What Comes Next? | Plans for 2026

On December 9th, 2025, two things happened: First, my sophomore album "Soar Beyond Farther Than You Know" released on all platforms. But shortly after, something in my mind clicked. Something that I believe is the answer to a question I have been asking myself for years. 

My name is Kadence Grunder. Last year I made a video detailing my plans for 2025, and now I'm doing it all again in a much more formatted structure, talking about my plans for 2026. 

Before we get into future plans, we gotta recap on a couple things. While I not only released my next album, a lot was happening for me in the world of music for 2025.

One of the biggest feats was that while I played 18 shows in 2024, I played a whopping 51 throughout 2025. All of which came in the form of acoustic gigs, bar shows with my band, original shows, showcases, hosting open mics, as well as making guest appearances for other artists in the area, like Jared Farrell and Regan Blume (producer). Needless to say, I have been creatively well nourished this year, and I have a feeling that it's only going to get better. 

Now, if that wasn't enough, there are a few other events that came into my life that are worth mentioning. I started going back to school in March, I picked up a part-time job as an A/V team member at Unity Renaissance in Greenbriar, and I became a licensed ham radio technician with the FCC. 

If you're in the 757 area and you're a fellow ham, hello! I'm Kadence, KR4HOU, and I'm normally monitoring the VB town center repeater at 146.895. Come say hi sometime. 

As you can tell, things have pretty much exploded for me on the music front, and I couldn't be more thankful not just for the grit I have to do this with only a limited amount of caffeine, but also for the friends, family, and loved ones who have supported me from near and far. Thank you so very much for believing in me and showing your support, however you can. My favorite part of playing shows is doing what I love while looking out into a crowd and seeing people I love as well. 

One important thing to note is that I currently have one year of school left. For some context, I am currently using my GI Bill, which essentially means that school to me is kinda like a temporary part-time job until I get my degree. What this also means is I don't know what my income would realistically look like in 2027. Yes, I know, we haven't even talked about plans for 2026, but it's important when talking about how I'm going to go about music this year. 

A few months ago, I mentioned how I was going to be stepping away from performing solo shows for a while. This wasn't because I hated solo shows by any means, but I needed to start to shift my energy into a different direction. 

In 2024, I first really started to learn how to play guitar and crawled my way into the local music scene. In 2025, I started to walk a bit, playing a lot more shows, and getting to know the ins and outs of this crazy underground world. In 2026, I want to sprint beyond the 757 by growing and enhancing my own community for the people who love my music, which means focusing on areas where I get to build personal connections with "fans" (I still cringe a bit thinking that).

I'm going to return to busking as much as I can throughout the summer. I'm also going to get into the habit of playing more original music at open mics, showcases, and maybe even dedicate sets to my own music. I have released A LOT of music over these past few years that I believe has gone overlooked by most. I believe I have improved and grown a lot as a musician and singer, so bringing some of my older songs to the present time would be awesome to do. 

Speaking of which, while I normally keep music plans quiet, I am starting the plotting phase of making remade/remastered versions of some of my older music. And that will be all that I say for now. I have written and recorded, and produced so much of my heart into a story that I believe in. But if I can't trust myself to play my own music, how can I trust others to give it a listen? 

A small side comment that is relevant here: I'm proud to announce that I finally have my own website. Right now, you can go to kadencegrunder.com where you can see my show schedule, music discography, articles, other videos I've tagged from my YouTube channel, as well as order digital versions and a physical CD for my album "Soar Beyond Farther Than You Know".

Getting back to shows, in July, I started a house show series called "LIVE from the VB Garden," where I put a bunch of musicians in my backyard, where they also brought their own friends and family, and had them perform their own music. To this date, it's still the most collaborative project I've ever done, being inspired by other artists in the area, such as the Ray West House Show Project and the Tapped In music series. For the most part, we've always had a great turnout, and every artist leaves not just with the split cover but a growing fanbase. Once the weather gets warmer, it will absolutely become something I do much more often throughout 2026. 

