A Valley upbringing fuels a grunge revival
*Violet Grohl* and has spent much of her life on the road with her father's band.
Violet Grohl, the 20-year-old daughter of Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl who grew up in Tarzana, has released her debut alt-rock album 'Be Sweet to Me.' Critics are calling it a genuine talent that stands on its own.
*Violet Grohl* and has spent much of her life on the road with her father's band.
The 11-track album, released through Aurora Records via Republic Records, leans heavily into late-1980s and 1990s alt-rock. Critics have compared the sound to artists ranging from Courtney Love to PJ Harvey to Billie Eilish.
"I guess it can be seen as a pretext for the album. Just … be sweet," Grohl told the Los Angeles Times about the title. "But at the same time, it's literally just what my best friend and I say to each other when we're calling each other idiots."
Grohl has been singing since she was a baby. Her mother, Jordyn Blum, wrote in a baby book that Violet was "babbling and singing" at 8 or 9 months old, according to the LA Times.
Her early musical education came at home in the Valley. She took piano lessons from a teacher who played any Beatles song she wanted. She later picked up ukulele, guitar, bass, drums, and lap dulcimer.
Her father introduced her to artists like Björk and Amy Winehouse when she was 4 or 5 years old.
"I remember sitting in front of his computer, and he was talking about how she was from Iceland," Grohl said of Björk. "I was like, 'Oh, she's the princess of Iceland. That was my idea of Björk from a young age.'"
By adolescence, Grohl was helping the Foo Fighters' tour manager on the road. She handed out per diems, carried envelopes, and brought her father towels after shows.
She began writing songs around age 13, using a one-track recorder to make cassette demos. She then learned to use Logic production software, which she said "opened up this whole new world."
Grohl's first major public performance came in May 2018. Then 12 years old, she joined her father onstage at a benefit concert for the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital to sing Adele's "When We Were Young."
Weeks later, she sang backup on several tracks during a Foo Fighters show. She described the experience in the LA Times:
"It wasn't my first time singing on a stage, but it was my first time singing on a stage with that many people in [the audience]. I was really scared, but once it was happening, and once it was over, I was like, 'Oh, this is what I want to do. This is my purpose.'"
In 2020, Grohl joined surviving members of Nirvana at the Art of Elysium Gala to sing "Heart-Shaped Box" at age 13. The performance drew widespread attention for her cool, authoritative vocal delivery.
The following year, she recorded a duet of "Nausea" by L.A. punk band X with her father. In 2022, she opened a tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins with a rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."
"Be Sweet to Me" was produced by Justin Raisen, a producer known for his work with Kim Gordon, Charli XCX, and Sky Ferreira. Grohl's father connected her with Raisen, a detail the singer addressed directly in interviews.
"Decide for yourself if I'm worthy," she told the Forty-Five, according to The Guardian.
The album spans multiple alt-rock subgenres across roughly 30 minutes:
The Guardian called Grohl a "genuine talent" but noted the album's nostalgia sometimes felt "too reverent, too predictable." Far Out gave the album four stars, writing that Grohl "proves to be a virtuoso storyteller with a promising ear for 1990s grunge."
The LA Times went further, noting that Grohl's vocals "can bellow like Courtney Love, murmur like PJ Harvey or turn ethereal like Elizabeth Fraser."
Grohl has described herself as "ultra-sensitive to the energy of places, people and even the long-deceased." She is an avid fan of paranormal media, starting with "Ghost Adventures" on the Travel Channel.
She told the LA Times about a trip to a hunting estate near the Scottish Highlands:
"It is the most haunted place I've ever been in my whole life. I walked into the house, and it was like a blast of cold air, chills everywhere. I heard footsteps and disembodied voices, I saw shadows, I had crazy f–ing dreams."
That interest in the eerie and surreal influences her songwriting. The lead single "595" was inspired by a vintage T-shirt advertising a phone sex line, with lyrics that evoke the mood of David Lynch's "Twin Peaks."
Grohl's album is available now on all major streaming platforms.
This story was reported from Tarzana, home to the Grohl family during Violet's childhood.
This article was generated with AI assistance.