knockout Rounds.
In the Playoff Rounds, the top 20 artists will compete to secure a spot in the Live Shows. Artists will perform and the coaches will then select three of their five artists to complete their roster and move on to the final phase of the competition — the Live Shows.
Watch the official season premiere trailer:
In the final live performance phase of the competition, the top 12 artists will compete each week against each other during a live broadcast. The television audience will vote to save their favorite artists. Three artists with the lowest number of votes will be eligible for the “Instant Save.” These artists will each perform a new song that represents why they should earn the save. America will then have the opportunity to save their favorite performer by tweeting out #VoiceSave along with the artist’s name. The singers with the lowest number of votes will be sent home each week. In the end, one will be named “The Voice” and will receive the grand prize of a recording contract.
"The Voice" is a presentation of MGM Television, Talpa Media USA Inc., Warner Horizon Unscripted & Alternative Television. The series was created by John de Mol, who serves as executive producer along with John de Mol, Mark Burnett, Audrey Morrissey, Lee Metzger, Chad Hines, Amanda Zucker, Kyra Thompson and Stijn Bakkers.
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