Speaking more selfishly, I also plan to get back into making more videos. Growing up, I was always a big YouTube kid who dreamed of making videos like my favorite creators, so while I'm trying to showcase my own music, doing video-making would be a great way to help promote myself. It won't be a crazy amount like a series or anything, but I love the idea of making detailed, informed videos like this one gradually throughout the year, talking about a variety of things. I already have a few topics in mind for what I want to cover, so you can be sure to keep an eye out for them. 

Now these are some big goals I have, and you're probably wondering: where will I find the time to do all this? Well, it all goes back to my original warning, the fact that I won't be doing many solo shows this year. In fact, aside from playing gigs with my band, The Hot Messes, or maybe being featured with other artists, I probably won't be playing many official paid gigs this year. 

I've already proved to myself this last year that if I really wanted to, I can put my nose to the ground and play cover gig after cover gig after cover gig day in and day out. This year is about focusing not just on myself, but the art and community I've built for myself.  

Will I still play shows throughout the year? Of course. For my folks in New Jersey, I'm currently planning a week or two where I can play a string of shows all in the area, so y'all don't have to wait 6 months to see me again. And of course, there will be one-off gigs where I get to hang out in a brewery with my guitar and looper. I just won't always prioritize them more than what I already have in mind. 

So we covered the before, we covered the after, but there's actually something else I want to talk about. 

In early 2020, before you know what happened, I found myself wearing Type 3s, alone in a stall trying to conceal the sounds of my sobbing and curses. Distraught from the life I was experiencing and constantly questioning if this was what I really wanted in life, I took out my notebook that was filled with all sorts of things I don't care to remember, found a blank page, and wrote a few questions for myself. 

The header question was the following: "How much are you willing to sacrifice to achieve greatness?" 

Since then, I have fought tooth and nail for the rest of my time in the Navy, afterwards in the civilian sector, and finally as an artist to be the very best of my craft. This is gonna be the one time where I try not to be humble, but I believe I've done an incredible job at it from where I started. Most musicians in the area have been playing music for 5, 10, 15 years, while I only just picked up a guitar for the first time in early 2023 and have hit the ground sprinting to be a recognized name in the area. 

And it has completely destroyed me in the process. 

On one hand, I have become friends with dozens of other incredible musicians in the area, created music that somehow people seem to enjoy, and have felt completely alive performing for others.

On the other hand, I have spent months callusing my fingers to get to a fraction of where I want to be, spend long nights trying to figure out the mechanics of an RC-5 looper pedal for an effect only I would really notice, and have broken so much from the isolated feeling I gave myself of giving up time away from friends and family so I could chase an extra hour of practice or impress an open mic for some strangers. There was one day when I drove all the way to Newport News to wait and play in two separate open mics, then drove all the way back to the Dam Neck area to play a third.

Throughout the past year, I took part in two separate romantic relationships, and both of them ended because I couldn't dedicate enough time to them. 

My album "Soar Beyond Farther Than You Know" was built around that very question that I have pondered for years. When it was released, I truly thought about the themes of the album that I revealed to the public. I believe I found the answer. 

The amount I'm willing to sacrifice to achieve greatness is the amount it takes until I'm no longer Kadence. 

I've talked about how much school, work, and music have affected my life, but there are other smaller changes I've made with my life that might be confusing at first but will make more sense as time goes on. I've started collecting CDs and using an MP3 player for my music (cancelling Spotify because fuck them), I've started biking/taking the bus as part of my daily commute, I've started using social media less and less (both posting and consuming), and as I mentioned before, I started focusing on my own music the community around me. But that is a very blanket statement to really describe what else has been happening in my life that I don't have enough time for in this video.

Anyways, I have covered a whole lot in this video talking about my plans for 2026, so that is where I will end it for now. If you made it this far, thank you so much for listening to all of this. 

Most of my future announcements will probably be over on kadencegrunder.com, so be sure to check out my website if you get the chance. 

Thank you so much for watching. I will see you all in the new year. Happy Holidays!