Rising alt-pop musician Nolo Grace has released her new single, “Don’t Wanna Go Home.” Co-written with Natalie Elaine Bortolotti and produced alongside Martin Wave and BlakeQuake, the song serves as the turning point for her love life and her love of music. “Don’t Wanna Go Home” is now available on every digital streaming platform.
Written about the evening Nolo Grace met her husband and co-producer Martin Wave, “Don’t Wanna Go Home,” is a love letter in every sense. “The song is inspired by the night I started talking to my now-husband. We were out together with mutual friends, and we started talking and didn’t want the night to end. The song captures the feeling of awkwardness, uncertainty, and excitement I felt that night.” Three months later, the couple decided to get married as Los Angeles went on lockdown.
A surreal energy encapsulates “Don’t Wanna Go Home,” as Grace displays raw vulnerability with lyrics like, “It’s hard to connect when I’m afraid to lose.” Sleek production fused with elements of rock, R&B and hip-hop carry her voice like an ethereal tide across an ocean of emotionality.
The single marks the start of a new stage of life for Nolo Grace, whose personal journey was filled with dark memories of growing up the child of two conservative Korean parents who spoke very little English and held her to high standards. The violence at home, and her mother’s struggles with schizophrenia and other mental health issues, fueled a negative vision of the world and herself. At the age of 14, Nolo Grace received a scholarship to a boarding school and left home. She equated safety and stability with hard work, which turned into workaholism. After touring around the world singing in choirs and attending the Tanglewood Institute for voice, she decided to leave music for a more emotionally and materially secure path. She received two Ivy League degrees and started her career in international development, consulting for former presidents of African countries, and then eventually ended up in the business world working on Wall Street and as a corporate executive. The struggles with negative self-vision and inability to live up to impossible standards became a vicious cycle that permeated every aspect of her life. After leaving her corporate career behind, Nolo Grace became nomadic and ultimately settled in LA, dedicating herself to personal and spiritual development. She re-established her relationship with music and herself, discovered music production, and found love. Her outer world started to mirror the developments from inner work.
During the pandemic, a dark time in history, she found the light in creating a new chapter of her life as an artist. “‘Don’t Wanna Go Home’ is meaningful because it played a big role in me deciding to pursue a career as an artist. It captures the sonics and the spirit of this phase of my musical journey,” she describes.
Earlier this year, Nolo Grace made her debut with the single “Wake Up,” featuring Sean Kingston, followed by “Miss Perfect.” This third single, “Don’t Wanna Go Home,” continues the empowering saga of Nolo Grace and is now available on digital streaming platforms. Keep up with Nolo Grace on Instagram or on her website at NoloGrace.com.