Violet Grohl knows the world considers her a nepo baby, thanks to her dad Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana fame, but she doesn’t let the label hurt her feelings.
“Obviously, doors are open for me because of my last name,” the 19-year-old rising singer-songwriter told The Forty-Five in a new interview. “It’s not something I’m ever going to hide behind or say, ‘No, I worked so hard for this! You guys shouldn’t say that! That hurts my feelings.’”
“I don’t care, I really don’t,” she added. “I’ve heard that since I was 13 years old. So call me a nepo baby all you want. It’s ‘whatever’ to me. I just hope that eventually people will give me a shot.”
Grohl, the eldest daughter of Dave Grohl and his wife Jordyn Blum, is gearing up for the release of her debut album, Be Sweet to Me, which drops May 29. Last month, she shared the single “595” and an accompanying music video directed by Nikki Milan Houston.
The forthcoming album, recorded across 2024 and 2025, is inspired by alternative rock from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, including the Pixies, Soundgarden, Cocteau Twins, and the Breeders.
Grohl said she wanted to draw on a sound she grew up with. “There’s something so powerful about that period of music, from the messaging to the visuals, it’s authentic and raw,” she said in a statement announcing the album.
No stranger to the road, joining performances of Foo Fighters over the years, Grohl will hit the festival circuit this summer. She’s scheduled to play at Belgium’s Pukkelpop in August before gigs in Reading and Leeds in the United Kingdom. In September, she’s on the line-up for Atlanta’s Shaky Knees festival.
“Come see me live,” Grohl challenged her doubters. “Come listen to my music and then you can decide for yourself if I’m worthy of this career or not.”