This morning was supposed to be a normal morning. I would wake up and get ready for work, just like I always did. I turned off my alarm and grabbed my phone to check up on all of my social media apps. When I opened up Facebook, within an instant my heart spun in a circle and then completely dropped to the ground. The very first post on the top of my news feed was an article from a magazine page reading, “Singer, Christina Grimmie, shot and killed after a concert in Orlando.”
I laughed for a second, “What? This can’t actually be true.” I thought as I was waiting for the magazine article to load. My heart started beating faster, then words finally showed up on my phone. It was true – she had been killed. It’s hard to even come up with the words to describe how it feels when you get the news that someone is gone. Like really gone, forever. She didn’t even see it coming. She didn’t get to tell her family, friends, or fans that she loved them one last time. In one simple moment, her life was overall because some crazy person decided to do something very selfish and stupid.
I had been a fan of Christina ever since 2010 when I stumbled across her YouTube videos, and I was amazed at the talent she had. She was the first person that I ever watched sing a cover of a song on YouTube, and I instantly fell in love with her voice as she sang “Party in the USA” with her Sonic the Hedgehog poster in the background. Then in 2011, her album “Find Me” came out which featured my favorite song of hers called, “Advice.” To this day, I still listen to that song. The song helped me through a time in my life when nothing was really going that great. I had just started ninth grade with some not-so-nice friends, and music, especially Christina’s song, helped me through everything that year. Christina went on to audition for the television show, “The Voice,” and I was rooting for her the entire way. I was so happy to see her getting more recognition for her amazing talent, and she deserved all of it.
Although today, the world has lost that beautiful voice and that awesome personality. Trust me, I’m not lying when I say that I’ve been constantly thinking about the bad news all day. I didn’t realize it would be so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that a person that I looked up to had been killed. How crazy right?
Even though her life had to end in such a tragic way, her life and her legacy are definitely not tragic. Her voice will continue to make our days happy when all of a sudden one of her songs comes on shuffle, or when you play her CD in your car. Her YouTube videos will continue to inspire young singers and YouTubers around the world to strive for their dreams and achieve them, just like Christina did. And I think that is the most amazing legacy anyone could have.
R.I.P. Christina Grimmie
