For those who still haven't heard, Christina Grimmie was shot and killed after a show in Orlando, Florida during a Meet and Greet with her fans. There was no security at the event, and the shooter was stopped by Christina's brother, who tackled the shooter before the shooter shot himself. This event hit me more than most celebrity deaths because this was a celebrity that I had grown to know through many videos through high school to now, and her life was taken away by an act of seemingly random violence. We don't know why the shooter shot her, and perhaps we never will. However, instead of focusing on why it happened, we can grieve, and miss the person she was.
Christina Grimmie was an inspiration to all those who knew anything about her. I first discovered her back in high school when my friend recommended her to me, because I love listening to covers. From that moment, I was hooked. Her voice was amazing, but that is not the only reason to grieve her loss. She brought such a huge positivity to everything she was a part of. The fact that she somehow impacted so many people's lives in such a positive way really speaks to her personality and is the saddest part of losing her. She was a light in this world as she put out positivity to make the world a happier place. She could make someone's day without meeting them, and now that's missing.
She worked her way up, doing covers with just her voice and piano (which she named Lucas) and in each of those videos she took time to talk and ask for recommendations and just generally share her personality with the world. As she got bigger and more popular, those types of videos weren't made as often because she was making music videos, but she never stopped interacting with her fans, and still made time to make videos talking to her fans. One of her best songs and videos was "Feelin' Good" and it really exemplifies her positivity and love between her and her fan base. If you want to view it, it's right here.
When I heard that she had died, I immediately went to watch her videos again. It's an odd thing to watch, these videos. Now, despite her happy attitude, positive outlook, upbeat songs, etc, the video is tinged by something indistinguishably sad. This happiness that was so contagious, that spread to all her followers on Team Grimmie, has now been made sad. She, at the age of 22, left an amazing legacy, her songs and covers are just great, but there's all this wasted potential now that she's gone, and the loss of a life that affected so many others in such a positive way. Life will move on, her death will probably be used by some side for some political purpose, her videos will start to bring back happy memories with hopefully less sadness eventually, but all I want now is to grieve, and I just want people to understand what has been lost with her death.
