A chance encounter with Greyson
Everyone has some kind of memory of Greyson Chance. The American singer-songwriter is, after all, a prime example of internet virality in 2010 as a 12-year-old who rose to public consciousness with his rendition of “Paparazzi.” But behind his rise is a vulnerability that unraveled later on in his career.
I do remember witnessing that moment, but it was on his 2017 song “Seasons” when I truly felt Chance’s power: in a room with my sister in Taipei, sitting on the floor, soaking in a personal memory with Chance singing in the background, “I move forward like the seasons.”
There’s no need to read between the lines. His words lay bare his soul with lyrical themes that swing back and forth into loss and loneliness, recovery and growth, heartbreak and self-discovery. I never saw it coming, but he continued to write some honest, heartfelt music that resonated with people—“Good as Gold,” “White Roses,” “Bad to Myself,” Honeysuckle,” and, just this month, “Savanna.”
“‘Savanna’ is a beacon of light and encouragement, and it’s what I needed to get through this year,” he says.
“I wrote it like, right before my lung collapsed, and so the timing on that is kind of funny because during that period, the song really was my lifeline toward music, and it’s just about reminding yourself to keep going, to move forward,” he says.
That perseverance from overcoming a harrowing health scare in January 2025 (“My lung collapsed and I was in the hospital for a few weeks.”), alongside feelings of uncertainty on how the rest of the year would pan out, put things into perspective for Chance.
“I’ve gone through so many different chapters and so many different iterations of my career, so many ups and so many downs,” he reveals. “But now, I finally have a sense of appreciation that maybe I just didn’t have in the past. Or maybe I had it, but I just wasn’t as present in it.”
This is your third time back in Manila. How does it feel?
Coming back to Manila feels equal parts emotional and also familiar. This is a place I’ve come to a lot whenever I was a kid, and I think the connection I have with my fans here is something I really cherish and so it almost feels like a reunion.
So 2025 has been quite a year with your health issues as well as your split with your management. Would you say this has been one of your most significant challenges in your artistic journey?
This year in many ways has been equal parts liberating and equal parts challenging. In January, I went through a pretty severe health crisis where my lung collapsed and I was in the hospital for a few weeks. And I think during that time I was so unsure over what 2025 was going to look like.
Now, as I’m closing out the year and have been able to look at the things I’ve accomplished, I feel an immense sense of gratitude toward myself and just sticking it through and staying true to the vision.
Do you have definite goals in the next few years?
I just want to keep going. I want to keep on doing what I’ve done and what I’ve learned to do. I want to keep on being free with my artistic endeavors.
This is the first time that I’m fully independent in my career, and that means the art is going to be the purest it’s ever been.
You just dropped “Savanna.” Tell us about the new song.
“Savanna” is a beacon of light and encouragement, and it’s what I needed to get through this year.
In the song, I’m kind of pleading with this unknown entity, Savanna, and I’m saying: Don’t give up on me. Let me try, keep me on your mind. And in many ways, that’s kind of me talking to myself.
And I’ve written things like that maybe in the past, like I have a song called “Good as Gold” that I kind of think is a bit of a sister song. But this, I think, is the song I’m going to need for my 30s… for the next decade and next chapter of my life.
How do you keep your creative energy flowing these days, especially on tour?
I actually wish I could stop my creative energy. But I’m constantly hearing music. I’m constantly thinking of lyrics. I’ve never really run into feeling not inspired.
I think the most important thing is just reminding yourself that you have to live, you have to get up in the morning and experience life, and go through hardship and heartbreak. Put yourself out there and take these experiences from your life, even if they’re painful and they’re hard to talk about, and let the music be a representation of that.
What kind of self-care routines do you follow to be kinder to yourself?
The biggest thing I do now, and I encourage this for every artist, is… I think it’s really hard to let yourself stay open. So just lean on people who love you in your life. I think that’s something that I’ve really tried to focus more on.
What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened on this tour?
I debuted “Savanna” at the Shanghai show in China, and then we had a day off after—and then, I had the next show in Nanjing. And when I played “Savanna,” all of the fans in the room knew every word.
It blew my mind because the song wasn’t even out! They had just seen videos on social media, and they memorized all the lyrics. That was such a reminder to me of how beautiful music is, and how lucky I am that people cared enough to, in a different language, learn these lyrics and practice them.
