Grace Valerie, the Russian-born singer of “When the Lights Go Down,” cracked into the mainstream with help from American Idol’s Randy Jackson – and is now an independent artist making her own music.

Grace Valerie Exclusive

“Randy discovered me when I moved to the United States about like five years ago, and it’s been a great journey,” Valerie told uInterview in an exclusive interview. “I think we did a lot of great stuff together…. Now, however, I’m doing a lot of songwriting by myself. So right now I’m in this process of creating my own music and kind of like following my lead, but Randy definitely helped me so much.”

One of the new songs that Valerie wrote for this next stage of her career is the love ballad/club song “Magic,” which the singer describes as “bright” and “completely positive.” Valerie predicts that not only will people relate to her upbeat lyrics in “Magic,” but they’ll enjoy dancing to its infectious beat.

“It’s a great smash for summer, like a club song, but the lyrics that I wrote are so genuine and this song is completely positive, an incredible love song,” Valerie said. “It’s an expression of pure love and it’s just so positive. I cannot even find any other words. It’s just so bright. […] ‘Magic’ is all about the magic of love.”

“Magic” will be the lead-off single for Valerie’s new EP, which she plans to release in August. Like “Magic,” the rest of the tracks that Valerie is writing for the album will have a positive vibe and beats fit for the clubs.

One of Valerie’s musical influences in her journey coming into her own as an artist with genuine lyrics set to dance music is pop star Miley Cyrus. “She’s great. I feel as a musician you should be true to yourself. You should do what you love to do,” Valerie explained. “And your fans, people in general, will always see if you’re not honest about what you’re doing or what you’re saying, so I’m always really supportive of people who are not afraid of being who they are and do what they love to do.”