For those of you that may now know, G.R.L. are an English-Canadian-American group who sadly lost one of their band members Simone in September last year due to suicide. They've released their first single back 'Lighthouse' which is a tribute to Simone.

Such a lovely video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ9AGuG59i8

I really like both the song and the video. It's a lovely tribute to Simone.

I'm crying

Still can't get my head around why Simone would end her life in such a way.

Such a waste. Also let me add that GRL had the official best selling song by a girl group last year with Ugly Heart!

It's so sad and amazing.

It's all good and well saying its a song about Simone - but it was already in the writing process before Simone died. There were rumours of a song called "Lighthouse" when "Ugly Heart' was doing well. So, all the pretence about it being 'about Simone' and so on, just seems false and distasteful to me.

I hate to say it, but it feels like this whole thing is using Simone's death as a promotional tactic.

It's a good song, and the video made me a bit teary. I wondered how they would handle things because no matter what they would've done, there would've been some weirdness for fans and observers alike. But this is a good way drawing attention to something too many people struggle with alone. I don't know about the timing or whatever but it's a solid song and comes off sincerely from the girls, which is mostly what matters.

when ugly heart did well where?
it only charted here after simons death. and as far as im aware 'lighthouse' was in production around november time.

Really wasn't it charting in the top 10 in the mid-week chart before Simone died?
It was quite big in Australia (which is when I was referring to and 'Lighthouse' was rumoured to be a new US single on other music forums). I'm sure that was around July time!

Ugly Heart was actually the 10th best selling song of 2014 in Australia. I was really surprised it wasn't bigger anywhere else. I'm glad GRL are still going, but Simone is a big loss. She definitely brought something special to the group.

Lovely song a video, it's really quite moving.

It's also the biggest selling single by a girlband ever in Australia (4x Platinum). I think had Simone not passed, Ugly Heart would have been huge. They got a deal with iHeart Radio in the US for them to play the song on their radio channels so it probably would have done really well but it's always that 'what if'.

What a horrible thing to say. I really don't think that's how it is, I think they are 4 heartbroken girls who are trying their best to honour Simone the best way they can.

Exactly! They really can't win in a situation like this. If they do a song in memory of her, some will say they're exploiting her death, if they carried on as normal with a new upbeat song, some would say they don't care that Simone died.

I've just watched the video and I think it's actually pretty tasteful. It would have been worse if they'd just replaced Simone and carried on as normal.

Exactly. I think the video is a great tribute. The song might have been released at some point even if Simone was still alive but that'll always be a what if scenario.

They had to do something like this and I think it's been done well. If they had done an up tempo song then it would have felt strange.

I don’t believe it matters if the song was written before or after Simone’s death. The lyrics to the song offer inspiration to people suffering with depression or to someone who knows someone suffering from depression. I think this is a beautiful tribute to Simone.

Well it couldn't exactly have charted before Simone's death because it was only released in the UK on August 30th. Simone died on September 5th. Ugly Heart was top ten on iTunes practically all week and peaked at #4 in the midweeks (before Simone passed away). The news about Simone probably had zero impact on it's chart position. I think it sold about 300K in the UK, which is pretty amazing for an unknown girl group who didn't do any promotional appearances over here.

I wasn't being negative . I was asking that poster a question.

The song would have done well regardless!

I am also imagining how even better it could have done if more radio stations picked it up .
For example the disgusting radio one who shun anything outside the UK if it isn't dance or obscure music. Snobs.

I think its a lovely song, and the perfect choice to follow up and also as a tribute to Simone. im happy they are going ahead as a 4 piece.

What a beautiful song and very tasteful video to simone and those suffering from pain .


I don't know how the band will do , but I wish them all the success.


Song is worthy of top 10