Fun & Famous

AN ODE TO CHRISTINA GRIMMIE

About five years ago, I heard her voice for the first time. I was indulging in one of my guilty pleasures (YouTube-discovering YouTube stars) and suddenly she was there. Christina. A young American girl with a voice that had such ridiculous volume that I listened to her covers all afternoon. On her little piano in her bedroom, with black panda eyes and terrible equipment. But that didn't matter at all. Her voice enchanted me.

I started following her on YouTube. I saw how she developed her talent more and more. Bought more expensive microphones. Three years ago, she came out with a cover of David Guetta's Titanium that I must have listened to 450 times with goosebumps. This chick simply could not go unnoticed. And thankfully, she didn't. I thought: finally, when I heard in 2014 that she was participating in the American version of The Voice. She came in third, and suddenly all of America knew her name. Just as she had hoped. After that, she got a record deal with Adam Levine's label, the singer of Maroon 5. Even Lil Wayne tried to sign her for his label Young Money Entertainment. I saw the same thing happen with Jessie J. With Justin Bieber. With Esmée Denters. Artists you follow on YouTube who break through completely a few years later (it ended a bit differently for Esmée) so you can tell everyone: ‘I told you he/she was going to be big.’

‘On Saturday, Sander came to me with his phone, his face tight. ‘Look, eh, you have to see this.’’

Over the years, I have let everyone hear Christina. My mother, my sister, friends, in-laws. Under the pretense of: you have to hear what kind of talent this kid has, it’s out of this world. I listened to her voice at least once every weekend.

On Saturday, Sander came to me with his phone, his face tight. ‘Look, eh, you have to see this.’ I read the words: The Voice singer Christina Grimmie (22) shot dead. I feel my eyes getting wet. Is this real? Is this REALLY real? It is real. A deranged fan, one Kevin James Loibl from Florida, decided that Christina should no longer live. And then he shot himself. The rest of the weekend, I am angry. Listening to her song Titanium, in which the lyrics ‘I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away’, followed by: ‘You shoot me down but I won’t fall, I am titanium’ suddenly takes on a very ambiguous meaning. I see on her YouTube accountcomplete idiots coming by who even make jokes about it. Meanwhile, the comments under her videos have thankfully been disabled.

‘I have no words for this’

This morning it was announced that Christina welcomed the shooter with open arms during the meet & greet because she wanted to give him a hug. I have no words for this. I really boil when I read things like this and I’m putting it mildly. But remembering someone with anger is not right. Christina’s body may no longer be in this world, but her powerful voice will sound forever, Kevin. You can’t take that away from anyone.

Since there are probably people reading this post thinking: who is Christina Grimmie actually? Listen and shiver, people. Listen and shiver.