JFH News: Grace Graber Debuts Second Full-Length Original Album, "Sophomore Year"

Grace Graber Debuts Second Full-Length Original Album, "Sophomore Year"

NEWS SOURCE: Mary Nikkel Media
November 6, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Grace Graber, president of a new class of Christian pop punk artists, released her second full-length album Sophomore Year on November 6, 2026. You can stream the collection of songs at https://slinky.to/SophomoreYear.

Don't let the fact that most of these nine songs are fresh to listeners' ears fool you: Grace's Sophomore Year was three years in the making. Grace came up with the concept to center her second album — known colloquially in the industry as a sophomore album — around a school year during a writing session with Josiah Prince of Disciple three years ago. The metaphor felt right.

"Sophomore year is when you're still new, but you're gaining confidence and traction with who you are," the singer and songwriter explains. "At least, that's how I felt in school. In high school, my sophomore year sucked. I failed my freshman year, so I was in a specific program. But I know socially, I was a social butterfly. So sophomore year is for when you're still trying to figure yourself out and figure out what you love, but you have also come into your own a little bit."

In her musical career, Grace Graber's freshman season certainly held a lot of learning. While moving to Nashville and establishing herself as one of the hardest-working musicians in the scene through the release of her self-made debut The Breakthrough, Grace Graber skyrocketed to streaming success with her heartfelt punk covers of worship classics. Meanwhile, K-LOVE Podcasts brought her on board to record her own podcast about the intersection between music, faith and mental health, titled Breaking Through with Grace Graber.

Through all of it, she was cutting her teeth on the highs and lows of being an independent artist, experiencing the rejections and frequent reroutes that come with that territory.

She says, "With The Breakthrough being my first album, released independently, I was fresh to town. I was getting all these revelations of what the industry is actually like. I was getting so frustrated, and I was like, 'Here I am, releasing an album about breaking through when I feel like nothing is allowing me to break through.'"

The rapid-fire rock song "Fire Drill" came from hitting one of those walls.

"I wrote that after getting a wake-up call through getting really hurt by people I did not expect to be hurt by," Grace says of the song. "And it's like, 'now I know that's just not for me,' you know?"

Unexpectedly, a posture of worship is what shifted everything for Grace. When she took worship hits like "Gratitude" by Brandon Lake and began expressing her praise with her own personal punk rock voice, the social channels she'd long been ubiquitous on for music and mental health advocacy exploded. So did her perceptions of who she was and the community that was surrounding her.

"It was eye-opening to find out that the place I was really mad at was where I actually belong. I belong in Christian music. I know that, point blank, whether it's hard or not," Grace states clearly. "I found confidence. I found people to uplift me. I started the podcast. And I realized I had it all wrong: I was making it super about me. There's a time and place to do that artistically, but I was really focused on how hurt I was, not on how to get out of it. Then suddenly, I was in a place where we were talking about nothing but healing with people who were there to help me heal."

That's where Sophomore Year was truly born: from a place of healing the broken pieces. That refreshed perspective has already been evident with confident rock rager "Jericho" and the deeply heartful "Make Believe," which is dedicated to the many veterans of Christian rock who have surrounded Grace Graber in her journey — from Hawk Nelson, whose music God originally used to save her life, to a season where Adam Agee of Stellar Kart is helping develop and manage her artistry.

"I just was looking for validation in the wrong places, and I was looking to be accepted in the wrong places," Grace says, looking back on the early frustrations of her career. "It really is kind of like high school. You might feel like everyone's against you, or you feel like you're not fitting in. But the reality is, I had my friend group. I had my people. And while it may not feel like enough at first while you're in it, you ultimately are able to come out of it and say, 'that was more than enough.'"

The result of Grace Graber finding her place and her people with Sophomore Year resounds through every triumph of a track, from the aptly named album opener "Feels Like Highschool" to awestruck closers "Full Circle" and "All Stars." In particular, "All Stars" was co-written by Graber, Adam Agee, and Josiah Prince — placing her shoulder to shoulder with musicians who defined her own adolescence through Stellar Kart and Philmont songs.

Prince and Agee were part of a creative team for Sophomore Year which also included Grace Graber's longtime producer Blake Cross as well as Ross Black. As much as the album marks a milestone moment in Grace Graber's career, it's also a bit of a yearbook, looking back at what she's learned while launching her towards the next chapter. Many of these songs were written before the release of PUNK X PRAISE VOL 1, a project which fully clinched the belonging Grace had already been sensing.

"This is Grace: Pop Punk Princess," Grace says of who she was in era that birthed Sophomore Year. "I think writing-wise, I've grown a ton through writing with the people who literally wrote my favorite records. I'm just allowing the songs to be what they are and not trying to force it as much."

Grace concludes, "You can't heal until you're able just to like feel it and let it go. Let's move on, not in an 'it doesn't matter' way, but more in a 'this is good for me' way. It's still the beginning, but I'm also not a kid anymore."

With the amount of impact Grace Graber has already made in the span of two albums, it's impossible to imagine anything but more momentum — and more listeners feeling seen, heard, and supported along the way — in the years to come.

Stream Sophomore Year on your platform of choice at https://slinky.to/SophomoreYear. For all things Grace Graber, visit https://linktr.ee/gracegrabermusic.

About Grace Graber:

Grace Graber is a Christian punk artist known for her heartfelt original songs about mental health, redemption and faith alongside her unique pop-punk takes on worship tracks. Through her albums Sophomore Year (2026) and The Breakthrough (2024) and her celebrated K-LOVE Podcast Breaking Through With Grace Graber, Grace has cheered her listeners on as they walk out of shame and into the healing redemption of Jesus's unconditional love. In doing so, Grace Graber is passing along what she's been given: she chose not to die by suicide because of a Hawk Nelson song, and she survived depression and PTSD through the music of the same Christian rock bands she now collaborates with (including Hawk Nelson, Stellar Kart, and Disciple).

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For more info on Grace Graber, visit the JFH Indie Artists Database.