Friday, March 29, 2024

Playing with heart

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Premier High School of Granbury senior and up-and-coming singer-songwriter Mikayla Griffin has played on stages all around the United States, from Las Vegas to New Orleans.

But her most impactful work is done at the Dallas Children’s Medical Center, where Griffin performs for young patients undergoing treatment. Griffin has been working with Ryan Seacrest Studios at the Medical Center for five years now.

The performances are meaningful both for the patients and the singer.

“Some of the kids can’t even come out ... they have to stay in their rooms,” Griffin said. “It’s broadcast to a couple of other hospitals, so they get to watch.

“It’s really, really sweet to see some of the kids come out and just sit there and watch. It just puts a smile on their face, and it’s a very emotional thing to be the agent that puts a smile on a kid’s face.”

A MUSICIAN FROM THE START

Griffin, 18, has been aware of the power of music since she was a child. Her grandfather was the bass player for Elvis impersonator Kraig Parker and toured Europe six times playing old standards.

“I didn’t go to Europe, but I saw some of the shows they did in the United States,” Griffin said. “I grew up watching that, and that’s what got me started.”

Her first gig came when she was 8, at a diner in Arlington. After her performance of “Labor of Love,” her grandpa said women were crying in the audience.

“As he puts it, ‘I knew we had a winning horse when I saw that,’” Griffin said.

Her music is a mix of different styles and influences – Griffin grew up listening to country singers like Miranda Lambert and Sarah Evans, but has since gravitated to indie bands like Tally Hall and synth-heavy groups like the Gorillaz.

PRESSURE TO PERFORM

Griffin said part of the reason she thinks her work at the Children’s Medical Center has such an impact on the kids is because “a lot of people look up to musicians and super-important people.

“I don’t think I’m at that level yet,” she joked. “We’re working on it.”

Griffin was on the other end of that experience when she had the opportunity to meet Lambert, which she described as a “scary” experience.

“I was playing at the House of Blues in Dallas, and I was actually playing one of her songs when she came in,” Griffin said. “She came walking in the back door with a party of 20 people or so, and she kind of ducked because she heard her song.

“The manager came out and said, ‘Why don’t you take a break? Miranda wants to meet you.’ She was super sweet.”

As nervous as she was to meet one of her idols, Griffin said she was even more nervous when she performed at the Children’s Medical Center for the first time.

“Whenever I go up there, I’ve got to talk to the people. I can’t just sing,” she said. “There’s kids there, and they’re looking up to you and expecting you to sing and be this amazing person, and it’s a lot of pressure to be that person.

“They need to get a good show.”

BUILDING A CAREER

Griffin has to balance her career with schoolwork. She lives in Cleburne and attended Cleburne High until this past year, when she transferred to Premier. She said touring and performing with her busy schedule can be “taxing on the brain,” but she knows she wants to make music for the rest of her life.

“If I can just have a position where I can live comfortably, and touch a few people with what I do, I’ll be happy,” she said. “If I got amazing fame, that would be awesome, but if I didn’t ... I don’t think that’s what my goal is.”

Her career has gotten off to a strong start. Griffin’s song “Entertain Me” was named a Top 5 Winner in the Great American Song Contest, and she has a full calendar of performances lined up.

Still, it’s taken awhile for her to realize that she might be able to make her dream of having a career in music into a reality.

“I’m still a little bit self-conscious about myself – I don’t know if I’ll ever get super-confident,” she said. “But I guess I realized I was good at what I was doing when I was 14 or 15 and doing shows at the House of Blues.

“I thought, you know, if I’m this young and doing this, I must be good at it.”

Griffin has other talents as well – she’s a budding artist, and said she’s filled notebooks around her room with drawings. But even that links back to music, in a way – she wants to work with a team of animators to make music videos for her songs.

For Griffin, music is a way of expressing herself and helping others heal. That’s what drives her work, be it while she performs at the House of Blues or at the Children’s Medical Center.

“I think that it’s kind of a healing thing for them,” she said. “It think it allows them to work through their emotions.

“Whenever (music) really touches you, it allows you to work through that emotion you’re having, through the chorus and the ups and downs and the melodies. Something about melodies feels like emotions.”

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