“Love The Way You Lie” is a Grammy-nominated song performed by all-star rapper Eminem and Barbados native Rihanna.  Great song, isn’t it?  Wouldn’t you like to know the the true artist who originally invented it?  Her name is Skylar Grey and if you haven’t heard of her yet that’s because she’s just now stepping out of her songwriter role and into the artist spotlight.  But you’ve certainly heard her.  In addition to writing RiRi’s smash hit, the 24-year-old talent has been credited with penning T.I.’s “Castle Walls”, Diddy-Dirty Money’s “Coming Home” and most recently she’s showing off her vocal chops in the hooks for Dr. Dre’s “I Need a Doctor” and Lupe Fiasco’s “Words I Never Said.” After living a life under her birth name Holly Hafferman experimenting with music since 2003 (she’s the one featured in Fort Minor’s “Where’d You Go”), Skylar Grey admits today that “I’m not primarily a songwriter for other people. I really am an artist.”  And she’s proving that on the Dre and Lupe cuts for sure.

Let’s back track to “Love the Way You Life” for a minute.  Contrary to what you might have thought, the track that’s currently featured on Rihanna album Loud actually started out as a demo track written and performed by Grey. “I wrote the demo initially for myself because I thought, ‘Oh, I have this big song, and now I have a little bit of a launching pad to put out my own stuff,'” she says. “As soon as Rihanna and her team heard my demo, they were like, ‘Oh, we want it for Rihanna’s album,’ so I had to make the decision if I was going to let them have it or not. But I did and so it was on Rihanna’s album, too.”  “I still felt like it would be cool to let people hear my version of it, too,” she says and so there it is embedded above for you to hear.  She’s damn good, isn’t she?

She’s on her way to stardom.  Mega-producer Alex Da Kid recently signed her to his record label Wonderland Music and she’s going to the Grammys expecting to scoop up to five awards for “Love the Way You Lie.”  Masterful pianist, singer/songwriter in the making–watch out for Skylar Grey.  Sneak a better look at her after the break.

[Via Popeater] Continue reading Meet singer/songwriter Skylar Grey →