Grant Sharples Interview
Grant Sharples is a freelance writer with bylines in Stereogum, Pitchfork, The Ringer, and more. He’s just started as the indie music columnist at Uproxx.
How did you get to where you are today, professionally?
I broke into music writing by contributing to my high school newspaper during my senior year. I was known as the "music guy" and the "review guy," and I had a lot of fun with it. I remember just DM'ing Broken Bells on Facebook and crossing my fingers for an interview. Obviously, that didn't happen!
That led me to major in journalism at the University of Missouri and work as the music beat writer and eventually the music columnist at my college magazine, The Maneater. I used those clips to get an internship at Paste in 2017, which led to freelancing for places like Consequence and FLOOD Magazine the following summer. I finished my undergrad in 2019 with an emphasis in magazine writing, and then I got my master's in journalism in 2020. During grad school, I started taking music writing more seriously, wanting to expand the amount of pubs I was writing for and writing more frequently. So, this newsletter's pitch database was the perfect place to look in terms of what each editor wanted and what their emails were! I started pitching like an animal and I started getting bylines in places like MTV News (RIP) and The Ringer*. Seriously, I pitched (and still pitch) like an animal, and I think that's why I got as much work as I did.