Just the Beginning

Just the Beginning is the debut studio album by then 13-year-old American singer-songwriter Grace VanderWaal, consisting of twelve original tracks. It is VanderWaal's first full-length project and follows her debut EP, Perfectly Imperfect (2016). The album was released on November 3, 2017, by Columbia Records and Syco Music, produced by Ido Zmishlany, Tim Sommers, Sean Douglas, Greg Wells and Gregg Wattenberg, among others. It debuted on the Billboard 200 albums chart at number 22. In advance of the album's release, VanderWaal released several singles from the album and promoted it with various live and broadcast appearances, and she further promoted it with her sold-out Just the Beginning Tour, which ran from November 2017 to February 2018. VanderWaal has writing credits for every song on Just the Beginning. Background and promotion By early 2017, VanderWaal began working on the album, telling Billboard that it will be "more produced ... really the same sound ... [but] less acoustic" than her debut EP, Perfectly Imperfect (2016). She has said that her process changed for the album from her previous efforts, because she was writing songs "on demand" with a collaborator: "I've never done this before; it's kind of weird to go into a room with usually a 30-year-old man and just be like 'Oh, let me open up about my life to you and write a super personal song!'" VanderWaal has writing credits for every song on Just the Beginning. On May 21, 2017, VanderWaal previewed "Burned" and "Just a Crush" at her benefit concert at The Valley Hospital in New Jersey. On June 21, as part of VidCon's opening show, YouTube OnStage, at Anaheim Convention Center in California, she premiered the first single from the album, "Moonlight". On July 20, 2017, she released her first official music video, for "Moonlight", which has accumulated more than 45 million views on YouTube. Her television promotions of the album began on August 15, with a return to America's Got Talent as a guest performer singing "Moonlight". She won the competition in 2016. On August 11, she released a second single from the album, "Sick of Being Told". On September 4, VanderWaal performed "Moonlight" on Live with Kelly and Ryan. She released a third single from the album, "So Much More Than This", on September 14. VanderWaal performed "Moonlight" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on September 18, 2017. She released a promotional single from the album, "Escape My Mind", on October 5, 2017.