Link to article on Billboard.com
One of the pictures from the photoshoot was used for a brief text about Grace's then-manager, Jake Udell on Billboard's website. (You have to scroll to a little more than halfway down the page to get to it). Grace had the following to say about Jake: "Jake doesn’t think the way most people in the industry do, that makes him stand out to so many young artists." The other artist in the picture is "Gallant" who was also managed by Jake at that time. Justin Bettman took the photo at Miss Lily’s 7A in New York. That article was published on Billboard's website on October 6, 2017.
In another article in the Music blog "The Lefsetz Letter", later in September 2017. Jake gave an interesting bit of backstory about how he came to manage Grace: "Jake manages 13-year-old Grace VanderWaal, winner of “America’s Got Talent" in 2016. He pursued it. Was a joke in the competition. People wouldn’t even take his phone calls. But after getting Grace a gig at the Special Olympics in Austria and hooking her up with Cirque du Soleil, she ultimately signed with him. Took six months. And when he finally flew to meet Grace herself, previously her attorney wouldn’t allow it, she was bored and thought he wasn’t big enough until… He asked her what she wanted to do. Everybody was TELLING Grace what she should do! She felt caged. She was unhappy with the choice of single; well Jake said they could make their own video of another track and put it online. WE CAN DO THAT? Yup, you can build your own website, and communicate with your fans, she was afraid of the label, no one was on her side, and that’s what a manager does, protect the interests of the artist whilst brainstorming opportunities."
