Singer-songwriter grentperez is most commonly known for those two talents, but there is much more to uncover about the artist from down under. The Filipino singer is actually a loverboy born and raised in Australia, known by his fans for his chill, happy, and friendly exterior. Having grown up surrounded by karaoke and musically inclined people, it wasn’t long before he gave music a try as well, with eventual YouTube videos to document his progress.
When one of his singles took off in 2021, it led to the creation of a seven-track EP, and after continuous success, his energetic debut album in 2025. As an ever-growing artist, grentperez isn’t new to the music scene, but if he is new to your playlists, here are seven things you must know.
1. grentperez is Actually Grant Perez
Perez originally changed his Instagram handle as a joke with a friend, where he simply changed the “a” in his name to an “e.” It just so happened that when he changed it, Instagram implemented a policy where users were unable to change their usernames again for 30 days. During that time, he grew to like the look of the name with three “e”s and eventually decided to keep it.
Soon enough, the name stuck as his stage name, and more importantly, his public identity. As his fame grew, people knew him as “Grent,” and those close to him naturally still called him Grant. The name now stands as a separation between his public life and his private life – what he shows the world and what he shows those who want to know him on a deeper level. The names have always been close enough that the artist has never been bothered by people calling him Grent instead of Grant. Even while working, those around him started calling him Grent, and that became a signal of his work-life balance, something he’s come to appreciate.
2. A Musical Upbringing
You may not be able to tell simply from hearing him speak, but Perez was born and raised in western Sydney, Australia, and has lived there his entire life. Because his parents don’t hold strong Australian accents, neither does he, and instead, his accent has a hint of Australian twang with a base of a smooth American tone. The singer still lives with his parents in Australia, but can also be found working and enjoying life in California.
His family dynamic is encouragingly wholesome as well, with him as the youngest sibling in a group of three. His older brother is twelve years older than him, and he also has an older sister who is nine years older. Both of his siblings have musical talent that they nurtured over time and passed on. His brother learned guitar and taught his sister, and eventually, his sister taught him. Both can write music and were the encouraging force behind Perez putting himself out there while writing his own music and uploading videos of himself to YouTube. He started uploading covers on YouTube about ten years ago, with the occasional and rare original song, which eventually led to him releasing music on Spotify in 2021.
Perez may also owe thanks to his sister for his collaboration on “Girl at the Station” with Jeremy Passion. When he was learning how to play guitar with her assistance, the first song he learned how to play was Passion’s “Lemonade.”
3. Creating His Own Genre
Perez has never conformed to one genre, and that stems from his interest and desire to be a well-rounded artist with endless inspirations. Growing up in a musical household, he listened to any and all music around him. His siblings would play ‘90s neo-soul from D’Angelo and Musiq Soulchild, while his dad would constantly be playing groups like the Eagles and Bread. This even led to one of his favorite songs of all time being “Make It With You” by Bread.
Because he never listened to one genre, Perez doesn’t want to live within one genre either and instead has morphed one of his own. His songs often mix bossa nova with R&B with a splash of soul and jazz. Though along with these genre qualities, he likes to keep his personality woven into the music as well, which often leads to a happy and bright quality. Perez has never settled for fitting into mainstream ideals, and it is because of this that all his music is bursting with personality, whether that’s a lovestruck lullaby or a contemplative ballad.
4. Becoming grentperez
Perez’s first YouTube video was posted in 2014 and titled “JAMnominated Video,” and from there, he uploaded cover after cover, building his following and viewership. It was six years later, when COVID-19 began to keep people indoors, that Perez wondered how he could connect with people on a deeper level. In passing, he saw another creator filming sing-you-to-sleep videos and realized he occasionally does that for his girlfriend over FaceTime, so he could do the same. Once he began creating these, more and more people began to enjoy his content and were led to his music.
That eventually led to the fateful day in September of 2021 when he released his single “Cherry Wine.” To this day, he doesn’t know specifically why it went incredibly viral, but people started using it as a TikTok audio, and it took off from there. The song was created in GarageBand, and the trumpet heard in the song is actually not a trumpet but his mouth. Perez was making music purely from his heart and what he had access to, but it was after this that he started working with producers and letting them guide his music.
Though during this time, he ended up feeling more removed from the process and the songs themselves. This led to the creation of his first EP, When We Were Younger, and instead of looking at this time in his life as a loss or with regret, he used that time as a moment of learning. In 2025, grentperez released his debut album, Backflips in a Restaurant, with which he toured the world. Now, his priority is to keep his passion at the forefront when writing and creating, so the music is bound to be authentic.
5. Letting Loose With Cars
Truly, it is hard to be a fan of grentperez and not know about his love for cars. Perez is very opinionated about his love and obsession with retro cars. On his side Instagram, and occasionally on his main Instagram, he will post about the coolest cars that he has seen. Currently, the singer is driving a 1997 Toyota JZX100 Mark II imported from Japan, but he also owns a Honda Jazz, known in America as a Honda Fit. Since he lives in Australia, he has to follow their laws, which are stricter and allow for a limited variety of cars, but luckily, this isn’t holding him back.
Perez loves cars so much that he even owns his own car simulator and keeps it at his house. He says that he bought his “sim” to try drifting and racing on a track, but also because he can do whatever he wants and learn the mechanics of different cars without dying. To date, it’s one of his favorite purchases.
6. Art Outside of Music
Perez has been documenting his physical art nearly as long as he has been sharing his musical talent. On his side Instagram account, grantispelantis, drawings can be seen all the way back to 2017. Each drawing has skilled shading and unique viewpoints, though a lot of the art focuses on either people or his other big interest, cars.
He isn’t only talented at drawing, but he has also worked with digital art as well as painting, both of which can also be seen on his side Instagram. Over the years, Perez has documented his talent progressing and improving, but also how his personal artistic style has evolved. Perez’s sketches used to be purely in a realistic style, but have turned into quirky cartoonish drawings that really give the viewer a peek into Perez’s mind. Recently, viewers got to see his art style on full display during the full-album visualizer for Backflips in a Restaurant, as he painted a massive mural to represent every song on the album.
7. In the Mood for Love
Apart from music, Perez loves romance, but naturally, this weaves its way into his art. A lot of his music uses inspiration from romance and romcom movies, and the realism he finds in them. Amongst his favorite movies is 50 First Dates, but another iconic movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, led to the creation of “Clementine,” one of his most popular songs to date. The same inspiration struck for a more recent song, “Girl at the Station,” while he was watching the anime Your Name.
Perez’s love for directed romance went so far as to lead to “Movie Scene,” a song packed with film references and actor names. The track is framed as a full film with the plot of having a love that is so cinematic and quirkily perfect, it’s almost like a movie. To make the situation sweeter, Perez has been in a relationship for a long time now and consistently writes music about the person he loves. Over time, Perez has created a soundtrack for his own relationship in which he can dance into the night, more perfect than any curated movie scene.
Though grentperez has been releasing music for about a decade, there’s never a bad time to begin tuning in to the Aussie crooner’s discography. To keep up with grentperez, he can be found on Instagram and TikTok and his debut studio album, Backflips in a Restaurant, can be listened to on Spotify and Apple Music.
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