Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Jeremy Lin Valentine Songstress Speaks Out

By Matt Draper | February 16, 2012 5:09pm

MANHATTAN – She calls it a crush gone crazy.

Grace Lin, the 21-year-old Jeremy Lin fan who posted a Valentine’s Day video dedicated to the Knicks phenom on YouTube, said she’s been blown away by the reaction to the song, which has even made headlines in her native Taiwan.

"I never expected so many people to see it," said Lin, who moved to New York four years ago to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology. "My friends and family in Taiwan said I made the Taiwanese news. So that was crazy. I think it's really awesome people thought it was cute."

Lin said she began following her basketball namesake a couple of years ago when friends started talking about the then-rising star at Harvard. She Googled his name and became an instant fan upon learning about his Taiwanese background, commitment to faith and skills on the court.

"I've been a big Jeremy Lin fan for a long time," said Lin, a sales associate for Coach who lives in Midtown. "It’s been crazy see him explode and play like this for the Knicks. Also, I’m very impressed by someone who is so young but stands so firm in his faith."

While Lin hasn’t yet met her crush, faith nearly brought them together last summer when Jeremy Lin visited her church, Remnant Westside. Unfortunately, she was out of town.

"It was the one time I wasn't there!" she said.

As for the Valentine’s video, Lin said that last week she was up late one night and all of a sudden got the idea to devote her favorite Valentine’s day song – "Valentine" by Kina Grannis – to her favorite Knick. 

After several days of practice to get the words and chords down, Lin grabbed her guitar and recorded the video, which took dozens of takes over two hours.  

"I had to record it a bunch of times," said Lin, who has been singing all her life but has only played guitar for the last year. "I get really into my singing and I forget to smile. So for this video I had to make myself smile the entire time."

Though she has received hundreds of messages about the song on YouTube, she has yet to hear from its intended target.

"No, I haven’t heard from him, though I wasn’t expecting too much out of it," Lin said. "Maybe he has seen it and if I meet him he will say, 'Hey you’re that girl!'"