Sophia Grace Brownlee: Redefining “Pop Princess”?

The recent Grammy Awards show saw its shares of highs and lows. From Nicki Minkaj’s completely unexpected and utterly baffling performance of “Roman Takes a Holiday”, to Adele’s fairly predictable sweeping of pretty much every major category out there. Arguably, the show’s biggest “Aww” moment, however, came on the red carpet. Between E! interrogating artists about what shade of nail polish they were wearing and LL Cool J hyping up the waiting crowd, stood two interviewers of slightly… lower profile (literally). Sophia Grace Brownlee and her cousin Rosie Grace McClelland, who have been featured several times on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and served as correspondents for her at the American Music Awards, represented her show at the Grammys, where they held court with celebrities like Rihanna and Maroon 5.

The pair, who hail from England, rose to fame when a video of them performing Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” took YouTube by storm (it now has over 31 million views). Since then, the precocious pair — Sophia Grace is eight, and Rosie is five, have appeared on Ellen to perform “Super Bass” as well as Keri Hilson’s “Turn My Swag On” and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. Sophia Grace acts as the vocals for the duo, while Rosie is her “hype girl”, meaning she dances to Sophia’s songs and provides moral support. While Rosie is a woman of few words, Sophia Grace’s personality is larger than life, with vocals to match, and both girls impress and entertain the audience with their American accent impressions and enthusiastic discussions about Princess costuming.

Below, check out clips of the young girls’ performances — the home video clip that started their upward swing, the subsequent performance with Nicki Minaj on Ellen, and their rendition of “Turn My Swag On”, during which Sophia Grace inserts her own rap about rising to the top of the industry. The clip of the two interviewing performers on the red carpet of the Grammys, however, is the real showstopper of the group. Surrounded by a world of jaded celebrities, the innocent light of two young girls who genuinely cannot believe their good fortune to be in such company shines blindingly bright, and charm their way into the hearts of even the biggest of stars. One of my personal favorite moments is when Sophia turns to her mom and sincerely asks “Is Lil’ John Lil’ Wayne’s brother?” on the American Music Awards red carpet.

Take a look at these videos and revel in the unprecedented talent and stage presence of an adorable eight-year-old, while being transported back to a time when it didn’t occur to you to be self conscious or nervous, and matching your tutu to your plastic tiara was your biggest day to day concern.

The clip that started it all

Appearing on Ellen with Nicki Minaj

Rapping “Turn My Swag On”

On the red carpet at the Grammys